Coral reefs around the world are in serious trouble from pollution, over-fishing, climate change and more. The last thing they need is an infection. But that’s exactly what yellow band disease (YBD) is—a bacterial infection that sickens coral colonies. Researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and colleagues have found that YBD seems to be getting worse with global warming and announced that they’ve identified the bacteria responsible for the disease.
Just as a doctor can diagnose a child with chicken pox by the small, round bumps on her skin, you can tell a coral with yellow band disease (YBD) by its own characteristic markings. This affliction etches a swath of pale-yellow or white lesions along the surface of an infected coral colony. The discolored band is a mark of death, indicating where the bacterial infection has killed the coral’s photosynthetic symbionts, called zooxanthellae. The coral host suffers from cellular damage and starves without its major energy source, and usually does not recover.
In a paper published in the November 2008 issue of the Journal of Applied Microbiology (JAM), lead author James Cervino, a guest investigator in the WHOI Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry department, and his colleagues report isolating the bacteria that cause YBD: a group of four new Vibrio species, which combine with existing Vibrio on the coral to attack the zooxanthellae. This is the first demonstration that the same bacterial culprits are to blame for the disease throughout the Caribbean as well as half way around the world in Indonesia.
The broad distribution of the core group of Vibrio also helps explain the expanding incidence of YBD throughout the world’s tropical oceans, Cervino says. The JAM study documents YBD infection in Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines. According to Cervino, “In the U.S. Virgin Islands, Florida, the Caribbean, YBD is one of the most threatening coral diseases.”
The Vibrio bacteria that cause YBD are part of a family with a reputation for disease. “What we have are coral pathogens that are genetically close to shellfish pathogens,” Cervino says. For example, one of the Vibrio bacteria found in corals also causes infections in prawns, shrimp, and crabs. The bacteria are also distantly related to Vibrio cholera, the pathogen that causes human cholera epidemics. There is no known danger to humans from YBD, however.
Cervino and colleagues grew Vibrio pathogens together with healthy coral. They found that YBD infection occurs at normal ocean temperatures, but that warmer temperatures made the disease even more virulent. Cervino explains, “Contrary to what many experts have assumed, this disease occurs independently of warming temperatures.” However, when the temperatures go up and the corals are already infected, the infection becomes more lethal. “Thermal stress and pathogenic stress are a double-whammy for the organism,” emphasizes Cervino. With the Vibrio core group occurring in tropical oceans all over the world and water temperatures on the rise, he says, the prognosis for corals and the spread of YBD is rather grim.
Cervino is a professor at Pace University in New York and a visiting scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Cervino works in co-author Konrad Hughen’s lab in the Department of Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry. Of their joint work Cervino says, “You have biology and chemistry merging together in this lab at WHOI and it’s turning out to be an amazing collaboration.
New Catalyst Paves the Path for Ethanol-Powered Fuel Cells
A team of scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, in collaboration with researchers from the University of Delaware and Yeshiva University, has developed a new catalyst that could make ethanol-powered fuel cells feasible. The highly efficient catalyst performs two crucial, and previously unreachable steps needed to oxidize ethanol and produce clean energy in fuel cell reactions. Their results are published online in the January 25, 2009 edition of Nature Materials.
Like batteries that never die, hydrogen fuel cells convert hydrogen and oxygen into water and, as part of the process, produce electricity. However, efficient production, storage, and transport of hydrogen for fuel cell use is not easily achieved. As an alternative, researchers are studying the incorporation of hydrogen-rich compounds, for example, the use of liquid ethanol in a system called a direct ethanol fuel cell.
“Ethanol is one of the most ideal reactants for fuel cells,” said Brookhaven chemist Radoslav Adzic. “It’s easy to produce, renewable, nontoxic, relatively easy to transport, and it has a high energy density. In addition, with some alterations, we could reuse the infrastructure that’s currently in place to store and distribute gasoline.”
A major hurdle to the commercial use of direct ethanol fuel cells is the molecule’s slow, inefficient oxidation, which breaks the compound into hydrogen ions and electrons that are needed to generate electricity. Specifically, scientists have been unable to find a catalyst capable of breaking the bonds between ethanol’s carbon atoms.
But at Brookhaven, scientists have found a winner. Made of platinum and rhodium atoms on carbon-supported tin dioxide nanoparticles, the research team’s electrocatalyst is capable of breaking carbon bonds at room temperature and efficiently oxidising ethanol into carbon dioxide as the main reaction product. Other catalysts, by comparison, produce acetalhyde and acetic acid as the main products, which make them unsuitable for power generation.
“The ability to split the carbon-carbon bond and generate CO2 at room temperature is a completely new feature of catalysis,” Adzic said. “There are no other catalysts that can achieve this at practical potentials.”
Structural and electronic properties of the electrocatalyst were determined using powerful x-ray absorption techniques at Brookhaven’s National Synchrotron Light Source, combined with data from transmission electron microscopy analyses at Brookhaven's Center for Functional Nanomaterials. Based on these studies and calculations, the researchers predict that the high activity of their ternary catalyst results from the synergy between all three constituents – platinum, rhodium, and tin dioxide – knowledge that could be applied to other alternative energy applications.
“These findings can open new possibilities of research not only for electrocatalysts and fuel cells but also for many other catalytic processes,” Adzic said.
Next, the researchers will test the new catalyst in a real fuel cell in order to observe its unique characteristics first hand.
This work is supported by the Office of Basic Energy Sciences within DOE’s Office of Science
Like batteries that never die, hydrogen fuel cells convert hydrogen and oxygen into water and, as part of the process, produce electricity. However, efficient production, storage, and transport of hydrogen for fuel cell use is not easily achieved. As an alternative, researchers are studying the incorporation of hydrogen-rich compounds, for example, the use of liquid ethanol in a system called a direct ethanol fuel cell.
“Ethanol is one of the most ideal reactants for fuel cells,” said Brookhaven chemist Radoslav Adzic. “It’s easy to produce, renewable, nontoxic, relatively easy to transport, and it has a high energy density. In addition, with some alterations, we could reuse the infrastructure that’s currently in place to store and distribute gasoline.”
A major hurdle to the commercial use of direct ethanol fuel cells is the molecule’s slow, inefficient oxidation, which breaks the compound into hydrogen ions and electrons that are needed to generate electricity. Specifically, scientists have been unable to find a catalyst capable of breaking the bonds between ethanol’s carbon atoms.
But at Brookhaven, scientists have found a winner. Made of platinum and rhodium atoms on carbon-supported tin dioxide nanoparticles, the research team’s electrocatalyst is capable of breaking carbon bonds at room temperature and efficiently oxidising ethanol into carbon dioxide as the main reaction product. Other catalysts, by comparison, produce acetalhyde and acetic acid as the main products, which make them unsuitable for power generation.
“The ability to split the carbon-carbon bond and generate CO2 at room temperature is a completely new feature of catalysis,” Adzic said. “There are no other catalysts that can achieve this at practical potentials.”
Structural and electronic properties of the electrocatalyst were determined using powerful x-ray absorption techniques at Brookhaven’s National Synchrotron Light Source, combined with data from transmission electron microscopy analyses at Brookhaven's Center for Functional Nanomaterials. Based on these studies and calculations, the researchers predict that the high activity of their ternary catalyst results from the synergy between all three constituents – platinum, rhodium, and tin dioxide – knowledge that could be applied to other alternative energy applications.
“These findings can open new possibilities of research not only for electrocatalysts and fuel cells but also for many other catalytic processes,” Adzic said.
Next, the researchers will test the new catalyst in a real fuel cell in order to observe its unique characteristics first hand.
This work is supported by the Office of Basic Energy Sciences within DOE’s Office of Science
Scientists Identify Bacteria That Increase Plant Growth
Findings have implications for increasing biomass for the production of biofuels
Through work originally designed to remove contaminants from soil, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory and their Belgium colleagues at Hasselt University have identified plant-associated microbes that can improve plant growth on marginal land. The findings, published in the February 1, 2009 issue of Applied and Environmental Microbiology, may help scientists design strategies for sustainable biofuel production that do not use food crops or agricultural land.
“Biofuels are receiving increased attention as one strategy for addressing the dwindling supplies, high costs, and environmental consequences of fossil fuels,” said Brookhaven biologist and lead author Daniel (Niels) van der Lelie, who leads the Lab’s biofuels research program. “But competition with agricultural resources is an important socioeconomic concern.”
Ethanol produced by fermenting corn, for example, diverts an important food source — and the land it’s grown on — for fuel production. A better approach would be to use non-food plants, ideally ones grown on non-agricultural land, for biofuel production.
Van der Lelie’s team has experience with plants growing on extremely marginal soil — soil contaminated with heavy metals and other industrial chemicals. In prior research, his group has incorporated the molecular “machinery” used by bacteria that degrade such contaminants into microbes that normally colonise poplar trees, and used the trees to clean up the soil. An added benefit, the scientists observed, was that the microbe-supplemented trees grew faster — even when no contaminants were present.
“This work led to our current search for bacteria and the metabolic pathways within them that increase biomass and carbon sequestration in poplar trees growing on marginal soils, with the goal of further improving poplar for biofuel production on non-agricultural lands,” said co-author Safiyh Taghavi. In the current study, the scientists isolated bacteria normally resident in poplar and willow roots, which are known as endophytic bacteria, and tested selected strains’ abilities to increase poplar growth in a controlled greenhouse environment. They also sequenced the genes from four selected bacterial species and screened them for the production of plant-growth promoting enzymes, hormones, and other metabolic factors that might help explain how the bacteria improve plant growth.
“Understanding such microbial-plant interactions may yield ways to further increase biomass,” van der Lelie said.
The plants were first washed and surface-sterilised to eliminate the presence of soil bacteria so the scientists could study only the bacteria that lived within the plant tissues – true endophytic bacteria. The plant material was then ground up so the bacterial species could be isolated. Individual strains were then supplemented with a gene for a protein that “glows” under ultraviolet light, and inoculated into the roots of fresh poplar cuttings that had been developing new roots in water. The presence of the endophytic bacteria was confirmed by searching for the glowing protein. Some bacterial species were also tested for their ability to increase the production of roots in the poplar cuttings by being introduced during the rooting process rather than afterward.
The results
The scientists identified 78 bacterial endophytes from poplar and willow. Some species had beneficial effects on plant growth, others had no effect, and some resulted in decreased growth. In particular, poplar cuttings inoculated with Enterobacter sp. 638 and Burkholderia cepacia BU72 repeatedly showed the highest increase in biomass production — up to 50 percent — as compared with non-inoculated control plants. Though no other endophyte species showed such dramatic effects, some were effective in promoting growth in particular cultivars of poplar.
In the studies specifically looking at root formation, non-inoculated plants formed roots very slowly. In contrast, plant cuttings that were allowed to root in the presence of selected endophytes grew roots and shoots more quickly.
The analysis of genes and metabolically important gene products from endophytes resulted in the identification of many possible mechanisms that could help these microbes thrive within a plant environment, and potentially affect the growth and development of their plant host. These include the production of plant-growth-promoting hormones by the endophytic bacteria that stimulate the growth of poplar on marginal soils.
The scientists plan to conduct additional studies to further elucidate these mechanisms. “These mechanisms are of prime importance for the use of plants as feedstocks for biofuels and for carbon sequestration through biomass production,” van der Lelie said.
This study was funded by the Office of Biological and Environmental Research within DOE’s Office of Science, by Brookhaven’s Laboratory Directed Research and Development Fund, and by the Flanders Science Foundation and the Institute for the Promotion of Innovation by Science and Technology in Flanders, both in Belgium.
Through work originally designed to remove contaminants from soil, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory and their Belgium colleagues at Hasselt University have identified plant-associated microbes that can improve plant growth on marginal land. The findings, published in the February 1, 2009 issue of Applied and Environmental Microbiology, may help scientists design strategies for sustainable biofuel production that do not use food crops or agricultural land.
“Biofuels are receiving increased attention as one strategy for addressing the dwindling supplies, high costs, and environmental consequences of fossil fuels,” said Brookhaven biologist and lead author Daniel (Niels) van der Lelie, who leads the Lab’s biofuels research program. “But competition with agricultural resources is an important socioeconomic concern.”
Ethanol produced by fermenting corn, for example, diverts an important food source — and the land it’s grown on — for fuel production. A better approach would be to use non-food plants, ideally ones grown on non-agricultural land, for biofuel production.
Van der Lelie’s team has experience with plants growing on extremely marginal soil — soil contaminated with heavy metals and other industrial chemicals. In prior research, his group has incorporated the molecular “machinery” used by bacteria that degrade such contaminants into microbes that normally colonise poplar trees, and used the trees to clean up the soil. An added benefit, the scientists observed, was that the microbe-supplemented trees grew faster — even when no contaminants were present.
“This work led to our current search for bacteria and the metabolic pathways within them that increase biomass and carbon sequestration in poplar trees growing on marginal soils, with the goal of further improving poplar for biofuel production on non-agricultural lands,” said co-author Safiyh Taghavi. In the current study, the scientists isolated bacteria normally resident in poplar and willow roots, which are known as endophytic bacteria, and tested selected strains’ abilities to increase poplar growth in a controlled greenhouse environment. They also sequenced the genes from four selected bacterial species and screened them for the production of plant-growth promoting enzymes, hormones, and other metabolic factors that might help explain how the bacteria improve plant growth.
“Understanding such microbial-plant interactions may yield ways to further increase biomass,” van der Lelie said.
The plants were first washed and surface-sterilised to eliminate the presence of soil bacteria so the scientists could study only the bacteria that lived within the plant tissues – true endophytic bacteria. The plant material was then ground up so the bacterial species could be isolated. Individual strains were then supplemented with a gene for a protein that “glows” under ultraviolet light, and inoculated into the roots of fresh poplar cuttings that had been developing new roots in water. The presence of the endophytic bacteria was confirmed by searching for the glowing protein. Some bacterial species were also tested for their ability to increase the production of roots in the poplar cuttings by being introduced during the rooting process rather than afterward.
The results
The scientists identified 78 bacterial endophytes from poplar and willow. Some species had beneficial effects on plant growth, others had no effect, and some resulted in decreased growth. In particular, poplar cuttings inoculated with Enterobacter sp. 638 and Burkholderia cepacia BU72 repeatedly showed the highest increase in biomass production — up to 50 percent — as compared with non-inoculated control plants. Though no other endophyte species showed such dramatic effects, some were effective in promoting growth in particular cultivars of poplar.
In the studies specifically looking at root formation, non-inoculated plants formed roots very slowly. In contrast, plant cuttings that were allowed to root in the presence of selected endophytes grew roots and shoots more quickly.
The analysis of genes and metabolically important gene products from endophytes resulted in the identification of many possible mechanisms that could help these microbes thrive within a plant environment, and potentially affect the growth and development of their plant host. These include the production of plant-growth-promoting hormones by the endophytic bacteria that stimulate the growth of poplar on marginal soils.
The scientists plan to conduct additional studies to further elucidate these mechanisms. “These mechanisms are of prime importance for the use of plants as feedstocks for biofuels and for carbon sequestration through biomass production,” van der Lelie said.
This study was funded by the Office of Biological and Environmental Research within DOE’s Office of Science, by Brookhaven’s Laboratory Directed Research and Development Fund, and by the Flanders Science Foundation and the Institute for the Promotion of Innovation by Science and Technology in Flanders, both in Belgium.
Missing Genes Link To Psoriasis
Genetics experts at The University of Nottingham have been involved in a scientific breakthrough which is helping to explain why some people may be more likely to suffer from the chronic skin condition, psoriasis.
The research, which has just been published in the journal Nature Genetics, shows that people who lack the genes LCE3B and LCE3C are more likely to be affected by psoriasis. These two genes appear to be involved in the skin’s response to damage. When these genes are missing this may leave skin relatively unprotected against the sequence of damage and inflammation that leads to the development of this uncomfortable skin disease.
John Armour, Professor of Human Genetics in the Institute of Genetics, together with Master of Research student Emma Dannhauser, were involved because of their expertise in accurate measurement of gene numbers.
Professor Armour said: "Measuring gene numbers accurately is technically challenging but is necessary to demonstrate this kind of effect. This new report adds to the growing number of examples of disorders caused by variation in the number of genes, and suggests that there may be many more examples to come. What's especially interesting about this example is that in the UK lacking these genes is actually commoner than having them."
Around 30 per cent of people with psoriasis have a family history of the condition. It has long been known that genetic predisposition is an important cause of psoriasis, but it is only recently that scientists have begun to discover the exact nature of the variations that give rise to that predisposition.
The study is the result of an international collaboration led by Professor Xavier Estivill at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, and involving scientists from Nottingham, Nijmegen, St Louis, San Francisco, Michigan, Seattle, Rome and Evry in France.
Psoriasis is a common skin condition affecting about two per cent of the UK population, and causes patches of scaly, itchy skin. It generally affects prominent areas such as the elbows and knees, and commonly affects the scalp, but can affect any part of the skin.
Last year Professor Armour headed a research project, also published in Nature Genetics, which showed that psoriasis risk was affected by variation in the number of beta-defensin genes — a gene known to trigger skin inflammation in response to infection. The research established that people with extra copies of the gene might be more prone to developing psoriasis.
The research, which has just been published in the journal Nature Genetics, shows that people who lack the genes LCE3B and LCE3C are more likely to be affected by psoriasis. These two genes appear to be involved in the skin’s response to damage. When these genes are missing this may leave skin relatively unprotected against the sequence of damage and inflammation that leads to the development of this uncomfortable skin disease.
John Armour, Professor of Human Genetics in the Institute of Genetics, together with Master of Research student Emma Dannhauser, were involved because of their expertise in accurate measurement of gene numbers.
Professor Armour said: "Measuring gene numbers accurately is technically challenging but is necessary to demonstrate this kind of effect. This new report adds to the growing number of examples of disorders caused by variation in the number of genes, and suggests that there may be many more examples to come. What's especially interesting about this example is that in the UK lacking these genes is actually commoner than having them."
