Greening industry, saving water in North Africa

Published Date : April 26, 2017

Igor Volodin introduces a programme demonstrating the benefits of adopting best available techniques, cleaner production technology, and appropriate environmental management and accounting practices

Green industry is an approach that realizes the potential for industries to decouple economic growth from excessive and increasing resource use, thereby reducing pollution and generating additional revenues. It foresees a world where industrial sectors will minimize waste in every form, use renewable resources as input materials and fuels, and take every possible precaution to avoid harming workers, communities, climate, or the environment. Green industries will be creative and innovative, constantly developing new ways of improving their economic, environmental and social performance.

Enterprises in developing countries and countries with economies in transition are facing numerous challenges in their effort to maintain or increase their competitiveness on the local market and access to international markets with good-quality products, comply with environmental standards and reduce operational costs. In order to assist companies in dealing with such challenges and to direct them towards the “green industry” paradigm, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) designed a specific methodology, the Transfer of Environmentally Sound Technology (TEST), which exists as both an integrated approach and a global programme.

TEST combines the essential elements of tools like Resource Efficiency and Cleaner Production, Environmental Management Systems and Environmental Management Accounting, and applies them on the basis of a comprehensive diagnosis of enterprise performance. As a result of the customized integration and implementation of these tools and their elements, the key output is the adoption of best practices, and new skills and management culture, as well as corporate social responsibility, enabling the company to carry on the improvement journey towards sustainable entrepreneurship.

The first TEST pilot programme was launched in 2000 in the Danube River Basin. Since then, TEST has been replicated in several regions worldwide within industrial hot spot areas, contributing to the prevention of the discharge of industrial effluents into international waters (rivers, lakes, wetlands and coastal areas) and thereby protecting water resources for future generations.

In 2009, UNIDO launched the MED TEST initiative with the financial support of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the Italian government to promote the transfer and adoption of cleaner technology in industries in three countries of the Southern Mediterranean region: Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia.

The project aimed to demonstrate the effectiveness of introducing best practices and integrated management systems in terms of cost reduction, productivity increase and environmental performance. A pool of 43 manufacturing sites – mostly small and medium-sized enterprises – across seven industrial sectors in Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia actively participated in MED TEST during 2010-2011.

A core objective of the MED TEST initiative was building national capacity. This was achieved by extensive training and a technical assistance programme that targeted six national institutions and service providers and 30 local professionals, in addition to the staff of the 43 demonstration companies. As a result, a network of local resources is now engaged in promoting the TEST approach and will be able to extend the experience gained to other industries in the region. The active participation of the staff of the demonstration companies in the training and in the implementation of the project ensures the sustainability of all identified actions at company level, as well as that of
newly developed projects.

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Demonstration project highlights

The effectiveness of the TEST approach has been demonstrated in the 43 participating companies through the implementation of a large number of resource-efficiency measures and cleaner technology investments. The benefits of TEST at the management and strategic levels have resulted in the adoption of new vision and policies by top management, as well as in the implementation of management systems (e.g. ISO 14001) that integrate the environmental dimension.

A total of 765 measures were identified, of which 76% have been implemented, 14% retained for further technical and economical investigations and only 10% discarded. Approximately 54% of the total identified measures had a return on investment of less than half a year, with the rest equally split among measures with a payback period of between six months and one and a half years, and between one and a half and four years.

In the three countries involved, the project identified total annual savings of approximately US$17m in energy, water, raw materials and increased productivity, corresponding to a portfolio of around US$20m of private sector investments in improved processes and cleaner technology. These investments do not include end-of-pipe solutions, which in some companies have also been launched in order to achieve full environmental compliance with national laws.

The total annual water and energy savings are, respectively, 9.7 million cubic metres and 263 gigawatt hours.

Some examples of water savings

Egypt

• EL-NILE SOFT DRINKS COMPANY (Crush) produces different types of soft drinks for the local market: Hi-Spot lemon, Crush orange and Sport cola. The company joined MED TEST to identify opportunities for increasing resource efficiency and productivity, reduce pollution loads so as to comply with environmental legislation and minimize investment and operating costs of the planned wastewater treatment plant. Water costs are being reduced by more than 85% as a result of the installation of new Clean-in-Place (CIP) technology, good housekeeping, and preventive maintenance measures and process water recycling. The new CIP unit uses Electro Chemical Activation technology that dramatically reduces water, energy and chemicals consumption during the cleaning and disinfection of bottles and bottling equipment, as well as increasing productivity due to a reduction in time needed for cleaning.
• ATEF EL-SAYED TANNERY joined the MED TEST project to identify opportunities for increasing resource efficiency and productivity and reduce pollution loads to minimize investment and operating costs of the planned wastewater treatment plant. Water costs will be reduced by 30% through the application of good housekeeping measures, implementation of a monitoring and controlling system for water consumption and the recycling of pickling bath. The latter measure reduces the salinity of discharged wastewater, and will achieve a 15% reduction in water costs and lead to a reduction in chemical use of 23 tons per year.

Morocco

• BOYAUDERIE DE L’ATLAS is a company in the agro-food sector, specialized in the production of salted and tubular casings in various calibres. It joined MED TEST in order to identify opportunities for resource efficiency (water and energy), water recycling, recovery of production waste, and minimization and treatment of liquid effluents. Energy savings represent 26% of the annual energy bill, while the water costs reduction amounts to 48% of the annual bill. The latter will be achieved through recycling wastewater from the calibration and soaking processes, optimizing the washing of floors and crates, and better monitoring of water consumption per production unit.
• CERAMICA DERSA produces ceramic tiles of various designs and patterns. The company joined the MED TEST project in order to identify opportunities for effective use of resources (heat, water, electricity and chemicals), reduction of production costs, recovery of solid waste and minimization of waste water effluents. All the effluents are now recycled on site. They are collected in a decantation pit, filtered, and reused for cleaning and within the process (watering). Dyes and enamel residues are recovered, filtered and reused within the first treatment layer of the tiles.

Tunisia

• COMPANY CAP-BON–SCAPCB processes fresh tomatoes. The company joined the MED TEST programme in order to identify possibilities to increase efficiency in resource management and productivity, reduce the pollution costs and minimize investments and operational costs of the used-water processing plant. Water costs have been cut by 44% by the retrieval of 50,000m3 of well-water that was previously discharged, and its reuse for the pre-washing of fresh tomatoes; the optimization of water sprinkling on conveyor belts used for tomato washing; and the installation of a water tank with a 300m3 capacity which has allowed for a more efficient distribution and a more economical use of drilling water.
• TEINTURERIE FINISSAGE MÉDITERRANÉENNE (TFM) specializes in textile dyeing and finishing. TFM was among the first companies to implement the MED TEST project in order to improve productivity, resource efficiency and waste minimization, and ultimately to reduce waste treatment costs. TFM consumes water at the average rate of 650m3 per day. The company will be able to reduce the cost of water by 56% thanks to the installation of a treatment and recycling system for wastewater, which subsequently will be reused in the process at a rate of 80%

read more original article http://www.makingitmagazine.net

Water Use Efficiency in Action

Published Date : April 26, 2017

Bracing for the scorching July heat in Pakistan, thirty-five-year-old Tehmina stands barefoot for eight to twelve hours a day transplanting rice seedlings in the paddies of Punjab Province. Her two daughters, ages fourteen and twelve, work at her side in the humid conditions while her three younger children, ages five, seven, and ten, linger on the field’s periphery under the supervision of her mother-in-law.

Some of the other mothers who do not have childcare assistance are forced to bring their babies into the field, exposing them to the extreme heat. With no safety measures to protect field workers, women frequently suffer from sunstrokes, leech bites, dehydration, and other illnesses brought on by the punishing work environment.

For 45 days each year, approximately 15,000 women like Tehmina transplant rice over hundreds of thousands of acres in Pakistan’s Punjab Province. While extremely demanding and hazardous, transplanting pays better than other temporary jobs such as strawberry picking, vegetable production, and brick kiln operation. Transplanting represents a critical source of household income.

However, there exist safer and more efficient ways to cultivate rice; approaches that can mitigate both the environmental and human impacts of agriculture. As climate change advances, so too does the scarcity of water, which threatens the already precarious state of agriculture in many countries and increases the risk of conflict over water rights. The Water and Productivity Project (WAPRO), launched in 2015, sets out to address this challenge by focusing on water efficiency in South Asian rice and cotton production.

While the introduction of new water-saving technologies represents tremendous opportunity, WAPRO innovations would also result in the unintended consequence of putting women transplanters out of work, thereby dramatically reducing household income.

Finding widespread acceptance of technological innovations from local farmers, policymakers, buyers, and the private sector is a complex challenge that cannot be tackled by individual actors. Two WAPRO coalition members, HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperation, a Swiss-based international nonprofit whose work for WAPRO is financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, and Mars Food have collaborated to address this challenge by applying the WAPRO approach to identify and manage water-related risks in a holistic way. This methodology involves understanding and mitigating adverse impacts on ecosystems and communities. At the same time, the project is strategic to the Mars business model given that rice is the top material sourced by Mars Food.

Below, Luc Beerens of Mars Food and Arjumand Nizami of HELVETAS describe the win-win WAPRO approach to explain why complex issues require the perspectives of diverse actors and why it’s crucial to be mindful of unintended consequences.

Mars Food: Sustainable Agriculture is Good for Business

By: Luc Beerens, Global Sustainable Sourcing Director at MARS

Mars Food is committed to improving the sustainability of the world’s rice supply and sustainably sourcing 100 percent of our rice by 2020. This ambitious commitment is grounded in our Purpose – Better Food Today. A Better World Tomorrow – and Mars’ Five Principles: Quality, Responsibility, Mutuality, Efficiency, and Freedom.

Rice is the top material sourced by Mars Food and is the most consumed cereal grain in the world. It is estimated that rice is the staple food for over half the world’s population, providing around one-fifth of the total calories consumed by humans. We use rice in many brands, including UNCLE BEN’S® — the world’s largest global rice brand – and other brands such as SEEDS OF CHANGE®, RARIS®, and ABU SIOUF®. Given how important rice is to our business and to meeting the nutritional needs of a growing global population, we believe we have a responsibility to help minimize the environmental impact of rice production and improve yields for future generations. Our approach is designed to ensure a win-win outcome for our suppliers, our farmers, and the communities where we live and work.

To achieve this, we are making sourcing sustainable. Going beyond economic considerations to take into account environmental, social, and ethical factors is a fundamental part of our business ethos. In a participatory process with stakeholders, we identified five areas where we can have the greatest impact: greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, water, land use, income, and human rights. We are now working through the Sustainable Rice Platform – a global coalition of industry and leading NGOs, to use its first-ever global standard for sustainable rice to map our supply chain, identify areas where we need to do more, and develop programs to help address those gaps.

Collaboration is Key

We believe that collaboration between international NGOs and a local network of grassroots organizations is key for achieving a lasting impact. Moreover, locally recognized and impartial partners, like HELVETAS, are well positioned to lead the conversation with local stakeholders and government bodies in the context of water stewardship. A strong example of a multi-stakeholder approach is the collaboration with the WAPRO program in Pakistan. Our strategic partner, Better Grain, is promoting water saving and yield improvement technologies among farmers while Mars Food and other companies source the sustainable rice. Meanwhile, HELVETAS works to improve water regulations. We have found that multi-stakeholder approaches like this are the most effective way to reach our goals.

This collaborative approach is evident in the program’s holistic “Push-Pull-Policy” foundation. The PUSH component addresses the knowledge gap of farmers using modern irrigation techniques and tries to remove the stumbling blocks associated with exploring new practices. The PULL element incentivizes a change in production and irrigation practices. Buyers support new practices by choosing to buy rice cultivated using water efficient practices or even offer to pay a direct premium for the cause of water efficiency. The POLICY component uses a stewardship approach that brings water users together to agree on a joint action and water use plan. WAPRO strongly believes that all three components have to be in place to lay the groundwork for innovation. In addition to HELVETAS and Mars, other WAPRO partners include the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, the Alliance for Water Stewardship, Coop, a major Swiss retailer, the Better Cotton Initiative, and the Sustainable Rice Platform.

We believe that social, economic, and environmental benefits are equally important. The solutions we seek must be mutually beneficial for all stakeholders. By taking steps to strengthen livelihoods and advance empowerment of women in our supply chain communities, we believe that resulting increases in incomes for women will translate into notable benefits for the communities in which they live.

HELVETAS: Understanding Community Impact

By: Arjumand Nizami, HELVETAS Country Director, Pakistan 

One of the water stewardship challenges that Mars Food and HELVETAS encountered in Pakistan was how to address the unintended adverse impact of more effective production methods on income opportunities for the local population. In Pakistan, traditional rice production methods include water-intensive rice transplantation, a method that will become obsolete with the introduction of water-efficient approaches. Mars Food and HELVETAS wanted to know what this would imply for the income and lives of the affected women.

