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But this valuable freshwater resource is in danger of disappearing. The planet is now around 1.1 degrees Celsius (1.9 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than pre-industrial levels, and mountain snowpacks are shrinking. Last year, a study co-led by Alan Rhoades and Erica Siirila-Woodburn, research scientists in the Earth and Environmental Sciences Area of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory …

Limiting global warming now can preserve valuable freshwater resource Read More »

This is the conclusion of a study that for the first time estimates the cost of a green transition not in dollars, but in greenhouse gases. The study appears this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “The message is that it is going to take energy to rebuild the global energy …

Building green energy facilities may produce substantial carbon emissions, says study Read More »

Changes in the earth’s surface occur as a result of tectonic forces accumulating in the crust, a process called crustal deformation. When forces that are exerted on the crust (stress) from the movement of tectonic plates exceed the strength of the rock, they can change its shape. Measuring these changes (geodetic measurements) can reveal the …

Exploring the deep: Drones offer new ways to monitor sea floor Read More »

Nuclear energy is a key component of decarbonizing our economy, but large nuclear reactors are often complicated and expensive to build. To make nuclear energy more available and attractive, developers have put forward multiple designs of small modular reactors (SMRs) that have greater flexibility and offer lower up-front costs. Different types of SMRs with advanced …

Small modular reactor waste analysis report Read More »

Now, engineers at Princeton University and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology have described a new way to express energy loss in organic solar cells and have extended that description to make recommendations for engineering the best devices. This breakthrough could reimagine the conventional approach to constructing organic solar cells. Their work was published …

New insights into energy loss open doors for one up-and-coming solar tech Read More »

A Sustainable Nitrogen Source The production of nitrogen for fertilizer is an energy-intensive process and accounts for nearly 2% of global carbon dioxide emissions. In the last several years researchers have explored alternatives to the Haber-Bosch nitrogen production process, which has been the standard for more than a century. One promising possibility, recently raised by …

Turning wastewater into fertilizer is feasible and could help to make agriculture more sustainable Read More »

Plastic pollution has been identified as an environmental problem similar in scope and complexity as global challenges like climate change. The QUT research team, from chemistry and law, have published their multi-pronged approach in Polymer Chemistry. The researchers are Dr Hope Johnson, Dr Lewis Chambers, Dr Joshua Holloway, Annastasia Bousgas, Professor Afshin Akhtar-Khavari, Associate Professor …

Tackling plastic pollution with a net of law and chemical coding Read More »

This is according to new Imperial College London research that modelled likely future cliff retreat rates of two rock coasts in the UK. The forecasts are based on predictions of sea level rise for various greenhouse gas emissions and climate change scenarios. The study found that rock coasts, traditionally thought of as stable compared to …

Sea level rise to dramatically speed up erosion of rock coastlines by 2100 Read More »

The research, led by Prof. PAN Ding, looked into the dissolution of CO2 in water, which has significant implications on ways to reduce the return of carbon from underground to the atmosphere. The vast majority of the Earth’s carbon is buried in its interior. That deep carbon influences the form and concentration of carbon near …

Unlocking deep carbon’s fate Read More »

A new study led by scientists at UC Santa Cruz outlines a framework for addressing the impacts of offshore wind farms on marine bird populations and highlights conservation strategies that could potentially more than offset those impacts. “We all want wind energy, but we also want to make sure it can be sustainably produced,” said …

Offshore wind farms may harm seabirds, but scientists see potential for net positive impact Read More »