Around 30 per cent of people with psoriasis have a family history of the condition. It has long been known that genetic predisposition is an important cause of psoriasis, but it is only recently that scientists have begun to discover the exact nature of the variations that give rise to that predisposition.
The study is the result of an international collaboration led by Professor Xavier Estivill at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, and involving scientists from Nottingham, Nijmegen, St Louis, San Francisco, Michigan, Seattle, Rome and Evry in France.
Psoriasis is a common skin condition affecting about two per cent of the UK population, and causes patches of scaly, itchy skin. It generally affects prominent areas such as the elbows and knees, and commonly affects the scalp, but can affect any part of the skin.
Last year Professor Armour headed a research project, also published in Nature Genetics, which showed that psoriasis risk was affected by variation in the number of beta-defensin genes — a gene known to trigger skin inflammation in response to infection. The research established that people with extra copies of the gene might be more prone to developing psoriasis.
Genetic Study Reveals The Origin Of Species
Some of the secrets behind the emergence of new species have been uncovered in a genetic study, conducted in collaboration with bioscientists at The University of Nottingham.
Almost all plant species are known to have cross-breeds that sometimes produce infertile offspring. Now for the first time the team, led by the French National Institute for Agricultural Research, INRA-Versailles, has identified a simple genetic mechanism that may explain why this happens. The results have been published in the journal Science.
Professor Malcolm Bennett, Biology Director for the Centre for Plant Integrative Biology and Head of Division of Plant and Crop Sciences at The University of Nottingham said, “As plants evolve, their genes may get copied, moved around the genome, and inactivated. This will reduce the possibilities for fertile cross-breeds and, over time, may result in the emergence of distinct species. We’re delighted that this study demonstrates this process in action.”
The study explains why the offspring of some cross-breeds are not viable and indicates a potential mechanism for the formation of sub-species in supposedly identical populations.
The researchers, specialists in the genetics of the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, first noted that offspring of the cross between two of the plant's natural strains, Columbia (Col) and Cape Verde Island (Cvi), did not fully obey Mendel's Laws of Inheritance. Researchers found that in specific genetic combinations of two parent genomes, some did not produce offspring at all.
Further investigation showed that a gene called HPA is carried by chromosome 1 in the Cvi strain, but in the Col strain a second copy is also found on chromosome 5. As the Col strain evolved, the copy of HPA on chromosome 1 became inactive. As a result, the two strains of Arabidopsis now have their functional HPA genes on different chromosomes. The HPA gene is responsible for the production of histidine, an essential amino acid that is necessary for reproduction to take place. Embryos that inherit one inactive HPA gene from chromosome 1 of a Cvi parent and another from chromosome 5 of a Col parent cannot produce histidine and fail to develop.
If the gene isn’t present the two different strains become incompatible, making it impossible for parent plants to produce offspring. Researchers were able to confirm this after observing that plants watered with a histidine solution were able to produce embryos that developed normally.
Almost all plant species are known to have cross-breeds that sometimes produce infertile offspring. Now for the first time the team, led by the French National Institute for Agricultural Research, INRA-Versailles, has identified a simple genetic mechanism that may explain why this happens. The results have been published in the journal Science.
Professor Malcolm Bennett, Biology Director for the Centre for Plant Integrative Biology and Head of Division of Plant and Crop Sciences at The University of Nottingham said, “As plants evolve, their genes may get copied, moved around the genome, and inactivated. This will reduce the possibilities for fertile cross-breeds and, over time, may result in the emergence of distinct species. We’re delighted that this study demonstrates this process in action.”
The study explains why the offspring of some cross-breeds are not viable and indicates a potential mechanism for the formation of sub-species in supposedly identical populations.
The researchers, specialists in the genetics of the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, first noted that offspring of the cross between two of the plant's natural strains, Columbia (Col) and Cape Verde Island (Cvi), did not fully obey Mendel's Laws of Inheritance. Researchers found that in specific genetic combinations of two parent genomes, some did not produce offspring at all.
Further investigation showed that a gene called HPA is carried by chromosome 1 in the Cvi strain, but in the Col strain a second copy is also found on chromosome 5. As the Col strain evolved, the copy of HPA on chromosome 1 became inactive. As a result, the two strains of Arabidopsis now have their functional HPA genes on different chromosomes. The HPA gene is responsible for the production of histidine, an essential amino acid that is necessary for reproduction to take place. Embryos that inherit one inactive HPA gene from chromosome 1 of a Cvi parent and another from chromosome 5 of a Col parent cannot produce histidine and fail to develop.
If the gene isn’t present the two different strains become incompatible, making it impossible for parent plants to produce offspring. Researchers were able to confirm this after observing that plants watered with a histidine solution were able to produce embryos that developed normally.
Biofuel Carbon Footprint
Publications ranging from the journal Science to Time magazine have blasted biofuels for significantly contributing to greenhouse gas emissions, calling into question the environmental benefits of making fuel from plant material. But a new analysis by Michigan State University scientists says these dire predictions are based on a set of assumptions that may not be correct.
"Greenhouse gas release from changes in land use – growing crops that could be used for biofuels on previously unfarmed land – has been identified as a negative contributor to the environmental profile of biofuels," said Bruce Dale, MSU University Distinguished Professor of chemical engineering and materials science. "Other analyses have estimated that it would take from 100 to 1,000 years before biofuels could overcome this 'carbon debt' and start providing greenhouse gas benefits."
But as Dale and his co-authors point out in their research, published in the January online edition of the journal Environmental Science & Technology, earlier analyses didn't consider a number of variables that might influence the greenhouse gas emissions associated with biofuels.
"Our analysis shows that crop management is a key factor in estimating greenhouse gas emissions associated with land use change associated with biofuels," Dale said. "Sustainable management practices, such as no-till farming and planting cover crops, can reduce the time it takes for biofuels to overcome the carbon debt to three years for grassland conversion and 14 years for temperate zone forest conversion."
The discrepancies between the time it will take biofuels to offer environmental benefits is due to the models used for each analysis, Dale explained.
"There are no real data on what actually happens as demand increases for land for biofuel production in one part of the world potentially leads to land clearing, because it is impossible to track these relationships in the real world," Dale said. "All the estimates are based on economic relationships and theoretical models with various data and assumptions. It's really one set of assumptions versus another set. The other scientists believe their assumptions are more reasonable, and we believe ours are more reasonable.
"How land is managed after it's converted to cropland is very important," Dale continued. "The authors of the Science paper assumed the worst-case scenario – plow tillage – which we don't think is accurate. The actual use of sustainable management practices – no till, reduced till and other approaches – is more than 50 percent and increasing."
Other paper authors are Seungdo Kim, MSU visiting associate professor of chemical engineering and materials science, and his son, Hyungtae Kim, a student at Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass.
Dale and Seungdo Kim also are members of the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, a partnership between Michigan State and the University of Wisconsin-Madison funded by the U.S. Department of Energy to conduct basic research aimed at solving some of the most complex problems in converting natural materials to energy.
"Greenhouse gas release from changes in land use – growing crops that could be used for biofuels on previously unfarmed land – has been identified as a negative contributor to the environmental profile of biofuels," said Bruce Dale, MSU University Distinguished Professor of chemical engineering and materials science. "Other analyses have estimated that it would take from 100 to 1,000 years before biofuels could overcome this 'carbon debt' and start providing greenhouse gas benefits."
But as Dale and his co-authors point out in their research, published in the January online edition of the journal Environmental Science & Technology, earlier analyses didn't consider a number of variables that might influence the greenhouse gas emissions associated with biofuels.
"Our analysis shows that crop management is a key factor in estimating greenhouse gas emissions associated with land use change associated with biofuels," Dale said. "Sustainable management practices, such as no-till farming and planting cover crops, can reduce the time it takes for biofuels to overcome the carbon debt to three years for grassland conversion and 14 years for temperate zone forest conversion."
The discrepancies between the time it will take biofuels to offer environmental benefits is due to the models used for each analysis, Dale explained.
"There are no real data on what actually happens as demand increases for land for biofuel production in one part of the world potentially leads to land clearing, because it is impossible to track these relationships in the real world," Dale said. "All the estimates are based on economic relationships and theoretical models with various data and assumptions. It's really one set of assumptions versus another set. The other scientists believe their assumptions are more reasonable, and we believe ours are more reasonable.
"How land is managed after it's converted to cropland is very important," Dale continued. "The authors of the Science paper assumed the worst-case scenario – plow tillage – which we don't think is accurate. The actual use of sustainable management practices – no till, reduced till and other approaches – is more than 50 percent and increasing."
Other paper authors are Seungdo Kim, MSU visiting associate professor of chemical engineering and materials science, and his son, Hyungtae Kim, a student at Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass.
Dale and Seungdo Kim also are members of the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, a partnership between Michigan State and the University of Wisconsin-Madison funded by the U.S. Department of Energy to conduct basic research aimed at solving some of the most complex problems in converting natural materials to energy.
Sorghum: A Sustainable Crop
The global climate is changing, and this change is already impacting food supply and security. People living in regions already affected by aridity need plants that can thrive / grow under dry conditions. As part of an international consortium of scientists, researchers at Helmholtz Zentrum München are analysing the genes of sorghum, the first plant of African origin whose genome has been sequenced.
Also known as milo, durra, or broomcorn, sorghum is a grass species that can grow up to five meters in height and is extremely resistant to aridity and hot conditions. The grass, which originates from Africa, can thrive under conditions and locations where other cereal plants cannot survive due to lack of water. In arid-warm and moderate regions of the Americas, Asia and Europe it is mainly utilised for food and fodder and is also gaining in significance as a basis for bio–fuel. The plant also provides fibers as well as combustible material for heating and cooking.
Dr. Klaus Mayer of the Institute of Bioinformatics and Systems Biology of the Helmholtz Zentrum München described the scientists’ research goal: ”We want to elucidate the functional and structural genomics of sorghum.“ He went on to explain, ”That is the prerequisite for making this important grain even more productive through targeted breeding strategies. As German Research Center for Environmental Health, sustaining the food supply is one of our most important research topics. That is why we are trying to learn something about the molecular basis of the plant’s pronounced drought tolerance in order to apply this knowledge to other crop plants in our latitude zone as well. “The first results of the study have been published in the current issue of Nature.
What makes sorghum interesting as a model system is that it is more closely related to the predominant grains of tropical origin, for example maize, than it is to rice. Moreover, sorghum, unlike many other crop plants, has not undergone genome enlargement in the past millions of years. Its rather small genome – about one–fourth as large as the human genome – is a good starting point for investigating the more complex genomes of important crop plants such as maize or sugarcane, especially since sorghum – like these two plants – is a ”C4 plant“.
Due to biochemical and morphological specialization, such plants use a special kind of photosynthesis (in which first a molecule with four carbon atoms is formed, thus the name). They can assimilate carbon at higher temperatures and more efficiently than ”C3 plants“ and are especially suitable for the production of biomass for energy. Sorghum is the first cereal plant with C4 photosynthesis whose genome has been completely sequenced. The analysis of its functional genomics provides new insights into the molecular differences between C3 and C4 plants.
Furthermore, the comparison with the C3 plant rice – likewise completely sequenced – gives us information about how these cereals became more divergent in the course of evolution.The data of the Munich scientists also allow a comparative analysis of sorghum, rice and maize. This analysis yields information about the evolution of the genome size, distribution and amplification of genes or recombination processes.
Last but not least, the researchers have validated a method in their study – whole genome shotgun sequencing – which is an especially fast and inexpensive method of sequencing complete chromosomes and genomes. In this method, the DNA is copied multiple times and then shredded into many small fragments by squeezing the DNA through a pressurised syringe. Finally the fragments are sequenced from both ends and subsequently the millions of small DNA fragments are assembled by elaborate computational methods into complete chromosomes.
Also known as milo, durra, or broomcorn, sorghum is a grass species that can grow up to five meters in height and is extremely resistant to aridity and hot conditions. The grass, which originates from Africa, can thrive under conditions and locations where other cereal plants cannot survive due to lack of water. In arid-warm and moderate regions of the Americas, Asia and Europe it is mainly utilised for food and fodder and is also gaining in significance as a basis for bio–fuel. The plant also provides fibers as well as combustible material for heating and cooking.
Dr. Klaus Mayer of the Institute of Bioinformatics and Systems Biology of the Helmholtz Zentrum München described the scientists’ research goal: ”We want to elucidate the functional and structural genomics of sorghum.“ He went on to explain, ”That is the prerequisite for making this important grain even more productive through targeted breeding strategies. As German Research Center for Environmental Health, sustaining the food supply is one of our most important research topics. That is why we are trying to learn something about the molecular basis of the plant’s pronounced drought tolerance in order to apply this knowledge to other crop plants in our latitude zone as well. “The first results of the study have been published in the current issue of Nature.
What makes sorghum interesting as a model system is that it is more closely related to the predominant grains of tropical origin, for example maize, than it is to rice. Moreover, sorghum, unlike many other crop plants, has not undergone genome enlargement in the past millions of years. Its rather small genome – about one–fourth as large as the human genome – is a good starting point for investigating the more complex genomes of important crop plants such as maize or sugarcane, especially since sorghum – like these two plants – is a ”C4 plant“.
Due to biochemical and morphological specialization, such plants use a special kind of photosynthesis (in which first a molecule with four carbon atoms is formed, thus the name). They can assimilate carbon at higher temperatures and more efficiently than ”C3 plants“ and are especially suitable for the production of biomass for energy. Sorghum is the first cereal plant with C4 photosynthesis whose genome has been completely sequenced. The analysis of its functional genomics provides new insights into the molecular differences between C3 and C4 plants.
Furthermore, the comparison with the C3 plant rice – likewise completely sequenced – gives us information about how these cereals became more divergent in the course of evolution.The data of the Munich scientists also allow a comparative analysis of sorghum, rice and maize. This analysis yields information about the evolution of the genome size, distribution and amplification of genes or recombination processes.
Last but not least, the researchers have validated a method in their study – whole genome shotgun sequencing – which is an especially fast and inexpensive method of sequencing complete chromosomes and genomes. In this method, the DNA is copied multiple times and then shredded into many small fragments by squeezing the DNA through a pressurised syringe. Finally the fragments are sequenced from both ends and subsequently the millions of small DNA fragments are assembled by elaborate computational methods into complete chromosomes.
Michigan State University Wins USD400,000 from Coca-Cola for Sustainability Centre
Improving the global sustainability of product packaging took a meaningful step forward with a new collaboration proposed by the Coca-Cola company and Michigan State University. Coca-Cola awarded USD400,000 to Michigan State University’s College of Agriculture and Natural Resources to help establish a new Centre for Packaging Innovation and Sustainability.
The planned centre, to be housed in the MSU School of Packaging, will serve as a think tank for packaging innovation and sustainability and a research and education hub to measure and reduce packaging’s environmental impact. The Coca-Cola grant represents the initiating gift in a campaign to establish the global centre.
The centre will involve the MSU colleges of Agriculture and Natural Resources (School of Packaging), Engineering and the Eli Broad College of Business (Department of Supply Chain Management). It will provide a platform for both collaborative, non-proprietary research and proprietary work conducted by industry partners, both in partnership with and independent of MSU researchers, to develop innovative packaging solutions that reduce production costs and improve sustainability.
“The centre will offer an entry point for industry to have easy access to MSU expertise. It will serve as a bridge between corporate and packaging industry professionals and university scientists in engineering, packaging, business, the environment and other areas,” said Satish Udpa, dean of the MSU College of Engineering. “The centre will be a clearing house that disseminates information and encourages action that speeds the adoption and implementation of sustainable practices.”
The centre will include state-of-the-art technology for bench research and testing of packaging materials and will offer academic, outreach and continuing education programs. It is anticipated to eventually expand its reach internationally through research, development, education and training facilities in Dubai and Shanghai.
“Packaging is ubiquitous throughout the food system and a critical component to the quality, safety and sustainability of the products we buy and eat,” said Jeffrey Armstrong, dean of the MSU College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. The commitment to establish the Centre for Packaging Innovation and Sustainability is a move towards an unprecedented level of industry collaboration that will have global implications for improving packaging performance and sustainability.
The planned centre, to be housed in the MSU School of Packaging, will serve as a think tank for packaging innovation and sustainability and a research and education hub to measure and reduce packaging’s environmental impact. The Coca-Cola grant represents the initiating gift in a campaign to establish the global centre.
The centre will involve the MSU colleges of Agriculture and Natural Resources (School of Packaging), Engineering and the Eli Broad College of Business (Department of Supply Chain Management). It will provide a platform for both collaborative, non-proprietary research and proprietary work conducted by industry partners, both in partnership with and independent of MSU researchers, to develop innovative packaging solutions that reduce production costs and improve sustainability.
“The centre will offer an entry point for industry to have easy access to MSU expertise. It will serve as a bridge between corporate and packaging industry professionals and university scientists in engineering, packaging, business, the environment and other areas,” said Satish Udpa, dean of the MSU College of Engineering. “The centre will be a clearing house that disseminates information and encourages action that speeds the adoption and implementation of sustainable practices.”
The centre will include state-of-the-art technology for bench research and testing of packaging materials and will offer academic, outreach and continuing education programs. It is anticipated to eventually expand its reach internationally through research, development, education and training facilities in Dubai and Shanghai.
“Packaging is ubiquitous throughout the food system and a critical component to the quality, safety and sustainability of the products we buy and eat,” said Jeffrey Armstrong, dean of the MSU College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. The commitment to establish the Centre for Packaging Innovation and Sustainability is a move towards an unprecedented level of industry collaboration that will have global implications for improving packaging performance and sustainability.
WWF Plans Next Phase for Sustainable Aquaculture Standards
Comprehensive certification for sustainable aquaculture came closer to fruition today with an announcement by WWF that it would co-found the Aquaculture Stewardship Council to take eventual possession of the global standards for responsible seafood farming currently being developed by the WWF-supported Aquaculture Dialogue round tables.
The new body, modelled on the highly successful and world leading Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) for wild-caught seafood, will be responsible for hiring independent, third-party auditors to certify farms that are in compliance with the standards.
WWF is funding the development of a business plan for this new venture, which is expected to be in operation within two years, and will contribute funding to implement the plan.