A HELVETAS study to assess the role of women in the rice value chain, financed by Mars Food, looked at two main questions: First, how will adopting water-productive systems impact the overall situation of women in rice value chains? Second, how do women workers feel about this shift? The study was conducted in seventeen villages by a team of eight professionals that used focus group discussions for data collection to allow participants to agree or disagree with each other. This method offers better insight into how a group perceives an issue. In total, 320 women — 251 married with children, 19 widows, and 50 unmarried — participated in 10 discussions; 5 discussions took place in control villages.

The main outcomes of the study include:

• The women’s income is considered part of family income. The family works together as a unit, beginning with transplantation and followed by the next steps in the rice production process. The average monthly income for such families ranges from $38 to $76. Most of the time, these families must borrow an additional $19 to $191 every 2-3 months to cover their expenses. All wages are received by the head of the family on a per-acre basis. For women, however, this system is acceptable since they work in a self-determined way in the rice paddies with the men on the peripheries. This gives women a sense of protection against any potential harassment. In the past, there have been incidents where young rice transplanter women were harassed when working alone in the field. They are vulnerable to such risks due to their economic and social status as well as a lack of access to any judicial system when such events occur.
• Overwhelmingly, the women commented on two key themes: health and education. The study found that while money earned through rice transplantation typically contributes to half of the family income, families often spend a large portion of that income on healthcare costs to treat conditions stemming from transplantation work. Since medical facilities are unavailable in the region, these women often self-medicate until a medical situation becomes dire. According to reports, two pregnant women lost their full trimester babies when they could not reach the hospital in time due to long distance.

One transplanter woman, Nagina, said, “During the entire season, we keep on working and cannot afford to lay down sick. If we do so, the farmer will replace us with someone else. So we work even if we are sick and we take rest only after transplantation is over.”

During the entire season, we keep on working and cannot afford to lay down sick. If we do so, the farmer will replace us with someone else. So we work even if we are sick and we take rest only after transplantation is over.

The study found that the original assumption that women would want to keep their jobs to secure incomes is not true under certain circumstances. Transplanters generally accept that the gradual integration of other technologies will eventually force them to find other employment opportunities. Most women are already seeking to escape transplantation work by developing new skills that qualify them for better jobs. Most importantly, women want greater access to secondary education for their daughters so that they may have work opportunities beyond the rice paddies.

In addition to the benefit of the data analysis, the study gave the participating women a feeling of empowerment and a perceived ability to shape their livelihood conditions. For them, it was a new experience to express their priorities and talk about their concerns. They appreciated the opportunity to participate not only in the study itself, but also to be a part of the WAPRO project and its corresponding rice value chain.

In the next three years, hundreds of farmers will see their fields leveled and will be introduced to DSR and AWD technologies. These modifications will result in higher yields, reduced water use, and corresponding increases in income. The extent to which these interventions will affect ecosystems and communities, as well as how they mitigate adverse social impacts by encouraging new skills development, remains to be seen. However, expectations of increased social and environmental welfare as a result of the multi-stakeholder approach are high. Together we are on a journey to transform rice cultivation in Pakistan.

read more original article https://www.pyxeraglobal.org

These 5 technologies are set to transform the way we consume everyday products

Published Date : April 26, 2017

From hamburgers to plastic, new technologies are reinventing the products we consume on a daily basis

Image: REUTERS/Beck Diefenbach

Two Years of co2 savings with bioplastic packaging

Published Date : April 26, 2017

In the Autumn 2014, Officina naturae changed direction in making an effort to increase its sustainable footprint. In fact, since that October, the packaging of household cleaners – especially the 1 liter and 750 ml bottles, and 4 liter cans–, usually made of conventional PE, were replaced with a similar bioplastic packaging, in specific terms biobased PE (also called green PE).

From October 2014 to August 2016, buying and then using bioplastics, instead of equal amounts of traditional PE, allowed us to save 67,250 kgCO2eq, or about 67 tons of CO2, which are the same amount of CO2 that 85 cars would emit along 15 km every day, for ONE FULL YEAR.

It is a great benefit for environment and an important achievement for us, who have always considered important the container as much as the content, heavily investing in research and development to find the ‘ideal’ packaging.

The alternative of bioplastics – compared to common packaging solutions derived from oil – has never been an operation of greenwashing for us but a well-considered choice with the goal of sustainability, both in ecological and economic terms.

The researches led us to use – for the first time in Italy, in our production area – a green polyethylene (biobased) from the synthesis of ethanol from sugarcane.

The production of this raw material has a complete life cycle with a low environmental impact.

In fact, Sugarcane is grown responsibly in Brazil, a particularly favourable country for its special climatic conditions. Here the sugarcane planted soils occupy only 2.4% of the arable lands which completely exclude the protected areas of the Amazon Rainforest. The areas are mainly abandoned and degraded pastures with low exploitation of water resources and suitable for mechanized farming. This farming takes place in rotation with peanut, with particular attention to respect food production areas.

During the processing of sugar cane, a by-product (called bagasse) is created and reused as a fuel for the production of electricity, either for the same production plants as for the whole Brazilian electricity grid.

Other organic process residues are re-used for fertilizing degraded soils, which become arable again, without the intensive use of chemical fertilizers.

The environmental impact of transport is balanced by low emissions of the entire production cycle.

The bioplastic used to the new packaging is ‘4 stars’ rated by Vinçotte – a Belgian independent certification – the maximum value, as it is made in the largest possible percentage – almost 100% – from renewable resources. It is completely recyclable with the common plastics, so the life cycle of this material is well defined.

Therefore, production, transportation, use and recycling of green polyethylene is equivalent to considerably lower CO2 emissions, if compared to the production of the same plastic (HDPE) from fossil resources, thus reducing global warming potential, preventing the thinning of the ozone layer and acid rains.

read more original article read more original article http://www.officinanaturae.com

US start-up turns costly byproduct into ‘green’ growing aid

Published Date : April 26, 2017

Biofuel production may save precious fossil fuels but it produces a lot of waste in the form of lignin, the pulpy, fibrous mass that’s left over once the plants have been processed.

As much as 70 percent of the material created by biofuel refining is lignin waste. And even more lignin is wasted in the production of paper.

Currently, the bulk of the waste from paper and biofuel production ends up in landfill or is burned as low-value fuel, with only about two percent of it being reused commercially.

Clearly, finding a productive use for all this wasted lignin pulp would benefit both the environment and processors’ profit margins.

Or so thought Tony Bova and Jeff Beegle, a couple of PhD students at The Bredesen Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Graduate Education, run jointly by the the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UT) and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).

In collaboration with ORNL’s Amrit Naskar, the pair developed a new process that enables them to convert lignin waste into fully biodegradable products with the potential to help farmers, crops and the planet.

Sustainable cellulosic biofuel production at Michigan State University’s W. K. Kellogg Biological Station: extracting oil from crops to make biofuels creates lignin as a byproduct, most of which is burnt or goes to landfill.

Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center

Green waste to new growth: the new bioplastic mulch film

Bova and Beegle’s breakthrough was finding a viable way to convert lignin waste into biodegradable products for gardeners, greenhouse operators and crop farmers.

“Lignin is a naturally occurring product found in all trees and grasses that results in 50 million tons of waste a year in the paper industry alone,” Bova told Biomass magazine in April 2016.

“We have developed a process that allows us to make that lignin biodegradable and turn it into the large rolls of mulch film that farmers use to block weeds, retain moisture and soil temperature, and improve crop yield.”

Bova and Beegle’s Knoxville-based start-up, Grow Bioplastics, is developing new bioplastic mulch films for home gardeners, horticulturalists, greenhouse operators and crop farmers.

Why use biodegradable mulch films?

Mulch films (large-scale plastic ‘weed mats’) are increasingly popular among farmers – and with good reason, say Bova and Beevil, “because they are proven to improve crop yields by maintaining soil moisture content, regulating soil temperature, and preventing the growth of weeds”.

The problem is that farmers have to remove and dispose of these plastic films periodically, costing them time and money. Moreover, most of it ends up in local landfills.

Indeed, oil-based plastic mulch film amounts to around eight tons of plastic waste for every 100 acres of farmland – and as this type of film is used on an estimated two million-odd agricultural acres across the US, that’s a whopping 80,000 tons of plastic waste annually. The negative impact on the environment is far from negligible.

And getting rid of all this plastic isn’t cheap: Bova said farmers across the US spend as much as $300 per acre to dispose of the mulch film they currently use on crops.

Canola is one of several oilseed crops used to make biofuels. Bova and Beegle’s start-up Grow Bioplastics plans to turn the lignin waste from this process and from paper mills into biodegradable mulch films for agriculture.

Paul Godard, Flickr CC

TerraFilm Pro: an eco-friendly alternative

Grow Bioplastics’ clean, green alternative to oil-based plastic mulch films TerraFilm Pro is made from fully biodegradable lignin-pulp-based plastic. While it functions similarly to oil-based plastic mulch film, the new bioplastic film is designed to degrade in either six or 12 months, which means farmers can use it multiple times in a year to grow successive crops.

“Our product would be able to be ploughed into farmers’ soils after harvest, where it would degrade naturally and save them all of the money they currently spend on removal and disposal,” Bova said.

The woody pulp also acts as a soil conditioner once its role as a protective mat is over.

Bioplastic mulch film – gaining cred

The idea, it seems, is a win-win-win, with clear benefits for the paper and biofuels industries, growers, and the environment.

Already, Grow Bioplastics has won several awards in entrepreneurial and clean-tech competitions across the US for its new eco-friendly approach to lignin and plastic waste.

“If we have continued success, we’ll be looking to set up our own research and development lab soon and applying for Small Business Innovation Research grants to further fund our testing and product development,” Bova told Biomass.

Along with TerraFilm Pro, Grow Bioplastics has several other lignin-based products in development, including pots, trays and films, suitable for home gardeners, commercial greenhouse operators and farmers. All are biodegradable and are designed to replace their disposable oil-based plastic counterparts.

If all goes well, the team could begin field-testing prototypes of TerraFilm Pro as early as the Northern Hemisphere summer. They plan to conduct full-scale field trials of their biodegradable plastics on crops across Tennessee over the 2016 US spring.

“Everything is happening so fast, and we’re still working on finishing our PhDs,” said Bova, “but it’s all so exciting.”

read more original article http://www.aginnovators.org.au

Health-conscious concrete

Published Date : April 25, 2017

Biofuels, bioplastics, Moss-based drugs and algae for food

Published Date : April 25, 2017

All of these are pioneering areas of GreenTech progress this year.  So what are the major developments in this forward-thinking field?

1. 100% Biodegradable Potato Plastics

The Italian company Bio-On from Bologna is specialized in the production of environmentally sustainable materials, including Minverv PHAs. These are ‘green’ biopolymers with the same thermo-mechanical properties of the substances that make up the traditional plastics, but are instead 100% biodegradable.

Natural elimination of a biopolymers in water in just a few days is a rarely achieved and is an exceedingly tough challenge for Bioplastic researchers. Other bio-plastics manufacturers looking change the GreenTech Polymer industry include Carbios from France, who recently opened a new factory in the Auvergne region, and Avantium from the Netherlands

2. Biofuels: Algae for Aerospace, Bacteria for Biodiesel

The University of Munich (TU München) has built a unique global-climate simulating algal plant on the Ludwig Bölkow Campus in Ottobrunn (Bavaria).  TU München and Airbus are particularly interested in the production of bio-kerosene for aviation fuel from Algae grown in salt-water closed loop systems.

And synthesizing propane from Bacteria is another avenue being explored by Imperial College London and University of Turku (Finland), which are continuing to develop an alternative fuel source with E. coli to help stop environmental damage caused by Fracking.

There is also the re-purposing of tobacco plants using Deinococcus, which is being used by the French giant Deinove to make biofuels from organic waste materials with the US Tyton.

3. Bacteria Lighting up your Streets

What if we could use less electricity to light today’s civilizations? Glowee is a French start-up willing to take on this challenge by using genetically modified bacteria to produce light. Labiotech had the chance to talk with the company’s CEO Sandra Rey on their Urban-focused Bioluminescent tech.

The University of Sevilla (Spain) has also patented a method for culturing the bacteria Vibrio fischeri and the algae Pyrocystus fusiformis in order to drive bioluminescent devices that emit light without electricity consumption.