More than 2,000 farmers, conservationists, government officials and others participate in the open Aquaculture Dialogue meetings – making this the world’s most inclusive and transparent process for creating measurable, performance-based standards for aquaculture. WWF, which coordinates the Dialogues, is one of the stakeholder groups engaged in the process.
“This is an unprecedented effort to ensure that future aquaculture is environmentally sustainable, and also well positioned to meet the growing demand for seafood worldwide,” said WWF-International Director General James Leape.
“These new standards will raise the bar in the industry, giving consumers assurance that their food purchases are helping to protect the environment.”
Over the next year, draft standards for minimising the key environmental and social impacts associated with aquaculture will be completed for nine aquaculture species that have the greatest impact on the environment, highest market value and/or the heaviest trading in the global market. They are salmon, shrimp, trout, pangasius, abalone, mussels, clams, oysters and scallops. Draft standards for tilapia were posted for public comment in September 2008 and are expected to be completed this spring.
“This investment aligns perfectly with WWF’s goal of protecting the world’s oceans and coastal habitats while providing innovative paths for feeding the world more efficiently and sustainably,” said WWF-US President Carter Roberts.
“With a credible entity in place for certifying farmed seafood, the seafood industry can continue to grow but in a way that is environmentally responsible.”
A key component of the business plan will be following the International Social and Environmental Accreditation and Labelling (ISEAL) Alliance’s guidelines for certification programs – the world’s most reputable guidelines for addressing social and environmental issues. None of the existing aquaculture certification schemes have governance structures that are in compliance with ISEAL. The MSC and Forestry Stewardship Council, also co-founded by WWF, are ISEAL compliant.
SOURCE: WWF
The new body, modelled on the highly successful and world leading Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) for wild-caught seafood, will be responsible for hiring independent, third-party auditors to certify farms that are in compliance with the standards.
WWF is funding the development of a business plan for this new venture, which is expected to be in operation within two years, and will contribute funding to implement the plan.
More than 2,000 farmers, conservationists, government officials and others participate in the open Aquaculture Dialogue meetings – making this the world’s most inclusive and transparent process for creating measurable, performance-based standards for aquaculture. WWF, which coordinates the Dialogues, is one of the stakeholder groups engaged in the process.
“This is an unprecedented effort to ensure that future aquaculture is environmentally sustainable, and also well positioned to meet the growing demand for seafood worldwide,” said WWF-International Director General James Leape.
“These new standards will raise the bar in the industry, giving consumers assurance that their food purchases are helping to protect the environment.”
Over the next year, draft standards for minimising the key environmental and social impacts associated with aquaculture will be completed for nine aquaculture species that have the greatest impact on the environment, highest market value and/or the heaviest trading in the global market. They are salmon, shrimp, trout, pangasius, abalone, mussels, clams, oysters and scallops. Draft standards for tilapia were posted for public comment in September 2008 and are expected to be completed this spring.
“This investment aligns perfectly with WWF’s goal of protecting the world’s oceans and coastal habitats while providing innovative paths for feeding the world more efficiently and sustainably,” said WWF-US President Carter Roberts.
“With a credible entity in place for certifying farmed seafood, the seafood industry can continue to grow but in a way that is environmentally responsible.”
A key component of the business plan will be following the International Social and Environmental Accreditation and Labelling (ISEAL) Alliance’s guidelines for certification programs – the world’s most reputable guidelines for addressing social and environmental issues. None of the existing aquaculture certification schemes have governance structures that are in compliance with ISEAL. The MSC and Forestry Stewardship Council, also co-founded by WWF, are ISEAL compliant.
SOURCE: WWF
Europe Needs to Go Much Further Towards Copenhagen
New European proposals for this year’s crucial Copenhagen climate conference contain “some rhetoric in the right direction” but need to put forward more concrete commitments and accept a larger role in helping developing nations reduce their emissions and adapt to climate impacts, WWF says.
In its communication towards a comprehensive climate change agreement in Copenhagen, the European Commission proposes how the EU should negotiate a global climate deal at the UN talks in December. EU Heads of Government intend to finalise the EU’s position at the Spring Council in March.
“Europe needs to stop anticipating what the rest of the world might do and concentrate on what Europe should do if it wants to reclaim the reputation of leading in the fight against climate change,” said Kim Carstensen, leader of WWF’s New Global Deal on Climate initiative.
“Europe's starting points have to be its own stated objective of a world staying below the average 2°C warming that is the threshold level for unacceptable risks, and the 25-40 per cent cuts in emissions by 2020 that developed countries need to achieve to stay within this margin of safety.”
WWF said Europe needed to go beyond restoring previous commitments to reduce emissions by 30 per cent over 1990 levels by 2020, and commit to achieving these reductions in emissions in Europe - with funds to be provided to developing nations for them to achieve emissions reductions equivalent to a further 15 per cent of Europe's level of emissions.
WWF described money on the table as “the make or break issue” for developing nations to substantially reduce their emissions as well.
“Existing and proposed emissions trading initiatives need to be supplemented by measures such as emissions performance standards for Europe's power stations,” said Carstensen. “US States like California were beginning to demonstrate the effectiveness of such measures despite the hostility of the former US government and they have now received a green light from the new administration.
“Europe will increasingly be presented with the choice to follow suit or be left behind.”
“Substantial funding needs to be flowing before 2013 and the financing for mitigation measures needs to be matched with actual emissions reductions to be achieved,” said Carstensen. “WWF also believes that the UN system, where developing nations have some real say, needs to retain a central role in the disbursement of the funds.
“The funding flows should also be sustainable, predictable and additional to existing aid.”
WWF said that the draft Copenhagen Communication at least recognised “offset loopholes” where carbon trading system credits for industrialised country emissions reductions could be generated by illusory reductions in developing countries.
“Identifying loopholes isn't enough, however,” Carstensen said. “They need to be closed and in this case we suggest a firewall for all required, low cost and win-win emissions reductions in developed nations so that traded reductions are truly new and additional reductions.”
SOURCE: WWF
In its communication towards a comprehensive climate change agreement in Copenhagen, the European Commission proposes how the EU should negotiate a global climate deal at the UN talks in December. EU Heads of Government intend to finalise the EU’s position at the Spring Council in March.
“Europe needs to stop anticipating what the rest of the world might do and concentrate on what Europe should do if it wants to reclaim the reputation of leading in the fight against climate change,” said Kim Carstensen, leader of WWF’s New Global Deal on Climate initiative.
“Europe's starting points have to be its own stated objective of a world staying below the average 2°C warming that is the threshold level for unacceptable risks, and the 25-40 per cent cuts in emissions by 2020 that developed countries need to achieve to stay within this margin of safety.”
WWF said Europe needed to go beyond restoring previous commitments to reduce emissions by 30 per cent over 1990 levels by 2020, and commit to achieving these reductions in emissions in Europe - with funds to be provided to developing nations for them to achieve emissions reductions equivalent to a further 15 per cent of Europe's level of emissions.
WWF described money on the table as “the make or break issue” for developing nations to substantially reduce their emissions as well.
“Existing and proposed emissions trading initiatives need to be supplemented by measures such as emissions performance standards for Europe's power stations,” said Carstensen. “US States like California were beginning to demonstrate the effectiveness of such measures despite the hostility of the former US government and they have now received a green light from the new administration.
“Europe will increasingly be presented with the choice to follow suit or be left behind.”
“Substantial funding needs to be flowing before 2013 and the financing for mitigation measures needs to be matched with actual emissions reductions to be achieved,” said Carstensen. “WWF also believes that the UN system, where developing nations have some real say, needs to retain a central role in the disbursement of the funds.
“The funding flows should also be sustainable, predictable and additional to existing aid.”
WWF said that the draft Copenhagen Communication at least recognised “offset loopholes” where carbon trading system credits for industrialised country emissions reductions could be generated by illusory reductions in developing countries.
“Identifying loopholes isn't enough, however,” Carstensen said. “They need to be closed and in this case we suggest a firewall for all required, low cost and win-win emissions reductions in developed nations so that traded reductions are truly new and additional reductions.”
SOURCE: WWF
WWF Opposes Precarious Ocean Fertilisation Project
A recent decision by the German government to give the go-ahead to a controversial large-scale ocean fertilisation experiment (LOHAFEX) in international waters of the Southern Ocean has left WWF doubting Germany’s commitment to global agreements on the environment.
Last year, the meeting of the parties to the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD) imposed a de facto moratorium on large-scale ocean fertilisation experiments and commercial uses, only allowing for small-scale scientific research in coastal waters.
Subsequently, the London Convention and Protocol (LC/LP), the global framework addressing ocean fertilisation projects, urged its parties to use utmost caution with regard to scientific research proposals until further guidance is available.
“The German government’s decision is appalling,” said Stephan Lutter, International Marine Policy Officer of WWF Germany. “Despite the fact that Germany is a signatory to the CBD and London Convention, the government has chosen to forego its international obligations and instead undermine and ignore the agreements made last year.”
The CBD and LC have also urged their parties to carry out extensive environmental impact assessments (EIA) prior to giving the green light to such experiments.
Last week a hurriedly assembled assessment was made after heavy criticism of the project by WWF and other environmental NGOs, and as the research vessel “Polarstern” that would carry out the experiment was already steaming towards the Southern Ocean site.
“We know too little about the ecological effects of iron fertilisation for such a large-scale project to go ahead,” Lutter said. “The sloppy manner in which EIAs were produced in this case will have international repercussions and encourage commercial geo-engineering all the more.”
Ocean fertilisation with iron or nitrogen compounds such as urea has been put forward as a means to slow down climate change. The theory is that iron, for example, a scarce element in parts of the oceans and essential to the growth of algae, is added to seawater, thus causing large phytoplankton blooms. The growing algae trap carbon dioxide and remove it from the atmosphere. So, advocates say, by “fertilising” the ocean surface we could reduce the amount of carbon dioxide and reduce the rate of global warming.
However, the ecological effects of dumping large quantities of nutrients in the ocean are unknown and could turn large parts of the ocean floor into “dead”, oxygen-depleted zones as blooming algae die, sink to the ocean floor and decompose. Shifts in nutrient balance are known to alter plankton species composition and food web structure. Additionally, the economic cost of ocean fertilisation, should it be successful, are uncertain and could be far higher than the cost of reducing emissions in the first place.
WWF encourages the development of innovative solutions to tackle the huge threat climate change poses to the planet, but these solutions need to be carefully assessed in order to not create more problems than they solve.
This year is a pivotal year for climate change, and WWF is working to ensure a robust agreement is reached to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at the Copenhagen Climate Summit in December.
SOURCE: WWF
Last year, the meeting of the parties to the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD) imposed a de facto moratorium on large-scale ocean fertilisation experiments and commercial uses, only allowing for small-scale scientific research in coastal waters.
Subsequently, the London Convention and Protocol (LC/LP), the global framework addressing ocean fertilisation projects, urged its parties to use utmost caution with regard to scientific research proposals until further guidance is available.
“The German government’s decision is appalling,” said Stephan Lutter, International Marine Policy Officer of WWF Germany. “Despite the fact that Germany is a signatory to the CBD and London Convention, the government has chosen to forego its international obligations and instead undermine and ignore the agreements made last year.”
The CBD and LC have also urged their parties to carry out extensive environmental impact assessments (EIA) prior to giving the green light to such experiments.
Last week a hurriedly assembled assessment was made after heavy criticism of the project by WWF and other environmental NGOs, and as the research vessel “Polarstern” that would carry out the experiment was already steaming towards the Southern Ocean site.
“We know too little about the ecological effects of iron fertilisation for such a large-scale project to go ahead,” Lutter said. “The sloppy manner in which EIAs were produced in this case will have international repercussions and encourage commercial geo-engineering all the more.”
Ocean fertilisation with iron or nitrogen compounds such as urea has been put forward as a means to slow down climate change. The theory is that iron, for example, a scarce element in parts of the oceans and essential to the growth of algae, is added to seawater, thus causing large phytoplankton blooms. The growing algae trap carbon dioxide and remove it from the atmosphere. So, advocates say, by “fertilising” the ocean surface we could reduce the amount of carbon dioxide and reduce the rate of global warming.
However, the ecological effects of dumping large quantities of nutrients in the ocean are unknown and could turn large parts of the ocean floor into “dead”, oxygen-depleted zones as blooming algae die, sink to the ocean floor and decompose. Shifts in nutrient balance are known to alter plankton species composition and food web structure. Additionally, the economic cost of ocean fertilisation, should it be successful, are uncertain and could be far higher than the cost of reducing emissions in the first place.
WWF encourages the development of innovative solutions to tackle the huge threat climate change poses to the planet, but these solutions need to be carefully assessed in order to not create more problems than they solve.
This year is a pivotal year for climate change, and WWF is working to ensure a robust agreement is reached to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at the Copenhagen Climate Summit in December.
SOURCE: WWF
Climate Change: Developing Countries Lack Means to Acquire More Efficient Technologies
Contrary to earlier projections, few developing countries will be able to afford more efficient technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the next few decades, new research concludes.
The study, by researchers at the National Centre for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and the University of Colorado, warns that continuing economic and technological disparities will make it more difficult than anticipated to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and it underscores the challenges that poorer nations face in trying to adapt to global warming.
"There is simply no evidence that developing countries will somehow become wealthier and be in a position to install more environmentally friendly technologies," says Patricia Romero Lankao, an NCAR sociologist who is the lead author of the study. "We always knew that reducing greenhouse gas emissions was going to be a challenge, but now it looks like we underestimated the magnitude of this problem."
The new research also confirms that even those advanced nations that are turning to more environmentally friendly technologies are worsening the outlook for global warming. Their economic growth is outstripping the increase in efficiency, and the demand for more cars, larger houses, and other goods and services is leading to ever-increasing emissions of carbon dioxide. Many of the products these nations consume come from developing countries that are producing more but not gaining the wealth needed to increase efficiency.
As a result, most industrialised and developing countries are increasing their emissions of carbon dioxide. Overall, global emissions grew at an annual rate of 1.3 per cent in the 1990s and 3.3 per cent from 2000 to 2006.
The United States and other technologically advanced nations are under pressure to reduce their per capita carbon dioxide emissions, while developing countries are being urged to adopt cleaner technology. The research suggests that both goals will be difficult to achieve.
In addition, if developing countries fail to become significantly more prosperous, they may be unable to protect their residents from some of the more dangerous impacts of climate change, such as sea-level rise and more-frequent droughts.
"Their populations and economic activities will not have the availability of resources, entitlements, social networks, and governance structures deemed particularly important ... for them to adapt to the impacts of climate change," the paper states.
The cost of inefficiency
Even though the developing nations analysed by the research team generally have smaller economies, they are responsible for about 47 per cent of the world's emissions of carbon dioxide, one of the major greenhouse gases.
The reason has to do in part with the inefficient energy and transportation systems in nations with less wealth. Small and outdated industrial facilities that use higher-polluting fossil fuels, for example, tend to emit more carbon dioxide per production unit than a larger facility with newer, cleaner technologies. In addition, developing countries contribute a large amount to carbon dioxide emissions when their forests are logged or burned.
To determine whether developing countries are likely to become significantly more efficient, Romero Lankao and her co-authors divided 72 of the world's more populous countries into three primary groups: technologically advanced nations such as the United States (haves), emerging nations such as Thailand (have-somes), and poorer nations like Tanzania (have-nots). Using World Bank data, they based their classifications on three criteria that can influence carbon dioxide emissions: gross domestic product per capita, urban population, and population in the 15 to 65 age range. They then analysed the economic trajectories of the selected nations from 1960 to 2006, using several statistical techniques.
The team found that the economic disparity between industrialised countries and most developing ones, as measured by gross domestic product per capita, has increased since 1960 rather than converging. Furthermore, the study projects that, if present trends continue, that disparity will continue to grow for at least the next two decades.
A few have-some nations, such as China, appear poised to move up in the world economy and potentially adopt more efficient technology. But many other have-some and have-not countries that emit a significant per cent of greenhouse gas emissions, such as India and Iran, are failing to amass the resources needed to become substantially more efficient.
The study also highlights the disparities in per capita emissions of carbon dioxide. Of the 72 countries analysed, the team found that the advanced countries have a tiny share of the world's population, yet emit 52.2 per cent of total carbon dioxide emissions. In contrast, one-third of the global population lives in the have-not countries, but accounts for just 2.8 per cent of total carbon dioxide emissions.
A challenge to IPCC projections: the lack of convergence
These findings cast doubt on some projections by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. When the IPCC released its comprehensive assessment in 2007, it based several scenarios of future greenhouse gas emissions on the concepts of modernisation and convergence, which state that many developing countries would close the economic gap and adopt more efficient technologies.
Romero Lankao and her co-authors, however, found evidence for an alternative view, known as the world economy theory, which holds that nations will remain hierarchical, with poorer nations continuing to be in a peripheral economic position even as they produce more products and resources for wealthy countries. Those nations may adopt more efficient and environmentally friendly means of production over time, but at a significantly slower rate than projected by the IPCC.
ABOUT THE ARTICLE
Title: "Development and greenhouse gas emissions deviate from the 'modernisation' theory and 'convergence' hypothesis"
Authors: Patricia Romero Lankao, Douglas Nychka, and John Tribbia
Publication: Climate Research
Source: The University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
The study, by researchers at the National Centre for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and the University of Colorado, warns that continuing economic and technological disparities will make it more difficult than anticipated to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and it underscores the challenges that poorer nations face in trying to adapt to global warming.
"There is simply no evidence that developing countries will somehow become wealthier and be in a position to install more environmentally friendly technologies," says Patricia Romero Lankao, an NCAR sociologist who is the lead author of the study. "We always knew that reducing greenhouse gas emissions was going to be a challenge, but now it looks like we underestimated the magnitude of this problem."
The new research also confirms that even those advanced nations that are turning to more environmentally friendly technologies are worsening the outlook for global warming. Their economic growth is outstripping the increase in efficiency, and the demand for more cars, larger houses, and other goods and services is leading to ever-increasing emissions of carbon dioxide. Many of the products these nations consume come from developing countries that are producing more but not gaining the wealth needed to increase efficiency.
As a result, most industrialised and developing countries are increasing their emissions of carbon dioxide. Overall, global emissions grew at an annual rate of 1.3 per cent in the 1990s and 3.3 per cent from 2000 to 2006.
The United States and other technologically advanced nations are under pressure to reduce their per capita carbon dioxide emissions, while developing countries are being urged to adopt cleaner technology. The research suggests that both goals will be difficult to achieve.
In addition, if developing countries fail to become significantly more prosperous, they may be unable to protect their residents from some of the more dangerous impacts of climate change, such as sea-level rise and more-frequent droughts.
"Their populations and economic activities will not have the availability of resources, entitlements, social networks, and governance structures deemed particularly important ... for them to adapt to the impacts of climate change," the paper states.
The cost of inefficiency
Even though the developing nations analysed by the research team generally have smaller economies, they are responsible for about 47 per cent of the world's emissions of carbon dioxide, one of the major greenhouse gases.
The reason has to do in part with the inefficient energy and transportation systems in nations with less wealth. Small and outdated industrial facilities that use higher-polluting fossil fuels, for example, tend to emit more carbon dioxide per production unit than a larger facility with newer, cleaner technologies. In addition, developing countries contribute a large amount to carbon dioxide emissions when their forests are logged or burned.
To determine whether developing countries are likely to become significantly more efficient, Romero Lankao and her co-authors divided 72 of the world's more populous countries into three primary groups: technologically advanced nations such as the United States (haves), emerging nations such as Thailand (have-somes), and poorer nations like Tanzania (have-nots). Using World Bank data, they based their classifications on three criteria that can influence carbon dioxide emissions: gross domestic product per capita, urban population, and population in the 15 to 65 age range. They then analysed the economic trajectories of the selected nations from 1960 to 2006, using several statistical techniques.
The team found that the economic disparity between industrialised countries and most developing ones, as measured by gross domestic product per capita, has increased since 1960 rather than converging. Furthermore, the study projects that, if present trends continue, that disparity will continue to grow for at least the next two decades.
A few have-some nations, such as China, appear poised to move up in the world economy and potentially adopt more efficient technology. But many other have-some and have-not countries that emit a significant per cent of greenhouse gas emissions, such as India and Iran, are failing to amass the resources needed to become substantially more efficient.
The study also highlights the disparities in per capita emissions of carbon dioxide. Of the 72 countries analysed, the team found that the advanced countries have a tiny share of the world's population, yet emit 52.2 per cent of total carbon dioxide emissions. In contrast, one-third of the global population lives in the have-not countries, but accounts for just 2.8 per cent of total carbon dioxide emissions.
A challenge to IPCC projections: the lack of convergence
These findings cast doubt on some projections by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. When the IPCC released its comprehensive assessment in 2007, it based several scenarios of future greenhouse gas emissions on the concepts of modernisation and convergence, which state that many developing countries would close the economic gap and adopt more efficient technologies.
Romero Lankao and her co-authors, however, found evidence for an alternative view, known as the world economy theory, which holds that nations will remain hierarchical, with poorer nations continuing to be in a peripheral economic position even as they produce more products and resources for wealthy countries. Those nations may adopt more efficient and environmentally friendly means of production over time, but at a significantly slower rate than projected by the IPCC.
ABOUT THE ARTICLE
Title: "Development and greenhouse gas emissions deviate from the 'modernisation' theory and 'convergence' hypothesis"
Authors: Patricia Romero Lankao, Douglas Nychka, and John Tribbia
Publication: Climate Research
Source: The University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
What We Don’t Know Still Hurts Us, Environmental Researchers Warn
Knowledge gaps continue to hobble scientists’ assessments of the environment, a Michigan State University researcher and colleagues warn. Their warning follows sobering conclusions drawn from what they do know and could help set the global agenda for research funding in the years to come.
A worldwide 2005 Millennium Ecosystem Assessment enlisted hundreds of scientists to develop a view of ecosystems through the lens of services those ecosystems provide humanity, said Thomas Dietz, director of the MSU Environmental Science and Policy Program and professor in sociology and crop and soil sciences. The MEA found about 60 per cent of ecosystem services supporting life — including fresh water, fisheries, clean air, pests and climate — are being degraded or used unsustainably. The MEA projected continued deterioration at current rates.
But drawing conclusions is still limited by what researchers call discipline bound approaches that don’t fully describe the range of the Earth’s dynamic and complex biophysical and social systems.
“In only a few cases are the abilities of ecosystems to provide human well-being holding steady, and in almost every case we’re seeing declines in ecosystems underpinning human well-being,” said Dietz, who was involved in the original MEA.
Many view that assessment as a baseline for analysing climate change, Dietz said, although that was not the purpose of the report. He and fellow scientists are set to publish what amounts to a post-MEA gap analysis in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.
“The conclusion that things are getting worse in general comes out of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment,” he said. “Our job was to say ‘OK, what science do we need to do?’”
Among the biggest knowledge gaps Dietz and colleagues found, he said, is “really thinking seriously about the interaction between humans and ecosystems, back and forth. How are we changing ecosystems and how are ecosystems affecting us?”
Probing such questions suggests a larger role for MSU, Dietz said, given its strengths in researching coupled human and natural systems.
The lack of long-term ecosystem monitoring and data collection is another deficiency the world scientific and policy communities must address, Dietz and colleagues wrote. Research tends to be underwritten for maybe three years, but data needs, in many cases, to span decades to be of greatest value.
On the other end of the spectrum, addressing abrupt ecosystem changes — “those are the scary things” — and developing early warning systems also are challenges confronting scientists and the policy makers.
Recommendations such as those made by Dietz’s group tend to carry weight when national science agencies make research funding decisions, he said. Ecosystem change might sound like an academic subject to many in the developed world, he said, but “for an awful lot of people around the world, the functioning of the ecosystem is right in their front yard and at their water tap.”
A worldwide 2005 Millennium Ecosystem Assessment enlisted hundreds of scientists to develop a view of ecosystems through the lens of services those ecosystems provide humanity, said Thomas Dietz, director of the MSU Environmental Science and Policy Program and professor in sociology and crop and soil sciences. The MEA found about 60 per cent of ecosystem services supporting life — including fresh water, fisheries, clean air, pests and climate — are being degraded or used unsustainably. The MEA projected continued deterioration at current rates.
But drawing conclusions is still limited by what researchers call discipline bound approaches that don’t fully describe the range of the Earth’s dynamic and complex biophysical and social systems.
“In only a few cases are the abilities of ecosystems to provide human well-being holding steady, and in almost every case we’re seeing declines in ecosystems underpinning human well-being,” said Dietz, who was involved in the original MEA.
Many view that assessment as a baseline for analysing climate change, Dietz said, although that was not the purpose of the report. He and fellow scientists are set to publish what amounts to a post-MEA gap analysis in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.
“The conclusion that things are getting worse in general comes out of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment,” he said. “Our job was to say ‘OK, what science do we need to do?’”
Among the biggest knowledge gaps Dietz and colleagues found, he said, is “really thinking seriously about the interaction between humans and ecosystems, back and forth. How are we changing ecosystems and how are ecosystems affecting us?”
Probing such questions suggests a larger role for MSU, Dietz said, given its strengths in researching coupled human and natural systems.
The lack of long-term ecosystem monitoring and data collection is another deficiency the world scientific and policy communities must address, Dietz and colleagues wrote. Research tends to be underwritten for maybe three years, but data needs, in many cases, to span decades to be of greatest value.
On the other end of the spectrum, addressing abrupt ecosystem changes — “those are the scary things” — and developing early warning systems also are challenges confronting scientists and the policy makers.
Recommendations such as those made by Dietz’s group tend to carry weight when national science agencies make research funding decisions, he said. Ecosystem change might sound like an academic subject to many in the developed world, he said, but “for an awful lot of people around the world, the functioning of the ecosystem is right in their front yard and at their water tap.”
New Catalyst Paves the Path for Ethanol-Powered Fuel Cells
A team of scientists at the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, in collaboration with researchers from the University of Delaware and Yeshiva University, has developed a new catalyst that could make ethanol-powered fuel cells feasible. The highly efficient catalyst performs two crucial and previously unreachable steps needed to oxidise ethanol and produce clean energy in fuel cell reactions. Their results are published online in the January 25, 2009 edition of Nature Materials.
Like batteries that never die, hydrogen fuel cells convert hydrogen and oxygen into water and, as part of the process, produce electricity. However, efficient production, storage, and transport of hydrogen for fuel cell use are not easily achieved. As an alternative, researchers are studying the incorporation of hydrogen-rich compounds, for example, the use of liquid ethanol in a system called a direct ethanol fuel cell.
“Ethanol is one of the most ideal reactants for fuel cells,” said Brookhaven chemist Radoslav Adzic. “It’s easy to produce, renewable, nontoxic, relatively easy to transport, and it has a high energy density. In addition, with some alterations, we could reuse the infrastructure that’s currently in place to store and distribute gasoline.”
A major hurdle to the commercial use of direct ethanol fuel cells is the molecule’s slow, inefficient oxidation, which breaks the compound into hydrogen ions and electrons that are needed to generate electricity. Specifically, scientists have been unable to find a catalyst capable of breaking the bonds between ethanol’s carbon atoms.
But at Brookhaven, scientists have found a winner. Made of platinum and rhodium atoms on carbon-supported tin dioxide nano-particles, the research team’s electro catalyst is capable of breaking carbon bonds at room temperature and efficiently oxidising ethanol into carbon dioxide as the main reaction product. Other catalysts, by comparison, produce acetalhyde and acetic acid as the main products, which make them unsuitable for power generation.
“The ability to split the carbon-carbon bond and generate CO2 at room temperature is a completely new feature of catalysis,” Adzic said. “There are no other catalysts that can achieve this at practical potentials.”
Structural and electronic properties of the electro catalyst were determined using powerful x-ray absorption techniques at Brookhaven’s National Synchrotron Light Source, combined with data from transmission electron microscopy analyses at Brookhaven's Center for Functional Nanomaterials. Based on these studies and calculations, the researchers predict that the high activity of their ternary catalyst results from the synergy between all three constituents – platinum, rhodium, and tin dioxide – knowledge that could be applied to other alternative energy applications.
“These findings can open new possibilities of research not only for electro catalysts and fuel cells but also for many other catalytic processes,” Adzic said.
Like batteries that never die, hydrogen fuel cells convert hydrogen and oxygen into water and, as part of the process, produce electricity. However, efficient production, storage, and transport of hydrogen for fuel cell use are not easily achieved. As an alternative, researchers are studying the incorporation of hydrogen-rich compounds, for example, the use of liquid ethanol in a system called a direct ethanol fuel cell.
“Ethanol is one of the most ideal reactants for fuel cells,” said Brookhaven chemist Radoslav Adzic. “It’s easy to produce, renewable, nontoxic, relatively easy to transport, and it has a high energy density. In addition, with some alterations, we could reuse the infrastructure that’s currently in place to store and distribute gasoline.”
A major hurdle to the commercial use of direct ethanol fuel cells is the molecule’s slow, inefficient oxidation, which breaks the compound into hydrogen ions and electrons that are needed to generate electricity. Specifically, scientists have been unable to find a catalyst capable of breaking the bonds between ethanol’s carbon atoms.
But at Brookhaven, scientists have found a winner. Made of platinum and rhodium atoms on carbon-supported tin dioxide nano-particles, the research team’s electro catalyst is capable of breaking carbon bonds at room temperature and efficiently oxidising ethanol into carbon dioxide as the main reaction product. Other catalysts, by comparison, produce acetalhyde and acetic acid as the main products, which make them unsuitable for power generation.
“The ability to split the carbon-carbon bond and generate CO2 at room temperature is a completely new feature of catalysis,” Adzic said. “There are no other catalysts that can achieve this at practical potentials.”
Structural and electronic properties of the electro catalyst were determined using powerful x-ray absorption techniques at Brookhaven’s National Synchrotron Light Source, combined with data from transmission electron microscopy analyses at Brookhaven's Center for Functional Nanomaterials. Based on these studies and calculations, the researchers predict that the high activity of their ternary catalyst results from the synergy between all three constituents – platinum, rhodium, and tin dioxide – knowledge that could be applied to other alternative energy applications.
“These findings can open new possibilities of research not only for electro catalysts and fuel cells but also for many other catalytic processes,” Adzic said.
New Report on Massive Jellyfish Swarms Released
Massive swarms of stinging jellyfish and jellyfish-like animals are transforming many world-class fisheries and tourist destinations into veritable jellytoriums that are intermittently jammed with pulsating, gelatinous creatures. Areas that are currently particularly hard-hit by these squishy animals include Hawaii, the Gulf of Mexico, the east coast of the US, the Bering Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, Australia, the Black Sea and other European seas, the Sea of Japan, the North Sea and Namibia.
Massive jellyfish swarms, some of which cover hundreds of square miles, have caused injuries and even occasional deaths to water enthusiasts, and have caused serious damage to fisheries, fish farms, marine mines, desalination plants, ships and nuclear power plants. Since the 1980s, jellyfish swarms have cost the world's fishing and tourism industries alone hundreds of millions of dollars and perhaps even billions of dollars.
From large swarms of potentially deadly, peanut-sized jellyfish in Australia to swarms of hundreds of millions of refrigerator-sized jellyfish in the Sea of Japan, suspicion is growing that population explosions of jellyfish are being generated by human activities. Human activities that have been suggested by media reports and scientists as possible causes of some jellyfish swarms include pollution, climate change, introduction of non-native species, over fishing and the presence of artificial structures, such as oil and gas rigs. But which of these human activities, if any of them, are really to blame?
Massive jellyfish swarms, some of which cover hundreds of square miles, have caused injuries and even occasional deaths to water enthusiasts, and have caused serious damage to fisheries, fish farms, marine mines, desalination plants, ships and nuclear power plants. Since the 1980s, jellyfish swarms have cost the world's fishing and tourism industries alone hundreds of millions of dollars and perhaps even billions of dollars.
From large swarms of potentially deadly, peanut-sized jellyfish in Australia to swarms of hundreds of millions of refrigerator-sized jellyfish in the Sea of Japan, suspicion is growing that population explosions of jellyfish are being generated by human activities. Human activities that have been suggested by media reports and scientists as possible causes of some jellyfish swarms include pollution, climate change, introduction of non-native species, over fishing and the presence of artificial structures, such as oil and gas rigs. But which of these human activities, if any of them, are really to blame?
Some of Earth's Climate Troubles Should Face Burial at Sea, Scientists Say
Making bales with 30 per cent of global crop residues, the stalks and such left after harvesting, and then sinking the bales into the deep ocean could reduce the build up of global carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by up to 15 per cent a year, according to just published calculations.
That is a significant amount of carbon, the process can be accomplished with existing technology and it can be done year after year, according to Stuart Strand, a University of Washington research professor. Further the technique would sequester or lock up the carbon in sea floor sediments and deep ocean waters for thousands of years, he says.
All these things cannot be said for other proposed solutions for taking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, methods such as ocean fertilisation, growing new forests or using crop residues in other ways, says Strand, who is lead author of a paper on the subject in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, published by the American Chemical Society.
Strand has devised a formula to measure the carbon-sequestration efficiency of this process and others using crop residues, something no one has done before. Carefully tallying how much carbon would be released during the harvest, transportation and sinking of 30 per cent of US crop residues and comparing that to how much carbon could be sequestered, Strand says the process would be 92 per cent efficient. That's more efficient than any other use of crop residue he considered, including simply leaving crop residue in the field, which is 14 per cent efficient at sequestering carbon, or using crop residue to produce ethanol, which avoids the use fossil fuels, but is only 32 per cent efficient.
Worldwide, farming is mankind's largest-scale activity. Thirty per cent of the world's crop residue represents 600 megatons of carbon that, if sequestered in the deep ocean with 92 per cent efficiency, would mean the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would be reduced from 4,000 megatons of carbon to 3,400 megatons annually, Strand says. That's about a 15 per cent decrease.
The proposed process would remove only above-ground residue. Strand bases his calculations on using 30 per cent of crop residue because that's what agricultural scientists say could sustainably be removed, the rest being needed to maintain carbon in the soil. Crop residue would be baled with existing equipment and transported by trucks, barges or trains to ports, just as crops are. The bales would be barged to where the ocean is 1,500 metres, or nearly a mile, deep and then the bales would be weighted with rock and sunk.
"The ocean waters below 1,500 metres do not mix significantly with the upper waters," Strand says. "In the deep ocean it is cold, oxygen is limited and there are few marine organisms that can break down crop residue. That means what is put there will stay there for thousands of years."
The article calls for research on the environmental effects of sinking crop residues in the ocean, effects that most likely will be borne by organisms living in the ocean sediments where the bales fall.
Strand says one way to minimise environmental effects would be to drop the residue onto alluvial fans found off the continental shelf wherever rivers pour into the ocean. Alluvial fans, sometimes call submarine fans when underwater, form as silt and debris from river water settles to the seafloor. Runoff from current agricultural fields means alluvial fans in the ocean are already partly made up of crop residue. Any bales dumped there would quickly be covered with silt, further ensuring the carbon would be sequestered for long periods.
Effects might also be minimised by concentrating the residue in a compact area. At the Mississippi alluvial fan in the Gulf of Mexico, spreading 30 per cent of US crop residue in an annual layer 4 metres, or 13 feet, deep would cover 260 square kilometres, or 100 square miles. That's about 0.02 per cent of the area of the Gulf of Mexico, Strand says.
"Whatever the environmental impacts of sinking crop residue in the oceans turn out to be, they will need to be viewed in light of the damage to oceans because of acidification and global warming if we don't remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere," Strand says.
Strand says he thinks any method for removing excess carbon dioxide must do seven things: move hundreds of megatons of carbon, sequester that carbon for thousands of years, be repeatable for centuries, be something that can be implemented immediately using methods already at hand, not cause unacceptable environmental damage and be economical. He says sequestering crop residue in the deep ocean fits the criteria better than any other proposed solution.