4. An Alternative Water Source…

Aquanos has the solution to expensive and energy intensive waste-water treatment. This Israeli Biotech start-up has revamped the pre-existing Microalgae technique for sewage remediation to be far more efficient, and is well ahead of Cambridge researchers looking to do the same.

It also generates biomass products and is being trialed on a Northern Israeli kibbutz, with projections for use in the developing world.

Their two-step bioreactor system (dubbed ‘The Gemini’) dramatically cleans out organic waste from industry effluence by 70-80% with one run, and up to 95% on the second run – amazing!

5. Returning Medicine to Nature: Growing drugs in Moss

A Heilbronn (Germany) based biotech Greenovation has managed to grow a protein which could be used as an enzyme replacement therapy for patients who suffer from Fabry disease, a rare genetic lysosomal storage disorder.

Moss-aGal is a recombinant form of human alpha galactosidase. Greenovation has used its proprietary BryoTechnology to express the moss-aGal protein in Physcomitrella patens, which attaches mannose molecules to the surface of the moss aGal protein.

6. Saving the Oceans: Algae in Sweden is Vegan and GMO-Free

By running an innovative microalgae farm in Hammenhög (Sweden), Simris Alg produces a vegan and GMO-free Omega-3 fatty acid alternative to oily fish derivatives for industry. This Swedish start-up is winning all kinds of awards for their almost too-good-to-be-true approach to dietary Omega-3 oils.

Microalgae have already been established as incredibly valuable to the biotech industry, in part due to their ancient genetic diversity and resilience, providing a bio-platform for production of food supplements, and cosmetically in textile dye production for design (Algaemy from Berlin).

There is even an ‘Algae Building’ in Hamburg (Germany), which is entirely sustained by an Algae bioreactor system (developed by Colt International) which encases the building for biomass, insulation from noise, cold and generates a natural source of heating.

7. Self-Healing Bacterial Buildings

The University of Cardiff (Wales) leads a team with the University of Bath (SW England) and the University of Cambridge in the first ever UK trial of a living, self-healing concrete prototype.

Overtime, bacterial microcapsules embedded in the walls secrete Calcium carbonate (CaCO²– much like reef forming corals) when released, which hardens, supports and seals fissures.

Since it is estimated that around €56Bn a year is spent on building repair and structural maintenance in the UK alone (and $2.2 trillion in the US), this self-healing organic concrete could change the future of building materials.

read more original article http://labiotech.eu

Ford and Jose Cuervo use tequila producer’s plant byproduct to develop bioplastics

Published Date : April 25, 2017

Ford Motor Company is teaming up with Jose Cuervo® to explore the use of the tequila producer’s agave plant byproduct to develop more sustainable bioplastics to employ in Ford vehicles.
Ford and Jose Cuervo are testing the bioplastic for use in vehicle interior and exterior components such as wiring harnesses, HVAC units and storage bins. Initial assessments suggest the material holds great promise due to its durability and aesthetic qualities. Success in developing a sustainable composite could reduce vehicle weight and lower energy consumption, while paring the use of petrochemicals and the impact of vehicle production on the environment.

“At Ford, we aim to reduce our impact on the environment,” said Debbie Mielewski, Ford senior technical leader, sustainability research department. “As a leader in the sustainability space, we are developing new technologies to efficiently employ discarded materials and fibers, while potentially reducing the use of petrochemicals and light-weighting our vehicles for desired fuel economy.”
The growth cycle of the agave plant is a minimum seven-year process. Once harvested, the heart of the plant is roasted, before grinding and extracting its juices for distillation. Jose Cuervo uses a portion of the remaining agave fibers as compost for its farms, and local artisans make crafts and agave paper from the remnants.
Now, as part of Jose Cuervo’s broader sustainability plan, the tequila maker is joining forces with the automaker to develop a new way to use its remnant fibers.
“Jose Cuervo is proud to be working with Ford to further develop our agave sustainability plan,” said Sonia Espinola, director of heritage for Cuervo Foundation and master tequilera. “As the world’s No. 1-selling tequila, we could never have imagined the hundreds of agave plants we were cultivating as a small family business would eventually multiply to millions. This collaboration brings two great companies together to develop innovative, earth-conscious materials.”
Like Ford Motor Company, Jose Cuervo is family-owned and operated. Founded in 1795, it has been making tequila for more than 220 years with the same experience, craftsmanship and recipes that have been handed down generation through generation.
The collaboration with Jose Cuervo is the latest example of Ford’s innovative approach to product and environmental stewardship through the use of biomaterials. Ford began researching the use of sustainable materials in its vehicles in 2000. Today, the automaker uses eight sustainable-based materials in its vehicles including soy foam, castor oil, wheat straw, kenaf fiber, cellulose, wood, coconut fiber and rice hulls.
According to the United Nations Environment Programme, 5 billion metric tons of agricultural biomass waste is produced annually. A byproduct of agriculture, the supply of materials is abundant and often underutilized. Yet the materials can be relatively low cost, and can help manufacturers to offset the use of glass fibers and talc for more sustainable, lightweight products.
“There are about 400 pounds of plastic on a typical car,” said Mielewski. “Our job is to find the right place for a green composite like this to help our impact on the planet. It is work that I’m really proud of, and it could have broad impact across numerous industries.”

read more original article https://ilbioeconomista.com

The Peace Lily filters out five dangerous toxins from the air

Published Date : April 25, 2017

 

The Peace Lily, also known as the White Sail Plant or Spathiphyllum, is one of the most popular plants to grow indoors. If people only knew that it filters out five dangerous toxins from the air, it would be the most popular of all!

The toxins include benzene, formaldehyde, trichloroethylene, xylene, and ammonia.

In this guide, you’ll learn everything you ever wanted to know about caring for these beautiful houseplants.​

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Spathiphyllum Overview

Types of Peace Lilies

Peace Lily Care

Light

Temperature

Water

Soil

Fertilizer

Repotting

Pruning​

Propagation

Problems

Growing Problems

Pests

Diseases

FAQs​

Spathiphyllum Overview

Common Name(s)	Peace lily, spath, white flag, white sail plant
Scientific Name	Spathiphyllum
Family	Araceae
Origin	Americas and southeastern asia
Height	Up to 6 fteet
Light	Medium-low
Water	Medium, do not over water
Temperature	65-75°F
Humidity	Medium, mist sometimes
Soil	Moist
Fertilizer	Use weak fertilizer every few weeks
Propagation	When repotting, divide the plant
Pests	Minimal, possible spider mites

Peace lilies are one of the most beautiful houseplants you can grow, if only for the dark green foliage that gracefully arches over. But I don’t think I’m alone in saying that most of us grow them for the gorgeous white blossoms that develop on top of slender, straight stems. The contrast between these blooms and the dark foliage is what makes peace lilies so beautiful.

The flowers are generally taller than the foliage and resemble a calla lily. Flowers start out a pale green and turn to a creamy white as they mature. They’re long lasting blooms and have a very light fragrance.​

Types of Peace Lilies

There are over 40 varieties of peace lily, which is far too many to cover in this article! However, they can be split into the different sizes that they grow as well as the cultivars that are most often found in garden centers:

Small Peace Lilies

‘Power Petite’ source

​’Power Petite’ is one of the smallest varieties you can grow as it tops out at around 15″ or so.

‘Wallisii’ source

​Another great choice for a smaller peace lily, ‘Wallisii’ has longer and more rippled leaves but ends up at about 15″ tall as well.

Medium-Sized Peace Lilies

‘Mauna Loa Supreme’

‘Mauna Loa Supreme’ is one of the more common lilies sold around the country. It gets to 3-4′ tall and leaves that can reach 9″ wide.

‘Clevelandii’ source

​’Clevelandii’ grows much shorter than ‘Mauna Loa Supreme’, coming in at 1-3′ tall. However it has leaves that can reach 1.5′ long, making it a unique choice.

Large Peace Lilies

‘Sensation’ source

​The largest peace lily variety out there, ‘Sensation’ will reach up to 6′ tall. The leaves will reach up to 20″ long and are quite broad. There’s also a smaller variety known as ‘Sensation Mini’.

Variegated Peace Lilies​

‘Domino’ source

The only cultivar that is variegated, ‘Domino’ is absolutely striking. It looks like someone splashed white paint all over the leaves.

Peace Lily Care

Peace lilies are surprisingly easy to care for.

Depending on the type of peace lily you get, it will grow anywhere from 1-6′. They do not have a dormant season unlike many houseplants, so will grow throughout the year. However, they will stop producing blooms in the winter and require less water during that season.

Light

Unlike many plants, peace lilies will thrive in low-light areas. You can place them 5-8 feet from a window and they’ll do just fine. If you place them in direct sunlight for long periods of time, the leaves will yellow, die, and fall off.

If you have no light whatsoever, many gardeners have successfully grown them under T5 fluorescent grow lights. So even in the dead of winter you can enjoy beautiful lilies!

Temperature

Peace lilies should be grown in temperatures ranging from 68-80°F. Don’t place them in a drafty area as they do not like it.

They don’t tolerate extreme cold well, so if your temperatures drop below 45°F, they will most likely die.​

Water

Try to keep your soil evenly moist but not soggy. Standing water will quickly kill the root system. In fact, the most common reason that people kill their peace lilies is because they over-water them. Watering no more than once a week is plenty for this plant. Water even less during winter as the plant won’t be producing blooms.

​You can tell your spathiphyllum needs water when the leaves slightly droop. Don’t wait too long though — severely drooping leaves means the plant has been dry long enough to damage the root system. The bottom leaves may turn yellow and fall off.

Note: the chlorine in tap water can damage your peace lily. If possible, filtered water or leave your tap water out for 24+ hours so the chlorine breaks down.

Soil

A standard well-draining, nutrient-rich potting soil will work well for peace lilies. If you find it holds too much moisture, add some perlite or coarse sand to the mixture.

If you want to make your own potting mix, add equal parts garden soil, coarse sand, and perlite. The soil should be well-aerated and in a pot with a drainage hole to prevent root rot.​

Fertilizer

You can get away without fertilizing your peace lily. But if you do decide to feed it, don’t go overboard. Use a well-balanced 20-20-20- fertilizer but dilute it to 25% of the recommended dose. If you notice the tips of the leaves and blooms turning brown, you’ve probably over-fertilized.​

Fertilize only in spring and summer — it doesn’t grow enough in fall and winter to justify fertilization.​

Repotting

Peace lilies like to be somewhat root-bound. Re-potting is only needed about every other year. When re-potting, place in a pot that is a couple of inches larger than the original pot so that the roots will still be slightly together.​

Here are some signs your plant is too root-bound and needs re-potting:

• Your plant is absorbing all of the water you pour on it within only a couple of days
• There are crowded roots showing through the bottom of the pot
• The stalks are crowding the pot

If you want, you can even re-pot these into coconut husks like this person did.

Pruning​

Pruning isn’t necessary, but you may want to prune anyways to keep your lily looking beautiful throughout the year.

Because every ​stem produces only one flower, once that flower dies it may not look amazing. Cut it back at the base of the stem to remove it and spur new growth.

You can also prune off yellowing leaves or leaves that are drooping severely. While it’s better to prevent these problems in the first place, sometimes the leaves are too far gone and must be removed.​

Propagation

The simplest way to propagate new peace lily plants is by dividing them. New crowns will form at the side of the plant that can be cut away and re-potted.

Choose crowns that have at least two leaves present and use a sharp, disinfected knife to separate them from the parent plant.​

When cutting away the crown, try to get as many roots as you can — this will make it easier for them to establish themselves. Pot the crowns in a 3″ pot in the same soil you use for the parent plant and water immediately.

Avoid fertilizing for at least 3 months or you’ll most likely burn the sensitive new peace lilies.​

Peace lilies clean your air of many toxins, making them a fantastic houseplant to propagate! Jam them into every area of your living space and give all of the extras to your friends and family — they’ll thank you!

Problems

Overall, peace lilies are a resilient houseplant that don’t have much trouble with pests and diseases. However, there are a few key ones to watch out for to keep your plants nice and healthy.

Growing Problems

Yellow leaves indicate too much light, but brown spots are burned areas where direct sunlight hit the leaves.

If your blossoms are green, then you have given your Peace lily too much fertilizer. Reduce it so next season the flowers turn out white.

Pests

Keep pests off by cleaning the leaves regularly. The two that you might get are aphids and mealy bugs.

Aphids are identified by the sticky slime they cover the plant with. Spray your plant with water to get them to fall off, followed by insecticidal soap if they’re still a problem.

For mealy bugs, apply isopropyl alcohol with a cotton ball. If this fails, use insecticidal soap as well.

Diseases

While there are a few rare diseases that affect peace lilies, you’ll most likely run into one of two types of root rot. One of them comes from infected soil, and the other comes from standing, infected water.