"To help save the upper ocean and continental ecosystems from severe disruption by climate change, we must not only stop our dependence on fossil fuels, but also go carbon negative," Strand says. "Fossil fuels that are removed from sediments and burned are producing the increased atmospheric carbon that is driving climate warming. Sequestering crop residue biomass in the deep ocean is essentially recycling atmospheric carbon back into deep sediments."
That is a significant amount of carbon, the process can be accomplished with existing technology and it can be done year after year, according to Stuart Strand, a University of Washington research professor. Further the technique would sequester or lock up the carbon in sea floor sediments and deep ocean waters for thousands of years, he says.
All these things cannot be said for other proposed solutions for taking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, methods such as ocean fertilisation, growing new forests or using crop residues in other ways, says Strand, who is lead author of a paper on the subject in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, published by the American Chemical Society.
Strand has devised a formula to measure the carbon-sequestration efficiency of this process and others using crop residues, something no one has done before. Carefully tallying how much carbon would be released during the harvest, transportation and sinking of 30 per cent of US crop residues and comparing that to how much carbon could be sequestered, Strand says the process would be 92 per cent efficient. That's more efficient than any other use of crop residue he considered, including simply leaving crop residue in the field, which is 14 per cent efficient at sequestering carbon, or using crop residue to produce ethanol, which avoids the use fossil fuels, but is only 32 per cent efficient.
Worldwide, farming is mankind's largest-scale activity. Thirty per cent of the world's crop residue represents 600 megatons of carbon that, if sequestered in the deep ocean with 92 per cent efficiency, would mean the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would be reduced from 4,000 megatons of carbon to 3,400 megatons annually, Strand says. That's about a 15 per cent decrease.
The proposed process would remove only above-ground residue. Strand bases his calculations on using 30 per cent of crop residue because that's what agricultural scientists say could sustainably be removed, the rest being needed to maintain carbon in the soil. Crop residue would be baled with existing equipment and transported by trucks, barges or trains to ports, just as crops are. The bales would be barged to where the ocean is 1,500 metres, or nearly a mile, deep and then the bales would be weighted with rock and sunk.
"The ocean waters below 1,500 metres do not mix significantly with the upper waters," Strand says. "In the deep ocean it is cold, oxygen is limited and there are few marine organisms that can break down crop residue. That means what is put there will stay there for thousands of years."
The article calls for research on the environmental effects of sinking crop residues in the ocean, effects that most likely will be borne by organisms living in the ocean sediments where the bales fall.
Strand says one way to minimise environmental effects would be to drop the residue onto alluvial fans found off the continental shelf wherever rivers pour into the ocean. Alluvial fans, sometimes call submarine fans when underwater, form as silt and debris from river water settles to the seafloor. Runoff from current agricultural fields means alluvial fans in the ocean are already partly made up of crop residue. Any bales dumped there would quickly be covered with silt, further ensuring the carbon would be sequestered for long periods.
Effects might also be minimised by concentrating the residue in a compact area. At the Mississippi alluvial fan in the Gulf of Mexico, spreading 30 per cent of US crop residue in an annual layer 4 metres, or 13 feet, deep would cover 260 square kilometres, or 100 square miles. That's about 0.02 per cent of the area of the Gulf of Mexico, Strand says.
"Whatever the environmental impacts of sinking crop residue in the oceans turn out to be, they will need to be viewed in light of the damage to oceans because of acidification and global warming if we don't remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere," Strand says.
Strand says he thinks any method for removing excess carbon dioxide must do seven things: move hundreds of megatons of carbon, sequester that carbon for thousands of years, be repeatable for centuries, be something that can be implemented immediately using methods already at hand, not cause unacceptable environmental damage and be economical. He says sequestering crop residue in the deep ocean fits the criteria better than any other proposed solution.
"To help save the upper ocean and continental ecosystems from severe disruption by climate change, we must not only stop our dependence on fossil fuels, but also go carbon negative," Strand says. "Fossil fuels that are removed from sediments and burned are producing the increased atmospheric carbon that is driving climate warming. Sequestering crop residue biomass in the deep ocean is essentially recycling atmospheric carbon back into deep sediments."
Novel Technology Could Produce Biofuel for Around €0.50 a Litre
A novel technology for synthesising chemicals from plant material could produce liquid fuel for just over €0.50 a litre (USD2.49 a gallon), say German scientists. But only if the infrastructure is set up in the right way, states the research published in a recent issue of Biofuels, Bioproducts & Biorefining.
Developed by scientists at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), this novel technology is known as bioliq, and is able to produce a range of different types of liquid fuel and chemicals from plant material such as wood and straw.
Bioliq involves first heating the plant material in the absence of air to around 500°C, a process known as pyrolysis. This produces a thick oily liquid containing solid particles of coke termed biosyncrude. The biosyncrude is then vaporised by exposing it to a stream of oxygen gas, before being heated at high pressures to a temperature of around 1400°C. Known as gasification, this process transforms the liquid biosyncrude into a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen termed syngas.
After any impurities are removed from this syngas, it can be catalytically converted into a range of different chemicals and fuels, including methanol, hydrogen and a synthetic version of diesel. This stage of the technology is fairly well developed, as syngas derived from coal and natural gas is already used to produce liquid fuels on a commercial scale in South Africa.
Bioliq is now taking its first steps towards commercialisation. In conjunction with the German process engineering company Lurgi, KIT is starting to construct a pilot plant based on the bioliq technology, which should be fully completed in 2012. Providing the technology works at this scale, the question then will be how best to implement bioliq at a larger scale, so that it can effectively compete with fossil fuels.
To try to come up with an answer, a team of KIT scientists led by Nicolaus Dahmen has used a simple economic model to calculate the cost of producing fuel at a bioliq plant with an annual production capacity of around 1 million tonnes. This is around a tenth of the size of a modern oil refinery, but is a similar size to refineries that produce liquid fuel from oil and gas.
Dahmen and his colleagues quickly realised that incorporating both the pyrolysis and gasification steps at this central plant wouldn't work, because of the problems and expense involved in transporting sufficient quantities of bulky straw and wood to the plant. They estimated that if sufficient plant material was transported on trucks, it would quickly bring the road network around the plant to a halt.
So they came up with an alternative set-up. "Biomass is pre-treated in around 50 regionally distributed pyrolysis plants to produce the biosyncrude," explains Dahmen. "This can then be transported economically over long distances to supply a central fuel production plant with a high capacity."
The advantage of this set-up is that it is much cheaper and more convenient to transport liquid biosyncrude than bulky wood and straw. This is especially the case if the biosyncrude is transported by rail, which is the most cost effective way to transport material over long distances. So Dahmen and his colleagues produced an economic model based on this set-up, which suggests that the bioliq technology can potentially produce liquid fuels for €0.50 a litre. This would still make the fuel more expensive than conventional petrol or diesel, but this difference could be greatly reduced if different levels of tax were applied to the fuels.
Developed by scientists at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), this novel technology is known as bioliq, and is able to produce a range of different types of liquid fuel and chemicals from plant material such as wood and straw.
Bioliq involves first heating the plant material in the absence of air to around 500°C, a process known as pyrolysis. This produces a thick oily liquid containing solid particles of coke termed biosyncrude. The biosyncrude is then vaporised by exposing it to a stream of oxygen gas, before being heated at high pressures to a temperature of around 1400°C. Known as gasification, this process transforms the liquid biosyncrude into a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen termed syngas.
After any impurities are removed from this syngas, it can be catalytically converted into a range of different chemicals and fuels, including methanol, hydrogen and a synthetic version of diesel. This stage of the technology is fairly well developed, as syngas derived from coal and natural gas is already used to produce liquid fuels on a commercial scale in South Africa.
Bioliq is now taking its first steps towards commercialisation. In conjunction with the German process engineering company Lurgi, KIT is starting to construct a pilot plant based on the bioliq technology, which should be fully completed in 2012. Providing the technology works at this scale, the question then will be how best to implement bioliq at a larger scale, so that it can effectively compete with fossil fuels.
To try to come up with an answer, a team of KIT scientists led by Nicolaus Dahmen has used a simple economic model to calculate the cost of producing fuel at a bioliq plant with an annual production capacity of around 1 million tonnes. This is around a tenth of the size of a modern oil refinery, but is a similar size to refineries that produce liquid fuel from oil and gas.
Dahmen and his colleagues quickly realised that incorporating both the pyrolysis and gasification steps at this central plant wouldn't work, because of the problems and expense involved in transporting sufficient quantities of bulky straw and wood to the plant. They estimated that if sufficient plant material was transported on trucks, it would quickly bring the road network around the plant to a halt.
So they came up with an alternative set-up. "Biomass is pre-treated in around 50 regionally distributed pyrolysis plants to produce the biosyncrude," explains Dahmen. "This can then be transported economically over long distances to supply a central fuel production plant with a high capacity."
The advantage of this set-up is that it is much cheaper and more convenient to transport liquid biosyncrude than bulky wood and straw. This is especially the case if the biosyncrude is transported by rail, which is the most cost effective way to transport material over long distances. So Dahmen and his colleagues produced an economic model based on this set-up, which suggests that the bioliq technology can potentially produce liquid fuels for €0.50 a litre. This would still make the fuel more expensive than conventional petrol or diesel, but this difference could be greatly reduced if different levels of tax were applied to the fuels.
Genome Sequence Shows Sorghum's Immense Potential
Southerners may best know sorghum as sweet, biscuit-topping syrup. But the small grain's uses range from a dependable, drought-tolerant food crop to biofuel source, says a University of Georgia researcher who led a team that recently sequenced the plant's genome.
"Sorghum's importance is enormous," said Andrew Paterson, a distinguished research professor and director of the Plant Genome Mapping Laboratory, a joint unit of the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and Franklin College of Arts and Sciences.
Paterson and his collaborators, from as close as South Carolina and as far away as India, Pakistan and Germany, mapped and analysed the genome of Sorghum bicolor, placing 98 per cent of its genes in their chromosomal context. At 730 million bases, or letters of DNA, sorghum has a genetic code a quarter the size of the human genome.
The results of the study appear in the January 2009 issue of international science journal Nature.
Drought tolerance makes sorghum important in dry regions like northeast Africa and the US southern plains. It needs only half the water it takes to grow corn.
"Not nearly as much has been invested in sorghum as in corn," Paterson said. "According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, sorghum yields increased less than one per cent per year over the last 45 years, only about half the rate of corn, rice and wheat yields. Something is wrong with this picture. If new information and tools from the sequencing change that, it'll improve millions of people's lives."
The sorghum that Paterson studied is drought tolerant, but its wild cousins can survive on even less water and resist more diseases and pests. Breeders can use the sequence as a tool to blend desirable traits into more improved commercial plants.
The sequenced sorghum genome is also being used to improve biofuel crops like sugarcane and Miscanthus, a genus of 15 species of perennial grasses that is a leading biofuel crop in Europe. These plants have much larger and more complicated genomes than sorghum, a close relative that can be a guide to accelerating their improvement.
In the US now, it's not clear whether Miscanthus or switchgrass will dominate the biofuel arena, he said, but recent side-by-side studies show that Miscanthus out yields switchgrass by as much as three to one.
Sorghum is also used to make biofuel and currently is the second largest source of fuel ethanol in the US. Corn is first. There is a shift taking place away from seed-based biofuel produced today to cellulose-based production, a process for which sorghum also shows great promise. That is why the US Department of Energy's Joint Genome Institute got involved with sorghum sequencing.
"Sorghum's importance is enormous," said Andrew Paterson, a distinguished research professor and director of the Plant Genome Mapping Laboratory, a joint unit of the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and Franklin College of Arts and Sciences.
Paterson and his collaborators, from as close as South Carolina and as far away as India, Pakistan and Germany, mapped and analysed the genome of Sorghum bicolor, placing 98 per cent of its genes in their chromosomal context. At 730 million bases, or letters of DNA, sorghum has a genetic code a quarter the size of the human genome.
The results of the study appear in the January 2009 issue of international science journal Nature.
Drought tolerance makes sorghum important in dry regions like northeast Africa and the US southern plains. It needs only half the water it takes to grow corn.
"Not nearly as much has been invested in sorghum as in corn," Paterson said. "According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, sorghum yields increased less than one per cent per year over the last 45 years, only about half the rate of corn, rice and wheat yields. Something is wrong with this picture. If new information and tools from the sequencing change that, it'll improve millions of people's lives."
The sorghum that Paterson studied is drought tolerant, but its wild cousins can survive on even less water and resist more diseases and pests. Breeders can use the sequence as a tool to blend desirable traits into more improved commercial plants.
The sequenced sorghum genome is also being used to improve biofuel crops like sugarcane and Miscanthus, a genus of 15 species of perennial grasses that is a leading biofuel crop in Europe. These plants have much larger and more complicated genomes than sorghum, a close relative that can be a guide to accelerating their improvement.
In the US now, it's not clear whether Miscanthus or switchgrass will dominate the biofuel arena, he said, but recent side-by-side studies show that Miscanthus out yields switchgrass by as much as three to one.
Sorghum is also used to make biofuel and currently is the second largest source of fuel ethanol in the US. Corn is first. There is a shift taking place away from seed-based biofuel produced today to cellulose-based production, a process for which sorghum also shows great promise. That is why the US Department of Energy's Joint Genome Institute got involved with sorghum sequencing.
African Green Blog for Sustainability
The green blog, GreenBusinessAfrica.com, a news, networking and resource site for executives and organisations operating in Africa that are intent on projecting and sharing their green credentials has launched in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.
The web site www.GreenBusinessAfrica.com will also be an interactive forum about sustaining the essence of business in Africa. “Here, lots of resources, tools, news and networks are to be found. These will keep any entrepreneurs, professionals, executives, manufacturers or consumers abreast with the trajectories of green business environment”, the blog’s editor, Sam Ooko, said.
It’s easy to use design is meant to make it an online portal for businesses operating in Africa that inculcate environmental sustainability and social responsibility as part of the modern business process and become the ultimate African platform on green business.
“GreenBusinessAfrica.com is a green portal for businesses operating in Africa that inculcate environmental sustainability and social responsibility as part of the modern business process and is the ultimate African platform on greening of business with daily news updates”, Ooko added.
Sustainability is increasingly becoming part of the business process and African firms have been struggling with efforts to catch up with the rest of the world. Africa is also emerging as an important market place for carbon credit financing whereas environmental projects that help African nations to adapt to climate change are springing up everywhere on the continent.
But many executives see themselves under increasing scrutiny for their social responsibility and environmental sustainability by governments, funding agencies, the consuming public and their own peers.
Now eco-values must be part of doing business in a continent where many nations are struggling to reach their Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which include conformity with global standards on environmental sustainability and access to basic social needs like water, sanitation and health.
GreenBusinessAfrica.com will review trends, policies, news, products, applications and innovations about social responsibility, environmental sustainability, and green technologies including sustainable energy.
The web site www.GreenBusinessAfrica.com will also be an interactive forum about sustaining the essence of business in Africa. “Here, lots of resources, tools, news and networks are to be found. These will keep any entrepreneurs, professionals, executives, manufacturers or consumers abreast with the trajectories of green business environment”, the blog’s editor, Sam Ooko, said.
It’s easy to use design is meant to make it an online portal for businesses operating in Africa that inculcate environmental sustainability and social responsibility as part of the modern business process and become the ultimate African platform on green business.
“GreenBusinessAfrica.com is a green portal for businesses operating in Africa that inculcate environmental sustainability and social responsibility as part of the modern business process and is the ultimate African platform on greening of business with daily news updates”, Ooko added.
Sustainability is increasingly becoming part of the business process and African firms have been struggling with efforts to catch up with the rest of the world. Africa is also emerging as an important market place for carbon credit financing whereas environmental projects that help African nations to adapt to climate change are springing up everywhere on the continent.
But many executives see themselves under increasing scrutiny for their social responsibility and environmental sustainability by governments, funding agencies, the consuming public and their own peers.
Now eco-values must be part of doing business in a continent where many nations are struggling to reach their Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which include conformity with global standards on environmental sustainability and access to basic social needs like water, sanitation and health.
GreenBusinessAfrica.com will review trends, policies, news, products, applications and innovations about social responsibility, environmental sustainability, and green technologies including sustainable energy.
Smart Lighting: New LED Drops the “Droop”
Researchers use streamlined polarisation to boost performance of LEDs
Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed and demonstrated a new type of light emitting diode (LED) with significantly improved lighting performance and energy efficiency. The new polarisation-matched LED, developed in collaboration with Samsung Electro-Mechanics, exhibits an 18 per cent increase in light output and a 22 per cent increase in wall-plug efficiency, which essentially measures the amount of electricity the LED converts into light.
The new device achieves a notable reduction in “efficiency droop,” a well-known phenomenon that provokes LEDs to be most efficient when receiving low-density currents of electricity, but then to lose efficiency as higher density currents of electricity are fed into the device. The cause of this droop is not yet fully understood, but studies have shown that electron leakage is likely a large part of the problem.
“This droop is under the spotlight since today’s high-brightness LEDs are operated at current densities far beyond where efficiency peaks,” said project leader E. Fred Schubert, Wellfleet Senior Constellation Professor of Future Chips at Rensselaer, and head of the university’s National Science Foundation-funded Smart Lighting Engineering Research Centre.
“This challenge has been a stumbling block, because reducing the current densities to values where LEDs are more efficient is unacceptable. Our new LED, however, which has a radically re-designed active region, namely a polarisation-matched active region, tackles this issue and brings LEDs closer to being able to operate efficiently at high current densities,” Schubert said.
Results of the study are explained in a paper published online by Applied Physics Letters.
Focusing on the active region of LEDs where the light is generated, Schubert’s team discovered the region contained materials with mismatched polarisation. The polarisation mismatch likely causes electron leakage, and therefore a loss of efficiency, Schubert said.
The researchers discovered that the polarisation mismatch can be strongly reduced by introducing a new quantum-barrier design. They replaced the conventional Gallium Indium Nitride/Gallium Nitride (GaInN/GaN) layer of the LED active region, and replaced it with Gallium Indium Nitride/ Gallium Indium Nitride (GaInN/GaInN). This substitution allows the layers of the active region to have a better matched polarisation, and in turn reduce both electron leakage and efficiency droop.
The benefits seen by testing the new GaInN/GaInN LED were consistent with theoretical simulations showing polarisation matching reducing electron leakage and efficiency droop.
Schubert expects that a new wave of lighting devices based on LEDs and solid-state lighting will supplant the common light bulb in coming years, leading to vast environmental, energy, and cost benefits as well as innovations in healthcare, transportation systems, digital displays, and computer networking.
Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed and demonstrated a new type of light emitting diode (LED) with significantly improved lighting performance and energy efficiency. The new polarisation-matched LED, developed in collaboration with Samsung Electro-Mechanics, exhibits an 18 per cent increase in light output and a 22 per cent increase in wall-plug efficiency, which essentially measures the amount of electricity the LED converts into light.
The new device achieves a notable reduction in “efficiency droop,” a well-known phenomenon that provokes LEDs to be most efficient when receiving low-density currents of electricity, but then to lose efficiency as higher density currents of electricity are fed into the device. The cause of this droop is not yet fully understood, but studies have shown that electron leakage is likely a large part of the problem.
“This droop is under the spotlight since today’s high-brightness LEDs are operated at current densities far beyond where efficiency peaks,” said project leader E. Fred Schubert, Wellfleet Senior Constellation Professor of Future Chips at Rensselaer, and head of the university’s National Science Foundation-funded Smart Lighting Engineering Research Centre.
“This challenge has been a stumbling block, because reducing the current densities to values where LEDs are more efficient is unacceptable. Our new LED, however, which has a radically re-designed active region, namely a polarisation-matched active region, tackles this issue and brings LEDs closer to being able to operate efficiently at high current densities,” Schubert said.
Results of the study are explained in a paper published online by Applied Physics Letters.
Focusing on the active region of LEDs where the light is generated, Schubert’s team discovered the region contained materials with mismatched polarisation. The polarisation mismatch likely causes electron leakage, and therefore a loss of efficiency, Schubert said.
The researchers discovered that the polarisation mismatch can be strongly reduced by introducing a new quantum-barrier design. They replaced the conventional Gallium Indium Nitride/Gallium Nitride (GaInN/GaN) layer of the LED active region, and replaced it with Gallium Indium Nitride/ Gallium Indium Nitride (GaInN/GaInN). This substitution allows the layers of the active region to have a better matched polarisation, and in turn reduce both electron leakage and efficiency droop.
The benefits seen by testing the new GaInN/GaInN LED were consistent with theoretical simulations showing polarisation matching reducing electron leakage and efficiency droop.
Schubert expects that a new wave of lighting devices based on LEDs and solid-state lighting will supplant the common light bulb in coming years, leading to vast environmental, energy, and cost benefits as well as innovations in healthcare, transportation systems, digital displays, and computer networking.
Sailors’ Historic Scourge May Hold the Key to Bioenergy Future
For centuries a wood-boring marine isopod was considered little more than a nautical nuisance. It bored its way into the wooden hulls of ships, turning seafaring into an even more perilous undertaking.
But now the humble ‘gribble’ could hold the key to the production of sustainable carbon-neutral fuels, thanks to their unusual digestive system.
Scientists at the University of York believe that potent digestive enzymes that the gribble produces to convert wood into the sugars they live on, could be harnessed as a crucial component in making liquid biofuels.
Researchers in CNAP, the Centre for Novel Agricultural Products in the University’s Department of Biology, are part of the UK’s biggest ever public investment in bioenergy research. The centre aims to provide the science that could help to replace the petrol in our cars with fuels derived from plants through a variety of research projects.
The York project, headed by Professor Simon McQueen-Mason, is working with marine biologists at Portsmouth University to identify the enzymes in the gribble’s digestive tract that are the most efficient in breaking down wood.
Professor McQueen-Mason said: "Producing sugar from non-food biomass, such as wood or straw, in a sustainable way is one of the biggest challenges we face. The problem is that the sugars that we need to use are tied up in the stems of plants, in complex polysaccharides of the cell walls. If we can get these sugars out of biomass, in a cost effective manner, they can be fermented to produce the liquid biofuels we need to replace petrol.
"Most animals that consume wood have digestive tracts packed with microbes that help to digest the cell wall polymers, but the gribble’s is sterile, so it must produce all the enzymes needed to break down the wood itself. We have done extensive DNA sequencing of the genes expressed in its gut, and we have detected celluloses never seen in animals before. We want to see if it’s possible to adapt the gribble digestive enzymes for industrial purposes."
Minister of State for Science and Innovation, Lord Drayson, said: "Investing GBP27 million in this new centre involves the single biggest UK public investment in bioenergy research. The centre is exactly the sort of initiative this country needs to lead the way in transforming the exciting potential of sustainable biofuels into a widespread technology that can replace fossil fuels. The expertise and resources of the University of York makes it well placed to make a valuable contribution to the new BBSRC Sustainable Bioenergy Centre and help to make sustainable, environmentally-friendly bioenergy a reality."
The Centre aims to make sustainable bioenergy a practical solution by improving not only the yield and quality of non-food biomass and the processes used to convert this into biofuels but ensuring that the whole system is economically and socially viable.
BBSRC Chief Executive, Prof Douglas Kell, said: "The UK has a world leading research base in plant and microbial science. The BBSRC Sustainable Bioenergy Centre draws together some of these world beating scientists in order to help develop technology and understanding to support the sustainable bioenergy sector.
"By working closely with industrial partners, the Centre’s scientists will be able to quickly translate their progress into practical solutions to all our benefit – and ultimately, by supporting the sustainable bioenergy sector, help to create thousands of new ‘green collar’ jobs in the UK."
SOURCE: THE UNIVERSITY OF YORK
But now the humble ‘gribble’ could hold the key to the production of sustainable carbon-neutral fuels, thanks to their unusual digestive system.
Scientists at the University of York believe that potent digestive enzymes that the gribble produces to convert wood into the sugars they live on, could be harnessed as a crucial component in making liquid biofuels.
Researchers in CNAP, the Centre for Novel Agricultural Products in the University’s Department of Biology, are part of the UK’s biggest ever public investment in bioenergy research. The centre aims to provide the science that could help to replace the petrol in our cars with fuels derived from plants through a variety of research projects.
The York project, headed by Professor Simon McQueen-Mason, is working with marine biologists at Portsmouth University to identify the enzymes in the gribble’s digestive tract that are the most efficient in breaking down wood.
Professor McQueen-Mason said: "Producing sugar from non-food biomass, such as wood or straw, in a sustainable way is one of the biggest challenges we face. The problem is that the sugars that we need to use are tied up in the stems of plants, in complex polysaccharides of the cell walls. If we can get these sugars out of biomass, in a cost effective manner, they can be fermented to produce the liquid biofuels we need to replace petrol.
"Most animals that consume wood have digestive tracts packed with microbes that help to digest the cell wall polymers, but the gribble’s is sterile, so it must produce all the enzymes needed to break down the wood itself. We have done extensive DNA sequencing of the genes expressed in its gut, and we have detected celluloses never seen in animals before. We want to see if it’s possible to adapt the gribble digestive enzymes for industrial purposes."
Minister of State for Science and Innovation, Lord Drayson, said: "Investing GBP27 million in this new centre involves the single biggest UK public investment in bioenergy research. The centre is exactly the sort of initiative this country needs to lead the way in transforming the exciting potential of sustainable biofuels into a widespread technology that can replace fossil fuels. The expertise and resources of the University of York makes it well placed to make a valuable contribution to the new BBSRC Sustainable Bioenergy Centre and help to make sustainable, environmentally-friendly bioenergy a reality."
The Centre aims to make sustainable bioenergy a practical solution by improving not only the yield and quality of non-food biomass and the processes used to convert this into biofuels but ensuring that the whole system is economically and socially viable.
BBSRC Chief Executive, Prof Douglas Kell, said: "The UK has a world leading research base in plant and microbial science. The BBSRC Sustainable Bioenergy Centre draws together some of these world beating scientists in order to help develop technology and understanding to support the sustainable bioenergy sector.
"By working closely with industrial partners, the Centre’s scientists will be able to quickly translate their progress into practical solutions to all our benefit – and ultimately, by supporting the sustainable bioenergy sector, help to create thousands of new ‘green collar’ jobs in the UK."
SOURCE: THE UNIVERSITY OF YORK
G-20 Summit in April Will Look at Boosting Low-Carbon Economy
The creation of a low-carbon economy will be high on the agenda at an April summit of the leaders of 20 major economies (G-20), according to a senior British official.
The G-20 leaders, including US President Barack Obama, will meet in London on 2 April to discuss ways to address the financial crisis. The heads of state will thrash out the outlines of a new international framework to govern global finance, following the banking crisis that has plunged the global economy into the worst recession in years.
Simon Fraser, Director General for Europe and Globalisation at Britain's Foreign and Commonwealth Office, told Kyodo News that the fiscal stimulus measures will also lead to the creation of a low-carbon world economy.
"We must make sure that the actions that we take in dealing with this crisis help to equip us in the long-term for a low-carbon, more effective, cleaner global economy going to the future," Fraser said. "If we are pumping money out now as governments, then let's make sure that that money is going to be used in ways that promote long-term sustainable growth."
The United Kingdom, the United States, Japan and the Republic of Korea are the latest in a growing number of countries that are turning to a 'Green New Deal', a plan advocated by UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
The Global Green New Deal and Green Economy Initiative, launched by UNEP in October, is a plan to tackle the economic slump by investing in a high job-generating and better-managed global economy. The idea is to address the economic crisis and tackle climate change by spurring investments in green technology, creating green jobs, and developing a low-carbon, low-impact and better-managed global economy.
The G-20 leaders, including US President Barack Obama, will meet in London on 2 April to discuss ways to address the financial crisis. The heads of state will thrash out the outlines of a new international framework to govern global finance, following the banking crisis that has plunged the global economy into the worst recession in years.
Simon Fraser, Director General for Europe and Globalisation at Britain's Foreign and Commonwealth Office, told Kyodo News that the fiscal stimulus measures will also lead to the creation of a low-carbon world economy.
"We must make sure that the actions that we take in dealing with this crisis help to equip us in the long-term for a low-carbon, more effective, cleaner global economy going to the future," Fraser said. "If we are pumping money out now as governments, then let's make sure that that money is going to be used in ways that promote long-term sustainable growth."
The United Kingdom, the United States, Japan and the Republic of Korea are the latest in a growing number of countries that are turning to a 'Green New Deal', a plan advocated by UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
The Global Green New Deal and Green Economy Initiative, launched by UNEP in October, is a plan to tackle the economic slump by investing in a high job-generating and better-managed global economy. The idea is to address the economic crisis and tackle climate change by spurring investments in green technology, creating green jobs, and developing a low-carbon, low-impact and better-managed global economy.
Urban Trees Enhance Water Infiltration
A group of scientists investigate innovative ways to manage urban storm water runoff.
Global land use patterns and increasing pressures on water resources demand creative urban storm water management. Traditional storm water management focuses on regulating the flow of runoff to waterways, but generally does little to restore the hydrologic cycle disrupted by extensive pavement and compacted urban soils with low permeability. The lack of infiltration opportunities affects groundwater recharge and has negative repercussions on water quality downstream. Researchers know that urban forests, like rural forest land, can play a pivotal role in storm water mitigation, but developing approaches that exploit the ability of trees to handle storm water is difficult in highly built city cores or in urban sprawl where asphalt can be the dominant cover feature.
A group of researchers from Virginia Tech, Cornell, and University of California at Davis have been investigating innovative ways to maximise the potential of trees to address storm water in a series of studies supported by the US Forest Service’s Urban and Community Forestry Grants Program. The results of the studies were published in a recent issue of the Journal of Environmental Quality.
Virginia Tech scientists used two container experiments to establish that urban tree roots have the potential to penetrate compacted sub-soils and increase infiltration rates in reservoirs being used to store storm water. In one study, roots of both black oak and red maple trees penetrated clay loam soil compacted to 1.6 g cm-3, increasing infiltration rates by an average of 153 per cent.
In another experiment, researchers created a small-scale version of the storm water best management practice (BMP) under study by the three universities. This BMP includes a below-pavement storm water detention reservoir constructed of structural soil. Structural soils are engineered mixes designed to both support pavement loads and simultaneously provide rooting space for trees. In this study, green ash trees increased the average infiltration rate by 27 fold compared with unplanted controls. In the experiment, a structural soil reservoir was separated from compacted clay loam subsoil (1.6 g cm 3) by a woven geotextile in 102-liter containers. The roots of ash trees planted in the structural soil penetrated both the geotextile and the subsoil within two years.
“Although we observed many roots penetrating the geotextile, roots really proliferated where there was a slight tear in the fabric,” said Susan Day, the project’s lead investigator. “Manipulating root penetration through these separation geotextiles could potentially play a large role in bio-retention system function and design, especially since the potentially saturated soils beneath detention reservoirs may have reduced soil strength, increasing opportunities for root growth by some species.”
Structural soil reservoirs may thus provide new opportunities for meeting engineering, environmental, and green space management needs in urban areas. Further research is needed on the effects of tree roots and detention time on water quality in structural soils. Monitoring continues at four demonstration sites around the country and updated information is posted as it becomes available at www.cnr.vt.edu/urbanforestry/stormwater.
Global land use patterns and increasing pressures on water resources demand creative urban storm water management. Traditional storm water management focuses on regulating the flow of runoff to waterways, but generally does little to restore the hydrologic cycle disrupted by extensive pavement and compacted urban soils with low permeability. The lack of infiltration opportunities affects groundwater recharge and has negative repercussions on water quality downstream. Researchers know that urban forests, like rural forest land, can play a pivotal role in storm water mitigation, but developing approaches that exploit the ability of trees to handle storm water is difficult in highly built city cores or in urban sprawl where asphalt can be the dominant cover feature.
A group of researchers from Virginia Tech, Cornell, and University of California at Davis have been investigating innovative ways to maximise the potential of trees to address storm water in a series of studies supported by the US Forest Service’s Urban and Community Forestry Grants Program. The results of the studies were published in a recent issue of the Journal of Environmental Quality.
Virginia Tech scientists used two container experiments to establish that urban tree roots have the potential to penetrate compacted sub-soils and increase infiltration rates in reservoirs being used to store storm water. In one study, roots of both black oak and red maple trees penetrated clay loam soil compacted to 1.6 g cm-3, increasing infiltration rates by an average of 153 per cent.
In another experiment, researchers created a small-scale version of the storm water best management practice (BMP) under study by the three universities. This BMP includes a below-pavement storm water detention reservoir constructed of structural soil. Structural soils are engineered mixes designed to both support pavement loads and simultaneously provide rooting space for trees. In this study, green ash trees increased the average infiltration rate by 27 fold compared with unplanted controls. In the experiment, a structural soil reservoir was separated from compacted clay loam subsoil (1.6 g cm 3) by a woven geotextile in 102-liter containers. The roots of ash trees planted in the structural soil penetrated both the geotextile and the subsoil within two years.
“Although we observed many roots penetrating the geotextile, roots really proliferated where there was a slight tear in the fabric,” said Susan Day, the project’s lead investigator. “Manipulating root penetration through these separation geotextiles could potentially play a large role in bio-retention system function and design, especially since the potentially saturated soils beneath detention reservoirs may have reduced soil strength, increasing opportunities for root growth by some species.”
Structural soil reservoirs may thus provide new opportunities for meeting engineering, environmental, and green space management needs in urban areas. Further research is needed on the effects of tree roots and detention time on water quality in structural soils. Monitoring continues at four demonstration sites around the country and updated information is posted as it becomes available at www.cnr.vt.edu/urbanforestry/stormwater.
Managing Carbon Loss
New research reported in Agronomy Journal shows cover crops and composting can offset carbon loss from corn stover ethanol production.
As the United States continues to develop alternative energy methods and push towards energy independence, cellulosic-based ethanol has emerged as one of the most commercially viable technologies. Corn stover remains the most popular source available, but the loss of soil organic carbon (SOC) associated with the removal of corn fodder as a cellulosic ethanol feedstock is of agricultural and environmental concern.
In a recent issue of Agronomy Journal, scientists from Michigan State University report on the effectiveness of carbon augmentation practices, including the integration of cover crops, manure, and compost, to supplant carbon loss in corn stover removed cropping systems. The results indicate that corn stover based bioenergy cropping systems can be managed to increase short-term carbon sequestration rates and reduce overall net global warming potential by using no-till planting methods and a manure-based nutrient management system.
The research team measured soil carbon changes as well as nitrous oxide and methane gas emissions from corn stover-ethanol field plots managed under various carbon augmentation practices. In addition to the gas emissions measured in the field, other carbon emissions assessed included estimates for the manufacturing carbon cost of crop inputs; methane emissions from the livestock manure source; methane and nitrous oxides generated during manure storage and application; and the fuel used in crop production and in gathering and land applying the manure.
“These results show that bioenergy cropping systems, particularly those integrating livestock manure into their management scheme, are a win-win option on both alternative energy and environmental fronts,” says Kurt Thelen, member of the research team.
Thelen says this research demonstrates that under proper management, livestock manure can supplant carbon lost from corn stover removal, and actually provide an environmental benefit, both in terms of greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation, and from the established improved soil properties associated with increasing SOC levels such as increased water retention.
“For every gallon of gasoline burned, the equivalent of 19 lbs of CO2 is released to the atmosphere which contributes to the environmental GHG problem,” says Thelen. “Conversely, this work shows that in the not too distant future, choosing a cellulosic ethanol alternative at the pump may actually result in a net removal of CO2 from the atmosphere.”
Research is ongoing at Michigan State University to evaluate the environmental, agronomic, and economic sustainability of bioenergy cropping systems.
As the United States continues to develop alternative energy methods and push towards energy independence, cellulosic-based ethanol has emerged as one of the most commercially viable technologies. Corn stover remains the most popular source available, but the loss of soil organic carbon (SOC) associated with the removal of corn fodder as a cellulosic ethanol feedstock is of agricultural and environmental concern.