To treat root rot, you have to figure out which version your lily plant has. Hint: the most likely culprit is waterborne root rot stemming from watering too often.

Giving the roots a rinse and repotting into a pot with fresh soil will solve both problems.​

FAQs​

Q. I heard I can grow peace lilies indoors under artificial lights, is that true?

A. While they prefer natural light, they can be used in rooms that have no windows at all. They thrive well under fluorescent lighting.​

Q. Can I place my peace lily in a windy area?

A. Peace lilies should be kept out of any drafts or cold air to keep from damaging the plant. They can be misted frequently with warm water and to provide extra moisture, place the pot on top of gravels in the watering dish.​

Q. What should I do with flowers that are dying or dead?

A. Remove any dying or dead flowers, they will take energy away from the plant and cause the new leaves to grow smaller. Remove both the flower and the stalk as far down as you can without damaging the plant.​

Q. All of my blooms have died and my spath isn’t growing new flowers. What to do? 

A. If after the blooms die your peace lily just doesn’t seem to want to bloom again, place it in a darker area for awhile. The period of darkness will trick the plant into thinking it’s had a dormant stage and the blooms will soon start to sprout again!​

Q. Are peace lilies toxic to humans?

A. The sap of the plant contains oxalate crystals and ingestion can cause swelling of the tongue and throat. And, can cause dermatitis or skin irritations in some people. An upset stomach is generally experienced if parts of the plant are ingested. But, it would take a large amount of plant ingestion to cause severe problems.

If you experience skin irritation from contact with the plant sap, thoroughly wash the affected area with warm water and soap. If serious symptoms occur from contact or ingestion, contact your physician.

Q. Are peace lilies toxic for my pets?

A. Rumor has it that peace lilies are poisonous for cats and dogs. While this rumor contains some truth, the peace lily is not deadly for your pets. In fact, the plant contains oxalates that will upset the animal’s stomach and drive them to quit eating the plant after only one bite.

---

Peace lilies win my award for one of the easiest houseplants to take care of for three reasons:

1. ​They can tolerate low-light conditions
2. They show clear feedback when they need water
3. They recover well, even from infestations

read more original article Epic Gardening 

Re-inventing the Windmill

Published Date : April 25, 2017

The Dutch have a reputation for obtaining energy by means of a windmill. This energy was used for all kinds of purposes, such as milling of raw material, water pumping, etc .. Today, the windmill is a means to generate sustainable energy.

The Dutch MSc Marinus Mieremet has been working since 2003 on a new and more efficient way of generating power by a wind turbine.

It is a windmill that yields more energy, produces little noise, bird friendly and also looks very good.

The Archimedes windmill is a new type of wind turbine comprising three circular blades which are wrapped around one another and then expanded. This creates a three-dimensional conical turbine, similar to elongated shells found on the beach. The special design ensures that wind is drawn into the turbine. The average yield is many times higher compared to a normal urban windmill propeller.

read more original article https://www.thearchimedes.com/

Meet the World's First Island Powered by an Off-Grid Renewable Energy System

Published Date : April 20, 2017

Riese & Muller's new electric cargo bike offers covered hauling for kids, groceries, and more

Published Date : April 20, 2017

A crucial climate mystery is just under our feet

Published Date : April 20, 2017

What Jonathan Sanderman really wanted was some old dirt. He called everyone he could think of who might know where he could get some. He emailed colleagues and read through old studies looking for clues, but he kept coming up empty.

Sanderman was looking for old dirt because it would let him test a plan to save the world. Soil scientists had been talking about this idea for decades: farmers could turn their fields into giant greenhouse gas sponges, potentially offsetting as much as 15 percent of global fossil fuel emissions a year, simply by coaxing crops to suck more CO2 out of the air.

There was one big problem with this idea: It could backfire. When plants absorb CO2 they either turn it into food or stash it in the ground. The risk is that if you treat farms as carbon banks, it could lead to smaller harvests, which would spur farmers to plow more land and pump more carbon into the air than before.

Back in 2011, when Sanderman was working as a soil scientist in Australia (he’s now at Woods Hole Research Center in Massachusetts), he’d figured out a way to test if it was possible to produce bumper crops on a piece of land while also banking carbon in it. But first, he needed to get his hands on that really old dirt.

Specifically, he needed to find a farm that kept decades of soil samples and precise records of its yields. That way he could compare the amount of carbon in the soil with the harvest and see if storing carbon kneecapped production.

Sanderman’s office was in the southern city of Adelaide, directly across the street from the Waite Agricultural Research Institute. The researchers there supposedly had the soil and records that Sanderman needed, dating back to 1925. But no one had any idea where to find the dirt. After numerous dead ends, a chain of clues led Sanderman into the basement of a big research building down the road, covered in greenhouses.

The basement was a big, dimly lit room full of floor-to-ceiling shelves crammed with boxes in various stages of disarray. He walked the rows slowly, scanning up and down until they were in front of his nose: scores of gallon jars made of thick, leaded glass with yellowing labels. “Like something you’d find in a second-hand store and put on your shelf,” Sanderman says.

He felt a rush of excitement. Then he squinted at the labels. There were no dates or locations. Instead, each bore a single series of numbers. It was a code, and Sanderman had no clue how to crack it.

The question that Sanderman wanted to answer was laid out by the Canadian soil scientist Henry Janzen. In 2006, Janzen published a paper, “The soil carbon dilemma: Shall we hoard it or use it?” Janzen pointed out that since the dawn of agriculture, farmers have been breeding crops that suck carbon out of the air and put it on our plates, rather than leaving it behind in the soil.

“Grain is 45 percent carbon by weight,” Janzen told me. “So when you truck away a load of grain, you are exporting carbon which, in a natural system, would have mostly returned to the soil.”

Janzen has the rare ability to explain complicated things with such clarity that, when talking to him, you may catch yourself struck with wonder at an utterly new glimpse of how the world works. Plants, he explained, perform a kind of alchemy. They combine air, water, and the sun’s fire to make food. And this alchemical combination that we call food is, in fact, a battery — a molecular trap for the sun’s energy made of broken-down CO2 and H2O (you know, air and water).

Sugars are the simplest batteries. And sugars are also the building blocks for fat and fiber, which are just bigger, more complicated batteries. Ferns, trees, and reeds are the sum of those parts. Bury these batteries for thousands of years under conditions of immense heat and pressure, and they transform again — still carrying the sun’s energy — into coal, oil, and gas.

To feed our growing population, we keep extracting more and more carbon from farms to deliver solar energy to our bodies. Janzen pointed out that we’ve bred crops to grow bigger seeds (the parts we eat) and smaller roots and stems (the parts that stay on the farm). All of this diverts carbon to our bellies that would otherwise go into the ground. This leads to what Janzen dubbed the soil carbon dilemma: Can we both increase soil carbon and increase harvests? Or do we have to pick one at the expense of the other?

Sanderman thought he could help answer those questions if he could crack the codes on those glass bottles. But the codes on the labels didn’t line up with the notes that Waite researchers had made. After a flurry of anguished emails, Sanderman tracked down a technician who had worked at Waite 25 years earlier, and she showed him how to decode the numbers. Finally, after a year of detective work, he could run his tests.

In January, Sanderman and his colleagues published their results. Carbon wasn’t simply going into the ground and staying there, they found; it was getting chewed up by microbes and floating into the air again. Fields with the biggest harvests had the most carbon turnover: more microbes chewing, while carbon gas streamed out of the soil.

Bizarrely enough, these same fields with the biggest harvests also had the most carbon in their soils. How could this be?

To answer that, it helps to think of carbon like money. We have an impulse to hide our savings under a mattress. But if you want more money, you have to invest it.

It’s the same with carbon. Life on earth is an economy that runs on carbon — the conduit for the sun’s energy. You have to keep it working and moving if you want your deposits to grow. The more busily plants and microbes trade carbon molecules, the more prosperous the ecological economy becomes.

That’s the key — you’ve got to use carbon to store carbon. By amping up harvest and turning up the volume on the microbes, sure, you get higher carbon emissions, but you also get more vigorous plants sucking up even more carbon. That, in turn, gives the plants enough carbon to produce a big harvest with a surplus left over to feed the dirt.

“You can have your soil carbon and eat it, too,” Sanderman says.

Is all this too good to be true? Soil scientist Whendee Silver at U.C. Berkeley had some reservations about Sanderman’s methods. She wondered if the Australian soils that he studied might have changed during decades of storage, and if the results would have been different if researchers had looked at more than just the top 10 centimeters of soil.

That said, Silver thought Sanderman’s conclusions made sense: Grow more stuff, and you get more carbon left behind in the soil. Rattan Lal, director of the Carbon Management and Sequestration Center at Ohio State, also gave the study his seal of approval.

The implications are huge. The study suggests we can slow climate change simply by feeding people. But there’s a gap between discovering something and putting it to use.

Solving one puzzle often opens up many, many more. Humphry Davy invented the electric light in 1802, but lightbulbs weren’t available for regular use until Thomas Edison’s day, 75 years later.

In this case, Sanderman’s sleuthing provides a proof of concept. To apply it, farmers would have to get more plants turning carbon to sugars on every acre of land. Now scientists and policy makers just need to find the barriers that prevent farmers from putting this knowledge into practice.

One issue is that the high-yield Australian fields in Sanderman’s study were growing grass, not wheat or corn. Grass directs its carbon into roots that stay in the soil, while grains are bred to shove carbon into their seeds. That doesn’t compromise the point of the study; the grass was still able to produce tons of hay for harvest while also making the dirt carbon-rich.

But it does add a new riddle: How do we get food crops to act like grass and spend more of their carbon budget on their roots, while still producing bountiful harvests?

The simplest answer, Janzen says, would be to boost yields. Anything farmers can do to allow more plants to thrive — like improving nutrition, irrigation, and protection from insects — will mean more carbon flowing into the soil. And in the long run, breeding for more roots as well as more grain will be a key to getting carbon into the ground without losing food production. Ultimately, that requires improving on photosynthesis, which is as difficult as putting a man on the moon (yep, scientists are working on it).

Another approach is to grow plants on fields that would otherwise be bare. By rolling out a carpet of green during the winter, farms could suck more carbon from the air into the soil. Some farmers are already doing this — growing cover crops like clover and ryegrass and experimenting with a suite of techniques often called “climate-smart agriculture.”

But there’s yet another barrier here: money. For farmers, the costs of planting cover crops often outweigh the immediate benefits. That’s why Ohio State’s Lal argues that farmers should get some help. “We have to recognize that farmers are making an investment that benefits society as a whole,” she says. “They should be compensated. My estimate is $16 per acre per year.”

Some companies have already started paying farmers to employ these techniques, says Roger Wolf, director of the Iowa Soy Association’s environmental programs. These corporations see a trend toward sustainability, with more of their customers pushing for environmental stewardship, and are trying to get out in front of it. The food and cosmetics giant Unilever and the grain trader ADM offer farmers a premium price for adhering to practices that accrue carbon.

Ever since people began pushing seeds into the dirt, we’ve been eating away the carbon from our topsoil. Now we’re finally developing the knowledge necessary to pump that carbon back into the ground. We have a proof of concept and Sanderman has taken the next logical step: He’s working on creating the tools farmers need to put this knowledge into practice. It’s one more link in the chain humans are forging to hold back the worst ravages of climate change.

read more original article Grist

Making batteries from waste glass bottles

Published Date : April 20, 2017

Researchers at the University of California, Riverside’s Bourns College of Engineering have used waste glass bottles and a low-cost chemical process to create nanosilicon anodes for high-performance lithium-ion batteries. The batteries will extend the range of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, and provide more power with fewer charges to personal electronics like cell phones and laptops.

Titled “Silicon Derived from Glass Bottles as Anode Materials for Lithium Ion Full Cell Batteries,” an article describing the research was published today in the Nature journal Scientific Reports. Cengiz Ozkan, professor of mechanical engineering, and Mihri Ozkan, professor of electrical engineering, led the project.

Even with today’s recycling programs, billions of glass bottles end up in landfills every year, prompting the researchers to ask whether silicon dioxide in waste beverage bottles could provide high purity silicon nanoparticles for lithium-ion batteries.

Silicon anodes can store up to 10 times more energy than conventional graphite anodes, but expansion and shrinkage during charge and discharge make them unstable. Downsizing silicon to the nanoscale has been shown to reduce this problem, and by combining an abundant and relatively pure form of silicon dioxide and a low-cost chemical reaction, the researchers created lithium-ion half-cell batteries that store almost four times more energy than conventional graphite anodes.