In a recent issue of Agronomy Journal, scientists from Michigan State University report on the effectiveness of carbon augmentation practices, including the integration of cover crops, manure, and compost, to supplant carbon loss in corn stover removed cropping systems. The results indicate that corn stover based bioenergy cropping systems can be managed to increase short-term carbon sequestration rates and reduce overall net global warming potential by using no-till planting methods and a manure-based nutrient management system.
The research team measured soil carbon changes as well as nitrous oxide and methane gas emissions from corn stover-ethanol field plots managed under various carbon augmentation practices. In addition to the gas emissions measured in the field, other carbon emissions assessed included estimates for the manufacturing carbon cost of crop inputs; methane emissions from the livestock manure source; methane and nitrous oxides generated during manure storage and application; and the fuel used in crop production and in gathering and land applying the manure.
“These results show that bioenergy cropping systems, particularly those integrating livestock manure into their management scheme, are a win-win option on both alternative energy and environmental fronts,” says Kurt Thelen, member of the research team.
Thelen says this research demonstrates that under proper management, livestock manure can supplant carbon lost from corn stover removal, and actually provide an environmental benefit, both in terms of greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation, and from the established improved soil properties associated with increasing SOC levels such as increased water retention.
“For every gallon of gasoline burned, the equivalent of 19 lbs of CO2 is released to the atmosphere which contributes to the environmental GHG problem,” says Thelen. “Conversely, this work shows that in the not too distant future, choosing a cellulosic ethanol alternative at the pump may actually result in a net removal of CO2 from the atmosphere.”
Research is ongoing at Michigan State University to evaluate the environmental, agronomic, and economic sustainability of bioenergy cropping systems.
Geo Engineering Could Complement Mitigation to Cool the Climate
The first comprehensive assessment of the climate cooling potential of different geo engineering schemes has been carried out by researchers at the University of East Anglia (UEA). Funded by the Natural Environment Research Council and published in the journal 'Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions', the key findings include:
Enhancing carbon sinks could bring CO2 back to its pre-industrial level, but not before 2100 – and only when combined with strong mitigation of CO2 emissions
Stratospheric aerosol injections and sunshades in space have by far the greatest potential to cool the climate by 2050 - but also carry the greatest risk
Surprisingly, existing activities that add phosphorous to the ocean may have greater long-term carbon sequestration potential than deliberately adding iron or nitrogen
On land, sequestering carbon in new forests and as 'bio-char' (charcoal added back to the soil) have greater short-term cooling potential than ocean fertilisation
Increasing the reflectivity of urban areas could reduce urban heat islands but will have minimal global effect
Other globally ineffective schemes include ocean pipes and stimulating biologically-driven increases in cloud reflectivity
The beneficial effects of some geo-engineering schemes have been exaggerated in the past and significant errors made in previous calculations
"The realisation that existing efforts to mitigate the effects of human-induced climate change are proving wholly ineffectual has fuelled a resurgence of interest in geo-engineering," said lead author Prof Tim Lenton of UEA's School of Environmental Sciences. "This paper provides the first extensive evaluation of their relative merits in terms of their climate cooling potential and should help inform the prioritisation of future research."
Geo-engineering is the large-scale engineering of the environment to combat the effects of climate change – in particular to counteract the effects of increased CO2 in the atmosphere. A number of schemes have been suggested including nutrient fertilisation of the oceans, cloud seeding, sunshades in space, stratospheric aerosol injections, and ocean pipes.
"We found that some geo engineering options could usefully complement mitigation, and together they could cool the climate, but geo engineering alone cannot solve the climate problem," said Prof Lenton. Injections into the stratosphere of sulphate or other manufactured particles have the greatest potential to cool the climate back to pre-industrial temperatures by 2050.
However, they also carry the most risk because they would have to be continually replenished and if deployment was suddenly stopped, extremely rapid warming could ensue. Using biomass waste and new forestry plantations for energy, and combusting them in a way that captures carbon as charcoal, which is added back to the soil as 'bio-char', could have win-win benefits for soil fertility as well as the climate.
A new combined heat and power plant at UEA is pioneering this type of technology.UEA's School of Environmental Sciences leads the world in climate change research and is creating a new Geo Engineering Assessment & Research initiative (GEAR) to take this groundbreaking work forward.
Enhancing carbon sinks could bring CO2 back to its pre-industrial level, but not before 2100 – and only when combined with strong mitigation of CO2 emissions
Stratospheric aerosol injections and sunshades in space have by far the greatest potential to cool the climate by 2050 - but also carry the greatest risk
Surprisingly, existing activities that add phosphorous to the ocean may have greater long-term carbon sequestration potential than deliberately adding iron or nitrogen
On land, sequestering carbon in new forests and as 'bio-char' (charcoal added back to the soil) have greater short-term cooling potential than ocean fertilisation
Increasing the reflectivity of urban areas could reduce urban heat islands but will have minimal global effect
Other globally ineffective schemes include ocean pipes and stimulating biologically-driven increases in cloud reflectivity
The beneficial effects of some geo-engineering schemes have been exaggerated in the past and significant errors made in previous calculations
"The realisation that existing efforts to mitigate the effects of human-induced climate change are proving wholly ineffectual has fuelled a resurgence of interest in geo-engineering," said lead author Prof Tim Lenton of UEA's School of Environmental Sciences. "This paper provides the first extensive evaluation of their relative merits in terms of their climate cooling potential and should help inform the prioritisation of future research."
Geo-engineering is the large-scale engineering of the environment to combat the effects of climate change – in particular to counteract the effects of increased CO2 in the atmosphere. A number of schemes have been suggested including nutrient fertilisation of the oceans, cloud seeding, sunshades in space, stratospheric aerosol injections, and ocean pipes.
"We found that some geo engineering options could usefully complement mitigation, and together they could cool the climate, but geo engineering alone cannot solve the climate problem," said Prof Lenton. Injections into the stratosphere of sulphate or other manufactured particles have the greatest potential to cool the climate back to pre-industrial temperatures by 2050.
However, they also carry the most risk because they would have to be continually replenished and if deployment was suddenly stopped, extremely rapid warming could ensue. Using biomass waste and new forestry plantations for energy, and combusting them in a way that captures carbon as charcoal, which is added back to the soil as 'bio-char', could have win-win benefits for soil fertility as well as the climate.
A new combined heat and power plant at UEA is pioneering this type of technology.UEA's School of Environmental Sciences leads the world in climate change research and is creating a new Geo Engineering Assessment & Research initiative (GEAR) to take this groundbreaking work forward.
Biofuels Ignite Food Crisis Debate
Study highlights problems linked to converting crops into biofuels
Taking up valuable land and growing edible crops for biofuels poses a dilemma: Is it ethical to produce inefficient renewable energies at the expense of an already malnourished population?
David Pimentel and his colleagues from Cornell University in New York highlight the problems linked to converting a variety of crops into biofuels. Not only are these renewable energies inefficient, they are also economically and environmentally costly and nowhere near as productive as projected. Their findings are published online in the journal Human Ecology.
In the context of global shortages of fossil energy, oil and natural gas in particular, governments worldwide are focusing on biofuels as renewable energy alternatives. In parallel, almost 60 per cent of the world’s population is malnourished increasing the need for grains and other basic foods. Growing crops, including corn, sugarcane and soybean, for fuel uses water and energy resources vital for the production of food for human consumption.
Professor Pimentel and his team review the availability and use of land, water and current energy resources globally, and then look at the situation in the US specifically. They also analyse biomass resources and show that there is insufficient US biomass for both ethanol and biodiesel production to make the US oil independent.
Their paper then looks at the efficiency and costs associated with converting a range of crops into energy and shows that in each case more energy is required for this process than they actually produce as fuel. The research finds a negative energy return of 46 per cent for corn ethanol, 50 per cent for switchgrass, 63 per cent for soybean biodiesel and 58 per cent for rapeseed. Even the most promising palm oil production results in a minus 8 per cent net energy return. There are also a number of environmental problems linked to converting crops for biofuels, including water pollution from fertilisers and pesticides, global warming, soil erosion and air pollution.
In the researchers’ opinion, there is simply not enough land, water and energy to produce biofuels. They also argue that ironically, the US is becoming more oil-dependent, not less, as was intended through the production of biofuels. In most cases, more fossil energy is required to produce a unit of biofuel compared with the energy that it provides. As a result, the US is importing more oil and natural gas in order to make the biofuels.
The authors conclude that “Growing crops for biofuels not only ignores the need to reduce natural resource consumption, but exacerbates the problem of malnourishment worldwide by turning food grain into biofuels. Increased use of biofuels further damages the global environment and especially the world food system.”
Taking up valuable land and growing edible crops for biofuels poses a dilemma: Is it ethical to produce inefficient renewable energies at the expense of an already malnourished population?
David Pimentel and his colleagues from Cornell University in New York highlight the problems linked to converting a variety of crops into biofuels. Not only are these renewable energies inefficient, they are also economically and environmentally costly and nowhere near as productive as projected. Their findings are published online in the journal Human Ecology.
In the context of global shortages of fossil energy, oil and natural gas in particular, governments worldwide are focusing on biofuels as renewable energy alternatives. In parallel, almost 60 per cent of the world’s population is malnourished increasing the need for grains and other basic foods. Growing crops, including corn, sugarcane and soybean, for fuel uses water and energy resources vital for the production of food for human consumption.
Professor Pimentel and his team review the availability and use of land, water and current energy resources globally, and then look at the situation in the US specifically. They also analyse biomass resources and show that there is insufficient US biomass for both ethanol and biodiesel production to make the US oil independent.
Their paper then looks at the efficiency and costs associated with converting a range of crops into energy and shows that in each case more energy is required for this process than they actually produce as fuel. The research finds a negative energy return of 46 per cent for corn ethanol, 50 per cent for switchgrass, 63 per cent for soybean biodiesel and 58 per cent for rapeseed. Even the most promising palm oil production results in a minus 8 per cent net energy return. There are also a number of environmental problems linked to converting crops for biofuels, including water pollution from fertilisers and pesticides, global warming, soil erosion and air pollution.
In the researchers’ opinion, there is simply not enough land, water and energy to produce biofuels. They also argue that ironically, the US is becoming more oil-dependent, not less, as was intended through the production of biofuels. In most cases, more fossil energy is required to produce a unit of biofuel compared with the energy that it provides. As a result, the US is importing more oil and natural gas in order to make the biofuels.
The authors conclude that “Growing crops for biofuels not only ignores the need to reduce natural resource consumption, but exacerbates the problem of malnourishment worldwide by turning food grain into biofuels. Increased use of biofuels further damages the global environment and especially the world food system.”
First Carbon Neutral School in the World
Carbon Neutral Volunteers (CNV) launched its drive to make Okemos High School, Michigan the first Carbon Neutral high school in the world. The initiative aspires to attain this goal through energy efficiency, renewable energy and carbon offsets through mass volunteerism. Given the enormous challenge of global warming and climate change Dr John Lanzetta, Principal; Okemos High School said "This program has been conceived by the students with a very ambitious and noble goal of making Okemos High School the first carbon neutral high school in the world."
Hemi Gandhi, Founder and President of www.carbonneutralvolunteers.org developed the idea of Volunteer Carbon Credits while working closely with Professor Brian S Thompson, Outreach & Engagement Senior Fellow of Michigan State University on his research in the field of sustainability and alternative energy.
Professor Thompson explains: "Whereas the Kyoto Protocols and Voluntary Carbon Markets are primarily focused on large corporations and organisations, the concept of Volunteer Carbon Credits mobilises ordinary citizens and leverages their passion and commitment to make behavioural and monetary pledges to offset the carbon footprint of an institution of their choice."
"The www.carbonneutralvolunteers.org website allows volunteers to purchase solar ovens for deployment in Tanzania, Peru and India thereby reducing the destruction of trees, the burning of fossil fuels and the related soil degradation," Hemi Gandhi adds. The website also offers individuals the choice of making personal commitments to reduce their carbon footprint by conserving energy at home, carpooling and planting trees while providing a quantitative estimate of the impact of individual choices on reducing the global carbon footprint. The Volunteer Carbon Credits earned through these actions are then credited to Okemos High School.
The Michigan based team is planning on expanding this concept to all schools within North America and launching a Global Challenge 2009 for Carbon Neutral Schools around the world. They plan to present their ideas at the International Conference on Energy and Sustainability in June 2009 in Bologna, Italy.
Hemi Gandhi, Founder and President of www.carbonneutralvolunteers.org developed the idea of Volunteer Carbon Credits while working closely with Professor Brian S Thompson, Outreach & Engagement Senior Fellow of Michigan State University on his research in the field of sustainability and alternative energy.
Professor Thompson explains: "Whereas the Kyoto Protocols and Voluntary Carbon Markets are primarily focused on large corporations and organisations, the concept of Volunteer Carbon Credits mobilises ordinary citizens and leverages their passion and commitment to make behavioural and monetary pledges to offset the carbon footprint of an institution of their choice."
"The www.carbonneutralvolunteers.org website allows volunteers to purchase solar ovens for deployment in Tanzania, Peru and India thereby reducing the destruction of trees, the burning of fossil fuels and the related soil degradation," Hemi Gandhi adds. The website also offers individuals the choice of making personal commitments to reduce their carbon footprint by conserving energy at home, carpooling and planting trees while providing a quantitative estimate of the impact of individual choices on reducing the global carbon footprint. The Volunteer Carbon Credits earned through these actions are then credited to Okemos High School.
The Michigan based team is planning on expanding this concept to all schools within North America and launching a Global Challenge 2009 for Carbon Neutral Schools around the world. They plan to present their ideas at the International Conference on Energy and Sustainability in June 2009 in Bologna, Italy.
Biodegradable Plastic: Solution to a Major Environmental Threat
Planet green bottle corporation’s first annual oxo-biodegradable pet plastic bottle symposium attracts industry’s major manufacturers of pet bottles and the largest beverage bottlers as well as significant green fund investor groups
Planet Green Bottle Corporation was overwhelmed by the success of its First Annual PET Plastic Bottle Symposium. In all, more than 40 Industry leaders from the PET and bottle manufacturing, branded owners and manufacturers of bottled water, carbonated soft drinks, wine and spirits, pharmaceutical, health, home and beauty industry, newspapers and magazine editors, portfolio managers of Green Investment Funds and other strategic investors attended the two-day event.
Andrew Barclay, Director of Research and Technology for Wells Plastics Ltd. (UK) stated, "We were very impressed with the high level of interest in the subject of the oxo-biodegrading of PET plastic bottles. We had an opportunity to explain to industry leaders and certain sophisticated investors why, how, and over what time period our Reverte™ additive works to fully oxo-biodegrade a PET plastic bottle."
"We use only one and a half per cent additive by weight to each bin of PET plastic feedstock in order to manufacture a PET plastic bottle with a programmed shelf life of two years before oxo-biodegradation starts. The photo-initiation period of the oxo-biodegradation of the PET plastic bottle commences with exposure to direct sunlight coupled with heat and oxygen exposure."
"I was surprised at the number of questions concerning the potential competitive environment," stated Patrick Rooney, Director of Corporate Development for Planet Green Bottle.
Rooney goes on to state that Reverte addresses two issues. One is that it is defensible and secondly it is backed up with science that withstands the scrutiny of industry professionals. What became apparent is the amount of misleading and untrue information that is being distributed by pretenders to the oxo-biodegradable technology. However, legitimate competition is healthy as it keeps our entire staff on the leading edge of the emerging oxo-biodegradable technologies.
"Our Symposium exceeded our expectations. Almost all parties in attendance signed up to pursue a customer relationship, strategic alliance or a private investment in the Planet Green Bottle Corporation. Never before have we witnessed an almost 100 per cent interest level in becoming involved in any project."
There are 200 billion PET plastic bottles blown per year. Almost 150 billion go into landfill, ditches, rivers or oceans. Only roughly 50 billion are recycled. Planet Green strongly believe in recycling and bottles containing the Reverte additive are recycling compatible. However one must be realistic in that three out of four bottles miss being recycled. The oxo-biodegradable Reverte additive is an insurance policy that allows us to be reasonably assured that we will cause a PET plastic bottle to convert itself into harmless moisture and CO2 if it should fall into the group of three out of four bottles that miss being recycled.
"Our accredited investor group believes that they are witnessing and now participating in a paradigm shift that will see consumers demanding to buy a PET plastic bottle displaying the Reverte™ logo which denotes that this bottle is oxo-biodegradable and therefore eco-friendly."
Planet Green Bottle is dedicated to help save the planet one plastic bottle at a time. Planet Green is introducing its oxo-biodegradable bottle to brand owners and private labellers of beverages and consumables globally. Planet Green is affixing its logo of which incorporates the trademark Reverte ™ of its strategic partner, Wells Plastics (UK), to all PET plastic bottles in order to guide the consumer to the purchase of only eco-responsible, oxo-biodegradable plastic bottles.
Planet Green Bottle Corporation was overwhelmed by the success of its First Annual PET Plastic Bottle Symposium. In all, more than 40 Industry leaders from the PET and bottle manufacturing, branded owners and manufacturers of bottled water, carbonated soft drinks, wine and spirits, pharmaceutical, health, home and beauty industry, newspapers and magazine editors, portfolio managers of Green Investment Funds and other strategic investors attended the two-day event.
Andrew Barclay, Director of Research and Technology for Wells Plastics Ltd. (UK) stated, "We were very impressed with the high level of interest in the subject of the oxo-biodegrading of PET plastic bottles. We had an opportunity to explain to industry leaders and certain sophisticated investors why, how, and over what time period our Reverte™ additive works to fully oxo-biodegrade a PET plastic bottle."
"We use only one and a half per cent additive by weight to each bin of PET plastic feedstock in order to manufacture a PET plastic bottle with a programmed shelf life of two years before oxo-biodegradation starts. The photo-initiation period of the oxo-biodegradation of the PET plastic bottle commences with exposure to direct sunlight coupled with heat and oxygen exposure."
"I was surprised at the number of questions concerning the potential competitive environment," stated Patrick Rooney, Director of Corporate Development for Planet Green Bottle.
Rooney goes on to state that Reverte addresses two issues. One is that it is defensible and secondly it is backed up with science that withstands the scrutiny of industry professionals. What became apparent is the amount of misleading and untrue information that is being distributed by pretenders to the oxo-biodegradable technology. However, legitimate competition is healthy as it keeps our entire staff on the leading edge of the emerging oxo-biodegradable technologies.
"Our Symposium exceeded our expectations. Almost all parties in attendance signed up to pursue a customer relationship, strategic alliance or a private investment in the Planet Green Bottle Corporation. Never before have we witnessed an almost 100 per cent interest level in becoming involved in any project."
There are 200 billion PET plastic bottles blown per year. Almost 150 billion go into landfill, ditches, rivers or oceans. Only roughly 50 billion are recycled. Planet Green strongly believe in recycling and bottles containing the Reverte additive are recycling compatible. However one must be realistic in that three out of four bottles miss being recycled. The oxo-biodegradable Reverte additive is an insurance policy that allows us to be reasonably assured that we will cause a PET plastic bottle to convert itself into harmless moisture and CO2 if it should fall into the group of three out of four bottles that miss being recycled.
"Our accredited investor group believes that they are witnessing and now participating in a paradigm shift that will see consumers demanding to buy a PET plastic bottle displaying the Reverte™ logo which denotes that this bottle is oxo-biodegradable and therefore eco-friendly."
Planet Green Bottle is dedicated to help save the planet one plastic bottle at a time. Planet Green is introducing its oxo-biodegradable bottle to brand owners and private labellers of beverages and consumables globally. Planet Green is affixing its logo of which incorporates the trademark Reverte ™ of its strategic partner, Wells Plastics (UK), to all PET plastic bottles in order to guide the consumer to the purchase of only eco-responsible, oxo-biodegradable plastic bottles.
Recycled Glass Floors in a Whole New Light
Stonhard’s commitment to sustainability is stronger than ever. The Stonclad GR product incorporates recycled materials and Stonhard’s unique packaging methods minimise waste.
Stonhard, the world leader in seamless, high-performing resinous floor, wall and lining systems is doing its part in the effort to conserve earth’s resources by urging customers to walk on glass.
Recycled glass aggregate forms the base of Stonhard’s Stonclad GR flooring system. When mixed with an epoxy resin, amine curing agent and rapidly renewable, soy-based additives, the result is a long-lasting, seamless, easy to maintain, abrasion, chemical and wear resistant floor that is suitable for application in various settings, including manufacturing, food and beverage, retail, educational and public spaces.
Because it incorporates both recycled and rapidly renewable materials, Stonclad GR can help projects accumulate points as they pursue LEED certification. Twelve standard colours and the option for custom shades expand the limits of design possibility. And, the Stonclad GR system can be further customised, with coatings, waterproofing, cove bases and fibreglass reinforcement, to meet the specific needs of each application.
Stonhard’s commitment to sustainability doesn’t end at eco-conscious product formulations. Unique packaging methods prevent pails and cans from ending up in landfills, and an aggressive recycling program prevents returned and unused material from being released into the waste stream.
Stonhard, the world leader in seamless, high-performing resinous floor, wall and lining systems is doing its part in the effort to conserve earth’s resources by urging customers to walk on glass.
Recycled glass aggregate forms the base of Stonhard’s Stonclad GR flooring system. When mixed with an epoxy resin, amine curing agent and rapidly renewable, soy-based additives, the result is a long-lasting, seamless, easy to maintain, abrasion, chemical and wear resistant floor that is suitable for application in various settings, including manufacturing, food and beverage, retail, educational and public spaces.
Because it incorporates both recycled and rapidly renewable materials, Stonclad GR can help projects accumulate points as they pursue LEED certification. Twelve standard colours and the option for custom shades expand the limits of design possibility. And, the Stonclad GR system can be further customised, with coatings, waterproofing, cove bases and fibreglass reinforcement, to meet the specific needs of each application.
Stonhard’s commitment to sustainability doesn’t end at eco-conscious product formulations. Unique packaging methods prevent pails and cans from ending up in landfills, and an aggressive recycling program prevents returned and unused material from being released into the waste stream.
Carbon Offset Industries for Indigenous Communities
A new carbon offsetting industry could create up to 1,029 new jobs for Indigenous Australians and generate income of AUD52 (USD34) million per year according to a new CSIRO report.
The study of six Indigenous Land Corporation properties across Western Australia, Northern Territory, and Queensland looked at land management practices including fire management, reforestation and grazing land management. These practices can sequester carbon or change emissions regimes and the change in carbon stocks or emissions could be sold as offsets.
“This research found potential greenhouse emissions offsets from fire management on Indigenous lands are worth AUD52 (USD34) million per year to Indigenous communities,” says CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems Chief Dr Dan Walker.
“In employment terms this is equivalent to 346 full-time jobs or 1029 seasonal jobs for Indigenous people."
“This industry could prevent 2.6 million tonnes of carbon entering the atmosphere each year."
“Indigenous lands account for 54 per cent of all potential emissions reductions from Australia’s fire-prone savannas and rangelands, meaning that Indigenous contributions to greenhouse gas abatement are very significant to Australia,” he says.
Prominent Indigenous leader, Joe Ross, said this research is a positive development especially in light of the role Indigenous people can play in helping reduce carbon emissions through savanna burning and forestry land management.
“Our people are often best placed to help mitigate the impacts of climate change because of where they live and their unique knowledge of the land,” Ross says. “This research is an encouraging sign that Indigenous people can have a key role in tackling climate change as well as actively participating in Australia’s emerging carbon economy.”
Ross is Chair of the Northern Australia Land and Water Task force which is tackling environmental, economic and social challenges in northern Australia, including looking at the opportunities and threats to Indigenous people resulting from climate change.
Indigenous fire management for carbon offsets has multiple benefits – greenhouse mitigation, biodiversity protection and helping to break the poverty cycle in Indigenous communities. Other issues of importance in Indigenous land management for carbon offsets are property rights on Indigenous lands, side effects on other natural resource management considerations such as biodiversity and water availability, and whether offset projects are compatible with traditional land management practices.
Dr Walker warned that while the preliminary study demonstrates that greenhouse gas offsets from Indigenous land management can operate on paper more research was needed to further explore the potential of the research findings.
The study of six Indigenous Land Corporation properties across Western Australia, Northern Territory, and Queensland looked at land management practices including fire management, reforestation and grazing land management. These practices can sequester carbon or change emissions regimes and the change in carbon stocks or emissions could be sold as offsets.
“This research found potential greenhouse emissions offsets from fire management on Indigenous lands are worth AUD52 (USD34) million per year to Indigenous communities,” says CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems Chief Dr Dan Walker.
“In employment terms this is equivalent to 346 full-time jobs or 1029 seasonal jobs for Indigenous people."
“This industry could prevent 2.6 million tonnes of carbon entering the atmosphere each year."
“Indigenous lands account for 54 per cent of all potential emissions reductions from Australia’s fire-prone savannas and rangelands, meaning that Indigenous contributions to greenhouse gas abatement are very significant to Australia,” he says.
Prominent Indigenous leader, Joe Ross, said this research is a positive development especially in light of the role Indigenous people can play in helping reduce carbon emissions through savanna burning and forestry land management.
“Our people are often best placed to help mitigate the impacts of climate change because of where they live and their unique knowledge of the land,” Ross says. “This research is an encouraging sign that Indigenous people can have a key role in tackling climate change as well as actively participating in Australia’s emerging carbon economy.”
Ross is Chair of the Northern Australia Land and Water Task force which is tackling environmental, economic and social challenges in northern Australia, including looking at the opportunities and threats to Indigenous people resulting from climate change.
Indigenous fire management for carbon offsets has multiple benefits – greenhouse mitigation, biodiversity protection and helping to break the poverty cycle in Indigenous communities. Other issues of importance in Indigenous land management for carbon offsets are property rights on Indigenous lands, side effects on other natural resource management considerations such as biodiversity and water availability, and whether offset projects are compatible with traditional land management practices.
Dr Walker warned that while the preliminary study demonstrates that greenhouse gas offsets from Indigenous land management can operate on paper more research was needed to further explore the potential of the research findings.
Saving Water Key to Reducing Energy Use
A new report by CSIRO and the Water Services Association of Australia (WSAA) gives a clearer picture of water and energy use in Australia and New Zealand and highlights areas offering potentially significant water and energy savings.
The report, Energy Use in the provision and consumption of urban water in Australia and New Zealand, shows a strong nexus between water and energy.
“Ensuring a reliable water supply for our cities into the future will require more energy due to increasing populations and the trend to develop new, more energy-intensive water sources like desalination plants, reuse and more distance sources,” says CSIRO scientist and project leader Steven Kenway.
“However, the provision of urban water services uses relatively little energy compared to heating water for residential and non-residential purposes. A 15 per cent reduction in residential hot water use could offset all energy used by water utilities in 2006-07.
“Saving hot water represents a real win-win-win: it cuts energy and water use for consumers, reduces energy demand for utilities and helps households and utilities save money on energy and water bills.”
Looking forward to 2030, the project team considered three water consumption scenarios ranging from 150 through to 300 litres per person per day for residential water use, based on a population of 15.8 million for Australia’s major cities, which is currently at 12.5 million.
“Under Australia’s current average consumption, which is 217 litres per person per day, total energy use to provide water could increase by up to 130 per cent above 06-07 use, if a mix of desalination, recycling and new surface water sources is used to meet the expected demand,” Kenway says. “Even with this increase, urban water utilities would only account for 0.3 per cent of the total energy used by Australia’s major cities in 2030.”
WSAA Executive Director, Ross Young, says the scenarios reinforce the need for the water industry to continue to implement energy-saving initiatives, but also to plan water resources with a clear understanding of where energy and water savings can be made most effectively.
“The urban water industry will continue substantial initiatives already implemented to generate green energy from biogas and hydro-electricity generators and measures to increase energy efficiency. These initiatives have already delivered substantial energy savings in the urban water industry.”
“This report demonstrates where the ‘low hanging fruit’ may be in terms of reducing energy use and the greenhouse gas footprint of the urban water industry and households.”
“Analysis showed that installing a Water Efficiency and Labelling Standard (WELS) 3-star shower rose would cut by 45 per cent both water and hot-water-system energy consumption in households with high water use,” he says.
“Replacing an old WELS 2-star washing machine with a 4-star front loading model would cut energy use by more than half and save 10 kilolitres of water annually, assuming 250 washes a year; 50 per cent of washing on cold-wash cycle and 44.5 kWh/year electrical consumption by pumps and motors.”
The report, Energy Use in the provision and consumption of urban water in Australia and New Zealand, shows a strong nexus between water and energy.
“Ensuring a reliable water supply for our cities into the future will require more energy due to increasing populations and the trend to develop new, more energy-intensive water sources like desalination plants, reuse and more distance sources,” says CSIRO scientist and project leader Steven Kenway.
“However, the provision of urban water services uses relatively little energy compared to heating water for residential and non-residential purposes. A 15 per cent reduction in residential hot water use could offset all energy used by water utilities in 2006-07.
“Saving hot water represents a real win-win-win: it cuts energy and water use for consumers, reduces energy demand for utilities and helps households and utilities save money on energy and water bills.”
Looking forward to 2030, the project team considered three water consumption scenarios ranging from 150 through to 300 litres per person per day for residential water use, based on a population of 15.8 million for Australia’s major cities, which is currently at 12.5 million.
“Under Australia’s current average consumption, which is 217 litres per person per day, total energy use to provide water could increase by up to 130 per cent above 06-07 use, if a mix of desalination, recycling and new surface water sources is used to meet the expected demand,” Kenway says. “Even with this increase, urban water utilities would only account for 0.3 per cent of the total energy used by Australia’s major cities in 2030.”
WSAA Executive Director, Ross Young, says the scenarios reinforce the need for the water industry to continue to implement energy-saving initiatives, but also to plan water resources with a clear understanding of where energy and water savings can be made most effectively.
“The urban water industry will continue substantial initiatives already implemented to generate green energy from biogas and hydro-electricity generators and measures to increase energy efficiency. These initiatives have already delivered substantial energy savings in the urban water industry.”
“This report demonstrates where the ‘low hanging fruit’ may be in terms of reducing energy use and the greenhouse gas footprint of the urban water industry and households.”
“Analysis showed that installing a Water Efficiency and Labelling Standard (WELS) 3-star shower rose would cut by 45 per cent both water and hot-water-system energy consumption in households with high water use,” he says.
“Replacing an old WELS 2-star washing machine with a 4-star front loading model would cut energy use by more than half and save 10 kilolitres of water annually, assuming 250 washes a year; 50 per cent of washing on cold-wash cycle and 44.5 kWh/year electrical consumption by pumps and motors.”
Hypertension and Cholesterol Medications Found in River St. Lawrence
A study conducted by Université de Montréal researchers on downstream and upstream water from the Montreal wastewater treatment plant has revealed the presence of chemotherapy products and certain hypertension and cholesterol medications.
Bezafibrate (cholesterol reducing medication), enalapril (hypertension medication), methotrexate and cyclophosphamide (two products used in the treatment of certain cancers) have all been detected in wastewater entering the Montreal treatment station. However, only bezafibrate and enalapril have been detected in the treated water leaving the wastewater treatment plant and in the surface water of the St. Lawrence River, where the treated wastewater is released.
This study was conducted due to the sharp rise in drug consumption over the past few years. In 1999, according to a study by IMS Health Global Services, world drug consumption amounted to USD342 billion. In 2006 that figure doubled to USD643 billion. A significant proportion of the drugs consumed are excreted by the human body in urine and end up in municipal wastewater. Chemotherapy products, such as methotrexate, are excreted by the body practically unchanged (80 to 90 per cent in their initial form).
Chemotherapy for fish?
The pharmaceutical compounds studied were chosen because of the large quantities prescribed by physicians. "Methotrexate and cyclophosphamide are two products very often used to treat cancer and are more likely to be found in water," says Sébastien Sauvé, a professor of environmental chemistry at the Université de Montréal. "Even though they treat cancer, these two products are highly toxic. This is why we wanted to know the extent to which the fauna and flora of the St. Lawrence are exposed to them."
Method and quantities
Professor Sauvé's team validated a rapid detection method for pharmaceutical compounds under study in the raw and treated wastewater of the Montreal wastewater treatment plant.
The quantities of bezafibrate and enalapril detected in the raw wastewater, treated wastewater and surface water at the treatment station outlet are respectively 50 nanograms per litre, 35 ng L and 8 ng L for bezafibrate and 280 ng L, 240 ng L and 39ng L for enalapril.
"All in all, these quantities are minimal, yet we don't yet know their effects on the fauna and flora of the St. Lawrence," Professor Sauvé explains. "It is possible that some species are sensitive to them. Other ecotoxicological studies will be necessary. As for the chemotherapy products detected in the raw wastewater but not in the treated wastewater, one question remains: did we not detect them because the treatment process succeeded in eliminating them or because our detection method is not yet sophisticated enough to detect them?"
A new threat to the aquatic environment
The release locations of wastewaters treated by the treatment stations are the main source of drug dispersion into the environment. Because of their high polarity and their acid-base character, some of the pharmaceutical compounds studied have the potential to be transported and dispersed widely in the aquatic environment. In Montreal, the wastewater treatment station treats a water volume representing 50 per cent of the water treated in Quebec and has a capacity of about 7.6 million cubic metres per day, making it the largest physicochemical treatment station in the Americas. This is why it is important to develop a simple, rapid, precise and inexpensive method, Professor Sauvé points out.
Bezafibrate (cholesterol reducing medication), enalapril (hypertension medication), methotrexate and cyclophosphamide (two products used in the treatment of certain cancers) have all been detected in wastewater entering the Montreal treatment station. However, only bezafibrate and enalapril have been detected in the treated water leaving the wastewater treatment plant and in the surface water of the St. Lawrence River, where the treated wastewater is released.
This study was conducted due to the sharp rise in drug consumption over the past few years. In 1999, according to a study by IMS Health Global Services, world drug consumption amounted to USD342 billion. In 2006 that figure doubled to USD643 billion. A significant proportion of the drugs consumed are excreted by the human body in urine and end up in municipal wastewater. Chemotherapy products, such as methotrexate, are excreted by the body practically unchanged (80 to 90 per cent in their initial form).
Chemotherapy for fish?
The pharmaceutical compounds studied were chosen because of the large quantities prescribed by physicians. "Methotrexate and cyclophosphamide are two products very often used to treat cancer and are more likely to be found in water," says Sébastien Sauvé, a professor of environmental chemistry at the Université de Montréal. "Even though they treat cancer, these two products are highly toxic. This is why we wanted to know the extent to which the fauna and flora of the St. Lawrence are exposed to them."
Method and quantities
Professor Sauvé's team validated a rapid detection method for pharmaceutical compounds under study in the raw and treated wastewater of the Montreal wastewater treatment plant.
The quantities of bezafibrate and enalapril detected in the raw wastewater, treated wastewater and surface water at the treatment station outlet are respectively 50 nanograms per litre, 35 ng L and 8 ng L for bezafibrate and 280 ng L, 240 ng L and 39ng L for enalapril.
"All in all, these quantities are minimal, yet we don't yet know their effects on the fauna and flora of the St. Lawrence," Professor Sauvé explains. "It is possible that some species are sensitive to them. Other ecotoxicological studies will be necessary. As for the chemotherapy products detected in the raw wastewater but not in the treated wastewater, one question remains: did we not detect them because the treatment process succeeded in eliminating them or because our detection method is not yet sophisticated enough to detect them?"
A new threat to the aquatic environment
The release locations of wastewaters treated by the treatment stations are the main source of drug dispersion into the environment. Because of their high polarity and their acid-base character, some of the pharmaceutical compounds studied have the potential to be transported and dispersed widely in the aquatic environment. In Montreal, the wastewater treatment station treats a water volume representing 50 per cent of the water treated in Quebec and has a capacity of about 7.6 million cubic metres per day, making it the largest physicochemical treatment station in the Americas. This is why it is important to develop a simple, rapid, precise and inexpensive method, Professor Sauvé points out.
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