To create the anodes, the team used a three-step process that involved crushing and grinding the glass bottles into a fine white power, a magnesiothermic reduction to transform the silicon dioxide into nanostructured silicon, and coating the silicon nanoparticles with carbon to improve their stability and energy storage properties.

As expected, coin cell batteries made using the glass bottle-based silicon anodes greatly outperformed traditional batteries in laboratory tests. Carbon-coated glass derived-silicon (gSi@C) electrodes demonstrated excellent electrochemical performance with a capacity of ~1420 mAh/g at C/2 rate after 400 cycles.

Changling Li, a graduate student in materials science and engineering and lead author on the paper, said one glass bottle provides enough nanosilicon for hundreds of coin cell batteries or three-five pouch cell batteries.

“We started with a waste product that was headed for the landfill and created batteries that stored more energy, charged faster, and were more stable than commercial coin cell batteries. Hence, we have very promising candidates for next-generation lithium-ion batteries,” Li said.

This research is the latest in a series of projects led by Mihri and Cengiz Ozkan to create lithium-ion battery anodes from environmentally friendly materials. Previous research has focused on developing and testing anodes from portabella mushrooms, sand, and diatomaceous (fossil-rich) earth.

###

In addition to Mihri and Cengiz Ozkan and Li, contributors include graduate students Chueh Liu, Wei Wang, Zafer Mutlu, Jeffrey Bell, Kazi Ahmed and Rachel Ye. Financial support for this work was provided by the UC-Riverside and UC Faculty Climate Champion initiative.

The UCR Office of Technology Commercialization has filed a patent application for the inventions above.

read more original article Eurekalert

Canadian firm builds giant ‘scrubber’ to pull CO2 from the air

Published Date : April 19, 2017

A rendering of Carbon Engineering’s system. The process allows the company to pull carbon from the air. It can then be used to synthesize fuel or be stored. PHOTO: Carbon Engineering

CALGARY—Nestled beneath the scattered peaks overlooking Squamish B.C., a stone’s throw from the shore of the calm Pacific inlet known as Howe Sound, one Canadian company is quietly nearing the completion of a facility that could rewrite the book on hydrocarbon fuel, and potentially turn back the clock on climate change.

Often pegged as a dirty technology, only somewhat cleaner than coal, hydrocarbon-based fuels—such as diesel or gasoline—are considered in many circles to have outlived their usefulness, causing more damage to the environment than they give back as simple and accessible forms of energy.

Despite the stigma, Calgary-based Carbon Engineering is not convinced the age of hydrocarbons is necessarily over. But unlike a conventional energy company, the six-year-old cleantech outfit is planning to leave the petroleum in the ground. It may not be the easiest or most conventional way to produce hydrocarbons, but Carbon Engineering is wholly dedicated to pulling – or scrubbing – carbon dioxide from the air and using it to produce synthetic hydrocarbon fuel that has an ultra-low or no carbon footprint.

Carbon Engineering’s demonstration project in Squamish, B.C. will be capable of scrubbing 2 tons of CO2 from the air daily. PHOTO: Carbon Engineering

“If you’re just looking to produce CO2 that somebody can use in an industrial or a commercial setting, there’s cheaper ways to get it than scrubbing it out of the air,” Geoffrey Holmes, business development manager at CE, said.

But as CE’s engineers know, and is becoming abundantly clear to energy companies with high carbon footprints, changing emissions regulations and environmental impact costs are quickly changing the cost equation of traditional energy.

“Our business strategy rests on monetizing the benefits of the CO2 and of the environmental benefits of having scrubbed it from the air,” Holmes said. “It’s sort of a closed-cycle way of powering transportation that can be carbon-neutral.”

To scrub CO2 from the air, CE uses what is known as a contactor. First, large fans push regular air through plastic sheets that are pumped full of a liquid solution designed to capture carbon. The CO2 is absorbed into the solution and collected in a large tray. The remaining air is filtered off, while the CO2-rich solution is funneled and pumped toward the regeneration stage. The regeneration process isolates the CO2, allowing it to be used to produce synthesis fuels or stored. The liquid solution can then be pumped back to the contactor and reused.

CE’s system uses thermal energy for the majority of the CO2 extraction process. Its demonstration plant will be powered by natural gas to generate the required energy, but CE noted as solar prices continue to tumble, all stages of the process could run on renewable energy. In that scenario, when the synthesized hydrocarbon fuel is burned, its CO2 emissions would be 100 per cent offset by the CO2 captured to produce it. Even if the company uses natural gas to meet the thermal demand and solar to power the electrical and fuel synthesis equipment, however, the process can reduce the carbon footprint of hydrocarbon fuels by 85 per cent.

Inside Carbon Engineering’s carbon scrubbing plant. PHOTO: Carbon Engineering

“This system can, in principle, either be used to provide low-carbon fuels that help de-carbonize the transportation sector, in which case that actually might be cheaper than a lot of our other options, or it’s also a system that in the future be used to compensate for emissions that are more costly or difficult to mitigate at source,” Holmes said.

“Let’s say you’ve got a whole lot of little sources of CO2 that you just can’t capture or alter the equipment to emit less or whatever, you could in principle build one air capture plant to capture the equivalent amount of emissions… that may be a cheaper solution than applying a separate fix at each individual source,” he added.

One of the major—and often overlooked—issues surrounding replacing oil and gas, is the massive investment required to replace existing infrastructure. Though low-carbon or carbon-neutral fuels are playing an ever-increasing role in the world’s energy mix, and carbon taxes as well as cap and trade programs are cropping up in Canada and in many jurisdictions worldwide to incentivize the change, traditional hydrocarbons still make up the most significant part of the world’s energy consumption. According to the most recent International Energy Agency data, oil accounted for 40.7 per cent of the world’s total energy consumption in 2012.

CE’s synthetic hydrocarbons, with a significantly lower or even neutral carbon impact, would leave existing infrastructure intact—not requiring every combustion engine on the planet to be scrapped or converted—and allow hydrocarbons to remain part of the world’s energy makeup at a fraction of the environmental cost.

Construction underway at the Squamish facility. PHOTO: Carbon Engineering

And though synthesizing greener fuel makes up the backbone of Carbon Engineering’s business plan, the company has also investigated one alternative strategy for its technology that would turn back the clock on climate change.

“It’s one of the very, very few approaches that could sort of wind the clock back in terms of CO2 emissions in some future scenario where we’ve made drastic cuts and we’re finding out this isn’t enough,” Holmes said.

Though CE made clear it would rather “deploy this technology alongside all of our current suite of options to drive emissions to zero more quickly than to wait and use this in some future scenario to pull carbon back out of the air,” the technology could potentially be used to extract CO2 from the air on a large scale and store it, effectively eliminating one of the key drivers of climate change.

CE’s pilot project is designed to scrub only two tons of CO2 from the air daily, but the company said a full-scale facility would be capable of pulling as much as 1 million tons of CO2 from the air per year. The company’s demonstration plant is nearly complete and is expected to come online in the coming months.

read more original article Clean Tech Canada

Scientists seek carbon capture holy grail in rugged mountains of Oman

Published Date : April 19, 2017

Freeing Costa Rica from Fossil Fuels

Published Date : April 19, 2017

read more original article https://www.climatecouncil.org.au

Why Small-Scale Farming Is Our Best Hope For Restoring Rural America

Published Date : April 18, 2017

 

 

Boarded-up business districts. Abandoned warehouses. Barns and homes covered by tarps slowly collapsing into the earth. It was startling how often this scene repeated as I drove through the rural areas of the Midwest, South, and West on the road trip that resulted in the book The Revolution Where You Live.

Many of these are the same areas that famously voted for a loudmouth New Yorker. For some, he better represented conservative, rural values than Hillary Clinton did. These devastated regions, where opioid addiction is at epidemic levels, are places that ran out of hope.

The cynical and bankrupt answers offered up by the 45th president will not bring prosperity to these regions. But neither would the corporate-friendly policies of a President Hillary Clinton and others in her wing of the Democratic Party.

So what actually would bring about rural prosperity?

I found some hints on my long road trip. The relatively prosperous small towns I stumbled on often turned out to include large Amish or Mennonite populations. These groups have been spreading quietly, buying up land and bringing back small-scale farming.

I visited Organic Valley, the largest farmer-owned organic cooperative in the United States, with more than $1 billion in annual revenue.

I learned that about 45 percent of Organic Valley’s farmers nationwide are Amish or Mennonite. Organic Valley, based in La Farge, Wisconsin, is in business to serve the interests of these farmers. They start by setting dairy prices that are enough for farmers to operate without harming the animals, the workers, the customers, or the planet. And instead of paying exorbitant salaries to executives or huge returns to investors, the company helps conventional farmers make the expensive transition to organics. The prosperity of these small farmers ripples out into the surrounding communities, where those who provide farm families with goods and services can also prosper.

“There is no relationship to the land anymore.”

Farmers who depend on large corporations for seeds, chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and for markets, face a very different reality. They have little bargaining power with these behemoths, which are free to roam the planet for the lowest prices and best subsidies, and to form near-monopolies on seed and fertilizer. The federal government supports the corporate agriculture model via trade deals and subsidies; President Nixon’s Agriculture Secretary, Earl Butz, famously urged farmers to “get big or get out.”

Supporters of this model “almost brag that we’re down to half a percent of the population making their living from agriculture,” Steve Charter told me when I visited him on his land north of Billings, Montana. “There is no relationship to the land anymore. There’s just someone driving a huge tractor, putting on all these chemicals.”

Charter is a rancher, not a dairy farmer, but like the Organic Valley member-farmers, his vision of agriculture runs counter to the corporate ideal. He manages his cattle so they behave like the wild ungulates that once wandered the plains, corralling them so that they chop up the soil with their hooves and fertilize it with their waste, before moving off to let lush grass grow back. Through this and other processes, Charter is rebuilding the complex bacterial and fungal biomes that make soil productive.

“We hope to bring people back to where human knowledge and hands will do this.”

And at a time of climate crisis, this is a big deal: This living soil holds water instead of shedding it after a rainfall. As a result, these semi-arid plains are less likely to degrade into deserts as a shifting climate brings drought and heat waves. And these techniques can turn vast grasslands into giant carbon sponges, reliably extracting large quantities of carbon from the atmosphere and sequestering it safely in the soil.

The catch?

It takes a lot of hands-on work with the cattle and the land.

“But that’s a good thing,” Charter said. “This is the kind of job that people like doing once they know how to do it. As ranchers, we hope to bring people back to where human knowledge and hands will do this, and not petrochemicals and running tractors.” Instead of feeding the profits of agribusiness corporations, more money goes to pay ranch hands.

And with these sorts of jobs comes another possibility: the restoration of agricultural livelihoods and the small towns that support them. Ways of life that can offer sustenance to families and revitalize rural America.

There is nothing inevitable about the demise of rural America. Nothing inevitable, that is, if we turn away from the extractive model of corporate agriculture and the trade deals and subsidies that support it and instead reestablish the small- and medium-scale farming and ranching that can support sustainable prosperity.

read more original article Huffington Post

Gaia’s Peace Garden Blooms As Model Urban Oasis

Published Date : April 18, 2017

read more original article Huffington post 

Bioplastic cones improve efficiency of Thailand’s local rubber agriculture

Published Date : April 18, 2017

Corbion, Global Bio-Polymers, and Maxrich announced their collaboration on the development of a biodegradable root growth container to improve the agricultural efficiency and environmental performance of rubber tree plantations.

Scientists explore environmental advantages of horticultural bioplastics

Published Date : April 18, 2017

New bioplastic materials may enable gardeners to tend their plants more sustainably and could even help plants “self-fertilize” and grow healthier roots, according to research conducted by Iowa State University horticulturists.

read more original article http://www.ecodaily.org

How Small Cities Can Have a Big Impact in the Fight Against Climate Change

Published Date : April 18, 2017

The little things add up. If one light is left on in your home for the entire day, every day, your electric bill will inevitably increase. If a community stops the use of plastic water bottles, it can significantly reduce the amount of bottles that end up in the landfill. Just ask our alumni member company, Bevi! Their customers have collectively saved more than 1 million bottles from the landfill by relying on reusable bottles and a shared water supply, enabling companies around the county to have a smaller footprint with a bigger impact.

Efforts to protect the environment and initiatives to help mitigate climate change need to happen at all levels, in schools and communities, and across cities, states and countries. COP21 did an excellent job highlighting the importance and responsibilities of major cities to fight climate change but as we’ve seen, it can be incredibly challenging to execute initiatives on a global scale. Actions from small cities — and companies — are tremendously important and can set an example for their larger counterparts since they can often move faster, be more experimental and encounter less bureaucracy in the implementation process.

The City of Somerville, MA, is a testament to this vision.

As one of the most densely populated cities in the country with a population of 78,000 people residing in 4.4 square miles, Somerville aims to set an example for the nation and the world with a net zero 2050 carbon goal. This is no small task but with its committed team focused on implementing ongoing efforts, carbon neutrality will be a reality for this amazing city!

Improvements to Infrastructure

In 2013, Somerville led the region in sustainable transportation with nearly 50 percent of its commuters walking, biking or taking advantage of public transit. But in order for Somerville to achieve its net zero carbon goal, the number of sustainable commuters needs to increase. To meet this demand, the City introduced initiatives to increase walkability and bikeability throughout the region and even more, Somerville secured Federal and State funding for the first major public transit expansion in the area since the 1980s. The expansion project known as The Green Line Extension, will make an enormous impact on the use of and access to commuting for Somerville-area residents.

Programs and Partnerships

Just last year, Somerville launched a global competition in collaboration with MIT’s Climate CoLab to harness the community’s ideas and proposals to address climate change issues. This contest generated dozens of ideas from around the world on reducing carbon emissions from the city’s buildings, transportation and food supply. The contest engaged a broad range of citizens and is one of the underpinnings of the City’s ongoing climate change plan.

Cities are potential end users of clean technology but Somerville believes cities have a role to play farther up the development pipeline, helping early-stage companies test technologies. With the goal of making Somerville an urban laboratory, the City launched its own Somerville GreenTech Program in 2015 to pilot green technologies throughout the city and make Somerville more sustainable. Thanks to Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone’s exceptional leadership, Somerville recognizes that municipalities and industry must work together on the development and adoption of green technology to solve urgent environmental problems and move closer to its carbon neutral goal.

Access to Innovation

In addition to the City’s ongoing efforts and initiatives, Somerville is uniquely home to the United States’ largest clean technology startup incubator, Greentown Labs. Greentown was able to be move to Somerville through the City’s $1MM Innovation Fund. It supports business expansion and assists businesses to locate in Somerville to support technology-related businesses and other traditional businesses that embrace innovation. Through that, we were able to secure 40,000 sq. ft. for our incubator, providing office and lab space to more than 50 startups that are all developing solutions for a carbon neutral future in the energy efficiency, energy distribution, energy storage, transportation, waste, water and agriculture sectors. Greentown Labs’ mission is to provide the best place in the world for cleantech startups to build their companies by providing the facilities, resources and access to funding they need to build their companies.

As a member of Greentown Labs, startups have direct connections to professional resources, software tools and equipment, potential corporate partners, investors and customers to help them raise private investment to launch their companies.

Our member companies typically stay in the incubator for 1.5–2 years and during their time in the community they’re constantly seeking opportunities to test and pilot their technologies. When the City of Somerville launched its GreenTech program, our members knew it had the potential to be a strong partnership opportunity for both parties: the startups would have the ability to test and deploy their technology, and Somerville would increase the use of clean and green technologies throughout the City.

After executing a thorough application process, Somerville successfully deployed two of Greentown Labs’ member companies’ technologies. These included:

• Weather stations: Understory Weather provides weather and data analytics to understand weather at the ground level. This insight helps the City respond to disasters, floods and snow emergencies in a more efficient manner.
• Solar-powered cell phone charging stations and wifi hot-spots: WrightGrid designs, engineers and manufacturers industrial strength, point-of-use power products to enhance mobile connectivity. The startup’s charging stations were scattered throughout Somerville to help residents, commuters, students and other city visitors.

And the City’s plan for partnerships with Greentown Labs’ startups doesn’t end there! Another Greentown Labs member company is focused on creating a new path for easy, on-site hydrogen car refueling and the City is interested in finding ways to deploy this technology around Somerville. This partnership could serve as a model for city ridesharing with a fleet of hydrogen powered vehicles and highly efficient hydrogen refueling stations. Stay tuned for updates on this partnership!

Just as we have been successful in partnering with the City for various pilots and projects, the City also encourages other companies from the region to participate in the City’s GreenTech program and pilots. Through Somerville GreenTech, City staff are available to talk with technology companies about potential pilots on an ongoing basis, and the City will be releasing solicitations focused on specific sustainability problems. If you have technology that can help the City reach its sustainability goals, they want to hear about it! Please visit Somerville’s GreenTech website for more information.

An Example to Replicate

The City of Somerville’s ambitious net zero carbon goal will require creative innovation and experimentation, and fortunately for the City, Mayor Curtatone welcomes out-of-the-box thinking and is eager to hear from passionate individuals who want to help the environment. Establishing partnerships among startups and cities, startups and corporations, and cities and corporations to develop clean technology solutions can be an example for larger cities and ultimately nations around the world. Not only can small startups make a big impact in small cities, but small cities can make a big impact on a global movement toward green technology development and deployment.

read more original article https://medium.com

‘People-first’ for greener, liveable cities

Published Date : April 18, 2017

Brighton NewRoad  Image © Gehl Architects

What does an ideal city look like and is such a model realistic?

It is difficult to create the perfect green city, but we do have an overall vision. Our key guiding principle can be summarised as ‘people first’. We are making cities for people — to support their ability to have a better quality of life in a sustainable way, while ensuring social inclusion both in the short and long term. We have to understand people’s physical and social requirements and their need to have access to work. In addition, cities must have a well-integrated mobility system and the capacity to deal better with climate change. We see cities struggling globally on these issues, but putting in place practical solutions to these issues is realistic.

In terms of mobility, well-built transport networks need to be put in place to ensure that the city is walkable and ‘bikeable’. People should be able to get around very easily, not only in their local neighbourhoods but also over distances between 5 and 10 kilometres away.

Public and green areas are also essential. They enable us to meet others and feel connected but also give us a sense of freedom and space beyond our private homes. A city needs a wide variety of accessible public spaces in local neighbourhoods like playgrounds for kids and families, local parks and calm areas that bring us closer to nature. People who have access to nature feel less stress in urban environments.

A city should also have other types of public spaces, such as plazas or squares, where people can gather and enjoy commercial or cultural activities. Such diversity of space in a city helps meet people’s social needs. Similarly, the buildings should consist of a mix of old and new, offering residential opportunities for all income groups and integrating work places. All these places should be easily reachable by public transport to encourage people to adopt sustainable behaviour.

How do you assess mobility problems?

We have developed a data-driven approach; what we call the ‘public life/public space method’. Many cities already assess economic performance, public transport use, and current and future vehicle use. But the more social and cultural elements of the city are often not assessed. Here at Gehl Architects, we try to map these elements and make them visible. Who are the people using the city? How do they move? What public activities take place in the city? Who attends them? What can we do for those groups not using the city? We try to get to the root of certain behavioural patterns and use this knowledge to develop the city.

For example, in one of our projects, we conducted a public space/public life survey to understand why New Road was failing to attract people — pedestrians, shoppers — although it was located in the popular core of Brighton in the United Kingdom. Our analysis showed that the road would be a perfect link between the inner city and the nearby university and library. We proposed to open it up towards the park nearby and designed it for pedestrians, but allowed vehicles to pass at low speed. The street became very quickly the fourth most used space in the city.

Who contributes to a city’s design?

We work closely with community groups, local NGOs, business improvement groups and local government. When we upgrade a city, we have to make sure the spaces we create benefit people living and working nearby. We do a lot of before and after surveys. This feedback often encourages political leaders to move forward.

People who live in the city also need to be involved. For example, we often face reluctance or opposition when pedestrianising commercial districts. Based on our data, the number of pedestrians walking in front of shops increases massively in newly created car-free areas. By sharing the data, we can convince people and businesses of the social and economic benefits. We actually invite people to vote with their feet.

It is important to have a focus on what we call software (the culture or use of the city) — and hardware (the roads, streets and buildings and the physical environment) because these two things have to go hand in hand.

Are there any trade-offs to attain urban equality, quality of life and mobility?

It’s not about trade-offs. It’s about flexibility and being more balanced in designing cities. Rather than pedestrianising one street, the focus should be on having a much more integrated network where all streets are walkable, bikeable, and nice places to live and work. Our current silo approach has to change. We have to work on many different levels to ensure cities are safe and comfortable to move around in so people feel that they can still go where they want without owning a car. Cities should develop multiple and well-functioning transport systems to give people a choice.

To strike that balance between mobility needs and quality of life, some cities have restricted car access to certain areas. Cities like Copenhagen, London, Stockholm and others have done this by introducing congestion charges or increasing the cost of parking downtown. This makes other transport options like cycling or public transport more appealing.

Are European cities adapting to a greener transport model?

I think Europe is leading the way. Many European cities have well-functioning public transport and have also pedestrianised parts of their urban areas over recent decades. Copenhagen and Amsterdam are the two top cities for cycling, while Berlin also has quite high numbers of cyclists.

There are challenges when it comes to other cities. Paris was a pioneer when it introduced a public bicycle system. It became a global example. But it has not been as brave in implementing infrastructure more concretely, i.e. taking space away from cars and making a more connected cycling network. Many cities have similar issues and unfortunately cycling accidents do happen. This stops people seeing cycling as a safe alternative.

Many cities consider their streets too narrow for bicycles. I would say they’re too narrow for cars! People don’t take up as much space when moving on foot or by bicycle.

We also need to connect city centres with outlying areas better. This involves a focus on the journey and an understanding that public transport, be it trains or buses, can act as a continuation of our public spaces from home to work and back again.

What future challenges do we face in terms of mobility and the city?

There are many challenges ahead: increased urbanisation, climate change, transport, food production, energy consumption, social inclusion… Security has also become a real issue for public spaces. When people perceive public spaces as unsafe, they might prefer to use cars instead.

Urban mobility also touches upon public health. We are collaborating with Novo Nordisk to tackle diabetes in cities as 80 % of the world’s diabetic population lives in cities. We see that government health budgets are growing enormously and designing cities differently could certainly help combat diabetes.

An aging population is another challenge. We are working in Tokyo and in parts of Europe where the age demographic is changing rapidly. Our cities need to be designed in a way that makes it easier for an aging population to get around. The key here is to understand that for all of these challenges, the city is part of the solution and the design of the city can help us change people’s behaviour.

read more original article http://www.eea.europa.eu

5 Reasons America needs walkable neighborhoods

Published Date : April 18, 2017

The RPA report  this week highlights the need for more housing in walkable neighborhoods. Now, walkability isn’t just something that we believe is “good for you” like broccoli or flossing. In fact, as the report explains, walkability is something that people have time and again demanded, and that demand is simply not being met. What is the true value of walkable neighborhoods? Why do we need them and why has demand for them increased? Here are five key reasons why walkability is valuable to communities and should be prioritized:

8 Best Walkable Cities Around the World

Published Date : April 18, 2017

Video of Vertical City premieres in New York

Published Date : April 17, 2017

© Vertical City

7 Examples Of Sustainability In Sweden

Published Date : April 17, 2017

 

Västra Hamnen, once a decaying industrial area, has been transformed into a carbon-neutral neighbourhood – a prime example of sustainable city planning.

Photo: Aline Lessner/www.imagebank.sweden.se

Urban gardening at Majorna in Göteborg.

Photo: Emelie Asplund/imagebank.sweden.se

China’s green urban planning can draw lessons from Portland and Stockholm

Published Date : April 17, 2017

 

Out of industrial dust and ashes, the lakeside Hammarby Sjöstad district of Stockholm arose in 1999. Meanwhile, 5,000 miles to the west, the historical Pearl District of Portland, Oregon reawakened. Drawing on detailed case studies on Hammarby and the Pearl District completed under the aegis of China Development Bank Capital’s Green and Smart Guidelines, this article presents the critical lessons the districts’ sustainable development can offer China.

China reports that a startling 200 eco-city projects are under construction across the country. Challenges facing China’s urban sustainability are legion. Many municipal governments are underfunded and rely on promoting sprawling development for additional revenue, planning practices in China are still largely car-centric, and accountability mechanisms can be weak.

The Pearl District is a case of redevelopment and with Hammerby, new development. Both projects followed a similar development process: they set early and comprehensive environmental goals, aligned these with developers’ incentives, and created accountability systems to ensure the goals were met.

Some 15 years after the projects broke ground, the districts’ flourishing economies, excellent environmental records, and vibrant communities prove that sustainability and growth do not have to be mutually exclusive. On the contrary, they can instead be mutually reinforcing.

A Pearl of Wisdom 

Hosting shipping docks and the major Union train station in the early 1900s, the district was a bustling commercial and transit hub in the up-and-coming northwest.

However, in the 1950s, massive post-war highway construction became the gateway drug for the country’s car addiction and a migration from the harbor district to distant suburbs.

Just as the ascent of car-centric development patterns drove the life out of the Pearl, the emergence of the urban sustainability agenda offered the district an opportunity for revival.  While the district had become derelict, its history provided an essential foundation for its regeneration as a model of sustainability.

To trace this foundation, imagine zooming into Portland on a map. Hovering above Portland, you will see a distinct boundary between grey-coloured urban areas and green wilderness. This line is a product of progressive state legislation passed in 1973 establishing urban growth boundaries around major cities to prevent further sprawl.

This policy provided an incentive for ‘infill’ development in underutilised inner-city areas such as the Pearl District, rather than developing suburbs.

Zooming in toward the Pearl, the district’s road network comes into sight. Originally laid down before the age of automobiles, the grid consists of small blocks, 200 feet by 200 feet, which encourage walking by offering a more efficient route between any two points. Compare this with the superblocks currently dominating modern Chinese cities, daunting pedestrians and nudging them toward driving.

 

Grid layout of the Pearl District in 1869, originally Couch’s Addition, showing small blocks (Source)

 

Zooming in even further, the city’s main mass transit system, the ‘Portland Streetcar’, emerges cutting across the Pearl District. Preceding the district’s redevelopment by a few years, the Streetcar became a critical artery and catalyst for development in the Pearl.

New green technology and innovation have supplemented the Pearl District’s foundation of sustainable urban form and transportation throughout its redevelopment. The district incorporated the voices of a diverse set of stakeholders to create a series of plans with explicit goals to preserve the district’s industrial history while updating it to integrate sustainability and livability.

This plan led to the addition of several prominent public parks, and the Brewery Blocks—a development project comprised of buildings that all comply with LEED [a US green building code], a district cooling facility, low-flow water fixtures, and solar PV arrays. Policies such as maximum parking thresholds also helped the city guide the district towards a low-carbon lifetstyle by making car use difficult  and reducing the need to drive .

Development agreements and tax increment financing from the Portland Development Commission incentivised developers to fulfill the sustainability goals established in the district’s plan and ensured accountability.

Some 15 years after redevelopment launched, the Pearl is thriving. The population density of the district has quadrupled while easy access to parks and public transit such as  the Streetcar allows for a high quality of life in the area.

In a 2008 survey of Pearl residents, three quarters of residents said they drove less since moving to the Pearl; 58% said they usually walk, bike, or take transit to work. The district’s economy is also flourishing, driven by an influx of young, creative professionals. Between 1994 and 2010, job growth increased by 54%, average salary increased by 41%, and land market value increased by seven-fold, inflation adjusted.

‘The Hammarby Model’ 

Unlike the bustling Pearl District of old, the Hammarby Sjöstad district of Stockholm had humbler origins as a brownfield industrial site. When Stockholm applied to host the 2004 Olympic Games, Hammarby was offered a fresh start as the site for the Olympic Village.

Due to the Olympic Committee’s heightened focus on the  environmental impact of the Games after the Rio Summit, sustainability was an essential part of Hammarby’s development plan from the start.

Even though Stockholm did not win the bid, Hammarby was still slated for development to house Stockholm’s growing population. The city’s decision to continue building Hammarby as a sustainable development was informed by a previous misstep in Swedish development.

Akin to China’s ghost city phenomenon in which the supply of urban housing has outpaced demand, the Swedish government rapidly built massive housing projects in the late 1960s, many of which were left empty because of their poor quality and their long distances from city centres.

Hammarby was to represent a new era in which sustainability would be embedded in the district’s DNA from the start of the planning process.

The overarching sustainability goal for Hammarby’s development drew from the Olympic bid’s ambition for Hammarby to be “twice as good” as any comparable development in terms of its environmental impact.

Hammarby set comprehensive goals for sustainable urban form, transportation, and energy and resources. This led to mixed-use  development in small blocks, where all residents have close access to high-quality public transit. The development’s proximity to inner-city Stockholm also gave it the benefit of linking into Stockholm’s advanced public bike-sharing and public transport network.

Similar to the Portland approach, the city of Stockholm provided incentives to Hammarby’s developers to ensure that environmental goals drove their design. The Hammarby Project Team developed a computer modeling tool called the Environmental Load Profile which quantified the environmental impact of any development. Developers had to use this tool to show how their plans would meet the district’s overall goal to be “twice as good.”

The municipality offered land at a lower price to developers who pledged to meet those objectives.  Another financing method in the city’s toolbox was the Local Investment Programme (LIP) subsidies provided to municipalities by the national government for sustainability programmes and facilities. The LIP supported some of the major technological cornerstones of Hammarby’s development including a new waste water treatment plant.

These investments also helped inform the district’s most notable sustainability achievement: the “Hammarby Model.” The model shows how Hammarby’s waste, water, and energy should flow as an “eco-cycle” which emphasises resource reuse in a circular system. This thinking led to Hammarby’s waste-to-energy heating system and the aforementioned waste water recycling plant.

 

Hammarby is part of the broader eco-cycle of Stockholm.

 

Fifteen years later, Hammarby is thriving and has an impressively low environmental impact evidenced by its significantly higher population density and lower car ownership compared to surrounding districts in Stockholm, already one of the world’s most sustainable cities.

Population density in Hammarby is three times the average of the rest of Stockholm. Due to the availability of transport, biking, and walking paths, Hammarby has 210 cars per 1,000 residents, compared with the Stockholm average of 370 cars; 79% of people in Hammarby take public transit, ride bikes, or walk, compared with 68 % in Stockholm as a whole.

And all of this has been accomplished while the district’s economy is flourishing: average annual income is 356,000 SEK, [277,932 yuan] compared with 293,000 SEK in Stockholm as a whole. This shows that Hammarby’s sustainable development has not only been beneficial for the environment, it has also created a prosperous society.

How can these projects inform China? 

These cases demonstrate  the power of interactions between the components of sustainable design—the whole sustainable city is far greater than the sum of its parts. Capturing the benefits of these interactions is also largely the message behind the “circular economy,” which the Chinese central government has strongly touted in recent years.

The Pearl’s tight street grid makes walking more efficient, while the streetcar and other public transport deter car use. Smaller blocks made the design of Hammarby’s waste-to-energy system cheaper and easier to implement. Mixed-use development means that buildings can be used for up to 24 hours, which shortens payback periods on green buildings by taking better advantage of their energy efficiency gains.

Through comprehensive design, Hammarby’s eco-cycle model uses the district’s inputs and outputs to produce energy from waste and reuse water—an efficient system achieved through a high degree of collaboration among all parts.

By following the roadmap of Hammarby and the Pearl District, China can make great progress in the greening of its cities in the coming years. But the payoff does not stop there; these two cities provide powerful real world evidence of the economic and social benefits as well. Sustainable urbanisation will be fundamental in China’s ambitions to develop a more consumer-led, innovative economy. Now mayors and developers need to ensure that urban planning, incentives, and accountability are all aligned so the “new pattern of urbanisation” can be truly sustainable.

read more original article  https://www.chinadialogue.net

Designing cities to combat climate change

Published Date : April 17, 2017

 

Urban planners can take steps to reduce the heat cities may experience from climate change, but there would be other consequences and tradeoffs to consider, according to a study at Purdue University.

Dev Niyogi, a Purdue University professor of agronomy and earth, atmospheric and planetary science and Indiana’s state climatologist, wanted to know what effect, if any, urban planning could have on mitigating rising temperatures associated with urban heating and climate change. The amount of concrete and lack of vegetation in many large cities could make those places “heat islands,” where temperatures rise higher than in the suburbs or rural areas.

“Are there ways the two synergize and make the combination of climate change and urbanization worse?” Niyogi said. “Or are there ways that we can utilize urban form and function in a way that can help us mitigate what is happening with climate change?”

Niyogi and colleague Long Yang, a postdoctoral research associate at Princeton University who had been a visiting scholar at Purdue, looked to Beijing, China, as a model. The two collaborated with researchers from Tsinghua University, IBM and the National Center for Atmospheric Research. The city is developing in different ways, with some concentration in the city as well as areas where satellites cities are branching out.

“It is sort of emblematic of the rapid urbanization taking place,” Niyogi said.

Yang said most studies look at thermal loading as cities develop, but little is known about how the design of a city can affect its heat. In this scenario, they considered population doubling and either being in a compact, central city, or spread among a central city and several satellite cities.

Based on complex urban climate models, Niyogi, Yang and their collaborators found that creating polycentric cities – those with a center and suburban satellites – could reduce future temperatures in cities that are developed in a more compact way over time.

“The thermal comfort over the old downtown area increased in the polycentric city compared to the compact city scenario,” Yang said.

But that comes with tradeoffs.

All that heat and pollution doesn’t just go away, Niyogi said. Those in satellite cities would have to travel longer distances as destinations are spread out, and that means more miles driven by vehicles and other forms of transportation. And while the thermal load would decrease in the central city, Niyogi and Yang found that the thermal load for the region increases to compensate.

In other words, the heat may simply spread around, and pollution is likely to increase.

Niyogi says that while there are no simple solutions, the decisions that go into urban planning will affect cities and their surrounding areas in some way as temperatures rise.

“This will require an intimate interaction between the urban planning community and the urban climate community,” Niyogi said. “While people have been looking at it in a theoretical perspective, we take a real scenario, a real case, a real plan and show that it matters. How you design the city is going to matter in terms of the tradeoffs that we’ll want to achieve for future climate and the impacts on the population.”

Daniel Aliaga, associate professor of computer science at Purdue, employed inverse modeling tools to understand how changes in Beijing’s urban planning would affect temperatures and pollution. He can predict how changes in urban planning policy will affect the city in decades to come, as well as determining the types of changes that would be necessary to reach a desired outcome in the future. The hope is to develop easy-to-use tools for planning committees as they determine policies that will affect urban heating in their cities.

“You could say, ‘In 20 years, I want a particular case, so what should be the building setbacks and building heights, and what materials should I use to get there,'” Aliaga said. “That’s a useful thing, to enable these visual and quick-responding tools for the concerned citizen,”

Niyogi and Yang will continue to monitor Beijing and other urban areas, using wider spans of time to improve model projections.

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2016-05-cities-combat-climate.html#jCp

MIT researchers turn waste gas into liquid fuel

Published Date : April 17, 2017

 

Turning the emissions of power stations, steel mills and garbage dumps into liquid fuels has been demonstrated by MIT researchers using engineered microbes.

The process has been successfully trialled at a pilot plant in China and a much bigger facility is now planned.

Energy-dense liquids are vital to transport but are currently derived from oil, a fossil fuel, and transport produces about a quarter of the global carbon emissions driving climate change. Biofuels have been seen as possible replacement, but current biofuels compete with food production and have been blamed for driving up food prices.

Using waste gases to create low-carbon liquid fuels would be a major advance in the battle against global warming if they could be made at low cost and large scale. Another company expects to be using different microbes to produce fuel from steel plants in Belgium and China in 2017.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) process uses bacteria to convert the waste gases into acetic acid – vinegar – then an engineered yeast to produce an oil. “It is quite an extraordinary story,” said Prof Gregory Stephanopoulos, an expert in chemical engineering and biotechnology at MIT in the US.

“It started just four to five years ago with a post-doctoral project funded by the US Energy Department. We are looking at a very fast timescale [of development],”, he said. “We have pieced the system together into an integrated system, where you put gas in one end and get a liquid fuel out of the other end.” The research was published on Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The patents for the process are owned by MIT and have been licensed to GTL Biofuel Inc. Its pilot plant outside Shanghai ran successfully from September 2015 and a larger “semi-commercial’ demonstration plant, 20 times the size, is set to begin construction.

This will test if the process can be scaled up and evaluate its costs and carbon footprint, said Prof Stephanopoulos: “It is one thing to do it on a scale of 1-2 litres in the lab, but a different story to move up 1,000 litres and then 20,000 litres in the demonstration plant.”

“The bottom line, if one is aiming at making fuels from renewable resources, is we need to look very carefully at low-cost feed stocks,” he said. Garbage, along with manure and farm waste, is a particularly promising source of the “syngas” required, he said: “The volumes are staggering.”

Furthermore, using the gas from municipal waste reduces the carbon footprint of the liquid fuel, compared to exhaust gases from fossil fuel plants.

Prof Stephanopoulos said there are already thousands of biogas sites across Europe, but he argues the current practice of burning this gas to produce electricity is wasteful: “It is very costly and can only survive due to subsidies.” Better, he said, is to use the gas to produce fuels that can replace gasoline or diesel.

The MIT team are not the only people developing biotechnologies to turn exhaust gases into fuels. Like MIT, the US company Lanzatech uses microbes that can ferment gases into more complex molecules, a skill originally evolved so the bacteria could thrive at bubbling, hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor.

Lanzatech’s processes aim to produce either fuel or chemicals useful in industry. The company is currently building commercial units in Belgium with ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steelmaker; in China with Capital Steel and in Taiwan with China Steel, with the first unit expected to enter service in 2017. Another US company, Catalysta, is working on converting methane into hydrocarbon fuels.

read more original article The Guardian 

Waste-to-energy machine reveals power of trash

Published Date : April 17, 2017

FORT BENNING, Ga. — Fort Benning is helping the Army test a new product that could one day change not only how forward operating bases get rid of their waste, but also how they make use of it.

The Battalion-scale Waste to Energy Conversion Green Energy Machine came to Fort Benning as the result of a partnership with Infoscitex and MSW Power.

“We’ve got a good working relationship with them. They call us about a lot of projects. This one is unique because it’s a closed loop system. It runs off the product that you put into it,” said Peter Lukken, the Sustainability manager for the Garrison. “Something like this has never been done before, at least, not on this scale. And not one that produces this little pollution to the environment,” he continued.

Mark Fincher, the energy manager of the Directorate of Public Works Business Operations Division, explained that all the trash being used to test the BWEC GEM comes from Fort Benning.

By using the BWEC GEM, Fort Benning is not only reducing the amount of waste it sends to the landfill but its carbon footprint, he said.

Matt Young, vice president and director of Engineering at MSW Power, has been working on the BWEC GEM project for 10 years.

He explained that the BWEC GEM is a waste to energy system that has three major units: a preprocess that converts the trash into a pellet, then a thermal process to break down the solid fuel pellet into a flammable gas, then that gas can be used in an engine as fuel to produce electricity. This thermal treatment system is called gasification.

According to Young, the BWEC GEM was designed to process three tons of trash daily. Once processed, that trash becomes 100 gross kilowatts. Out of those 100 gross kilowatts, the BWEC GEM needs 26 to operate leaving 74 net kilowatts for Fort Benning to use.

“The end goal of a product like this is to be put into the combat theater to support battalion-scale base operations to take the waste that they are producing and convert it into electricity for the base. That way they will save on diesel costs and then reduce the weight of their waste by 95 percent,” he said.

Young explained that instead of having a large mass of waste around, the forward operating bases would get a small pile of ash that is essentially harmless and can be put into the ground.

This is a much more environmentally friendly way to get rid of the waste while making a good use of it, he added.

George Steuber, the deputy garrison commander, explained that having a system that can take all these different types of waste and produce energy out of them would be beneficial to the U.S. forward operating bases.

Those working on forward operating bases could also do away with a lot of obstacles that come along with off site disposal of waste with this system, he said.

When the U.S. goes places, it tries not to pollute. By having a system like this makes it a cleaner operation for everyone involved while helping preserve the environment in other countries, Steuber added.

read more original article https://www.army.mil

Plasma arc recycling

Published Date : April 17, 2017

read more original article http://www.explainthatstuff.com/plasma-arc-recycling.html

Small-scale biomass gasification plant progressing in California

Published Date : April 17, 2017

A 2-MW biomass gasification plant in North Fork, California, will break ground later this year, according to Phoenix Energy CEO Gregory Stengl.

The project is the result of a public-private partnership between North Fork Community Development Council and Phoenix Energy. The plant will utilize local forest biomass sourced from restoration and fuel reduction activities on local forest lands, including the Sierra National Forest.

The facility will utilize a GE-supplied biomass gasification system—the gasifier, gas conditioning system and engine—which GE and Phoenix Energy have collaborated on for design and implementation, and plan to replicate at future projects in the state.

Stengl told Biomass Magazine that he expects construction of the North Fork plant to begin in the last quarter of this year, with operations beginning in mid-2017.

Electricity generated from the 2-MW power plant will be sold to PG&E, Stengl said.

Through the California Energy Commission EPIC grant program, the plant received a $4.9 million grant to help cover equipment and interconnection costs, and also secured $900,000 in New Markets Tax Credit financing.

read more original article http://biomassmagazine.com

Transit’s Role in Environmental Sustainability

Published Date : April 17, 2017

Public transportation plays an important role in confronting environmental challenges. Public transportation can:

• Improve air quality
• Reduce greenhouse gas emissions
• Facilitate compact development, conserving land and decreasing travel demand
• Save energy
• Other benefits
• Minimize impacts

Improve air quality

Public transportation can help metropolitan areas meet national air quality standards by reducing overall vehicle emissions and the pollutants that create smog.

Air quality is often the poorest in urban and suburban areas where traffic congestion is the worst. This has meant that residents of these areas, especially those living in close proximity to major thoroughfares or highways, confront much higher health risks due to poor air quality.

Public transportation can reduce the need for many separate trips by private vehicles in dense urban areas, replacing many separate emissions-producing vehicles with fewer transit vehicles that generally emit less pollution on a per person basis.

Most rail transit vehicles emit little or no pollution, as they are powered by electricity. Other transit vehicles, such as buses, use alternative fuels such as compressed natural gas (CNG), liquefied natural gas or fuel cells which produce fewer pollutants. Many other buses, traditionally fueled by diesel, are being replaced with hybrid-diesel or bio-diesel buses.

The Federal Transit Administration supports improvement of air quality through the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) Improvement Program, which is jointly administered with the Federal Highway Administration. Through 2005, the program has supported nearly 16,000 transportation projects targeted to reduce congestion and improve air quality across the country. Many of these projects are public transportation projects, recognizing the important role that public transportation can play in improving local air quality. Over 8.6 billion is authorized over the five year program (2005-2009), with annual authorization amounts increasing each year during this period.

Reduce greenhouse gas emissions

Transportation accounts for 29 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. By moving more people with fewer vehicles, public transportation can reduce greenhouse gas emissions. National averages demonstrate that public transportation produces significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions per passenger mile than private vehicles. Heavy rail transit such as subways and metros produce on average 76% lower greenhouse gas emissions per passenger mile than an average single-occupancy vehicle (SOV). Light rail systems produce 62% less and bus transit produces 33% less (Public Transportation’s Role in Responding to Climate Change (PDF)). Transit can also reduce greenhouse gas emissions by facilitating compact development, which conserves land and decreases the distances people need to travel to reach destinations. Moreover, by reducing congestion, transit reduces emissions from cars stuck in traffic. Finally, transit can minimize its own greenhouse gas emissions by using efficient vehicles, alternative fuels, and decreasing the impact of project construction and service operations. For more information, see Climate Change.

Facilitate compact development, conserving land and decreasing travel demand

Public transportation can support higher density land development, which reduces the distance and time people need to travel to reach their destinations, meaning fewer emissions from transportation. Compact development also leaves more land in the region for parks, wildlife preserves, forests and other uses such as agriculture. Finally, it reduces the need for pavement, meaning less run-off that degrades the water supply.

Transit-oriented development (TOD) is compact, mixed-use development near transit stations. A recent report, Transit-Oriented Development in the United States: Experiences, Challenges, and Prospects, by the Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) found that by encouraging in-fill and accommodating small lot projects, TOD can reduce pressures to convert farmland and environmentally sensitive areas into housing and commercial development. Another TCRP report, Costs of Sprawl – 2000, concluded that compact development could save the United States nearly 2.5 million acres of land. That TCRP report also found that compact development through TOD can improve water quality through reducing the amount of impermeable surface runoff and preserve biodiversity through reducing fragmentation of natural habitat.

Save energy

Sharing rides through public transportation can save fuel. It also decreases the need for constructing more transportation infrastructure, manufacturing new vehicles, and extracting more fossil fuels, meaning further energy savings and fewer environmental impacts. Congestion relief from transit also saves fuel as vehicles stuck in gridlock waste fuel and generate emissions.

The transportation sector is one of the primary users of energy in the United States. With the growth in energy usage by many emerging world economies, the demand for scarce resources is increasingly outstripping available supply.

Petroleum use in private vehicles and growth in vehicle miles traveled are among the main drivers of the growth in energy usage in the United States. Public transportation encourages energy conservation, as the average number of passengers on a transit vehicle (10 for bus, 25 for a rail car) far exceeds that of a private automobile (1.6). Even as a single transit vehicle consumes more energy than a private vehicle, the average amount of energy utilized per passenger is far less.

In fact, a study by ICF International (PDF)[external link] found that in 2004, taking transit saved 947 million gallons of fuel that would have been used if transit passengers had driven cars instead.

Congestion relief through the use of transit also saves fuel as vehicles stuck in gridlock waste fuel and generate emissions. The Texas Transportation Institute’s 2007 Mobility Report [external link]estimates that if public transportation service was discontinued nationwide and the riders traveled in private vehicles instead, urban areas would have suffered an additional 541 million hours of delay and consumed on the whole 340 million more gallons of fuel in 2005. The value of the delay and fuel that would be consumed if there were no public transportation service would be an additional $10.2 billion congestion cost, a 13 percent increase over current levels.

Other benefits

In addition to its environmental benefits, transit serves several other public purposes, including affordable mobility, congestion relief, and economic development.

Minimizing impacts

In addition, FTA grantees are working to minimize the impact of their operations and construction through environmentally sound practices, both through required environmental mitigation and going above and beyond requirements.

FTA works to ensure that our grantees’ transit projects minimize the negative impacts on their surroundings and in their communities through environmentally sound practices. The FTA’s environmental impact regulation (Environmental Impact and Related Procedures (23 C.F.R 771)), issued jointly with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), describes two types of mass transit projects that normally have significant effects on the environment:

1. New construction or extension of fixed rail transit facilities (e.g. heavy rail, light rail, commuter rail and automated guideway transit); and
2. New construction or extension of a separate roadway for buses or high-occupancy vehicles not located within an existing highway. e.g. bus rapid transit)

Other types of mass transportation projects may also require an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) based on FTA’s review of the proposed project and whether its impacts are judged to be potentially significant.

In addition, transit agencies often go above and beyond federal requirements. There are numerous examples of transit agencies taking action to minimize their impact on the local environment. Many transit agencies, for instance, have purchased compressed natural gas (CNG) buses, which significantly reduce air pollutants. FTA’s grantees are also using hybrid-electric buses to conserve fuel and lower emissions. Some grantees are constructing Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified buildings.

Several transit agencies are implementing Environmental Management Systems (EMS), which address various operation and management issues such as energy conservation, efficient water use, vehicle emission reduction, materials recycling, and management of hazardous materials.

For example, New York City Transit has implemented an Environmental Management System certified to international standards known as ISO 14000. As just one part of its EMS, New York City Transit constructed its new rail maintenance facility as a LEED-certified facility. It has a photovoltaic system for electricity, a fuel cell system for domestic hot water, a natural ventilation system, a rain water harvesting system for car wash, and a public education outreach program.

As yet another example, according to the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), CTA was able to reduce its vehicle emissions by 16 percent even while expanding its fleet by nine percent. CTA also recycled 3.3 million pounds of material in one year alone, including cardboard, mixed office paper, bus shelter plastic and metals. In addition, the agency recycled 93 vehicles and 12,460 pounds of acid batteries.

read more original article FTA

Environmental Benefits of Public Transportation

Published Date : April 17, 2017

Public transportation provides many mobility, safety, and economic benefits to people and businesses. Beyond those key benefits, it also offers significant environmental advantages that contribute to a better quality of life.

“Public transportation reduces the number of cars in street (makes the alleviate traffic congestion wording more redundant), and thus helps improve air quality, alleviate traffic congestion, and noise,” says Federal Transit Administration (FTA) officials.

According to the FTA, Americans take 10 billion trips on public transportation each year.

FTA for Public Transportation

“Public transportation helps increase the productivity of labor by reducing travel time and out-of-the-pocket costs of commuters in congested areas,” according to FTA offcials.

Public transportation also benefits those not using it because it helps reduce energy consumption, greenhouse gases and other pollutants.

The number of buses using alternative fuels (any fuel other than diesel and gas) increased significantly in the past 10 years, according to FTA officials. Only 9% of national bus fleets used alternative fuels in 2000. This number increased to 29% by the 2009, with an increase by 24% in the total number of buses.

Diesel and gas accounted for nearly 90% of all fuel consumed by buses in 2000, but by 2009 this number had dropped to 75%.

“Transit agencies have been very active in the last several years purchasing vehicles propelled by alternative fuels,” says FTA officials.

Many smaller cities are operating their public transportation systems by 100% alternative fleets, says FTA officials.

 LA LA Land of Mass Transit

There are more than  2,500 clean air Metro buses, mini buses, and commuter buses, light, heavy, and subway trains, van pools, and rideshare programs available to people in the Los Angeles area, says Helen Ortiz Gilstrap, communications manager for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority (Metro).

Public transit services are not only available to residents living within the Los Angeles city limits.

“Both bus and rails systems reach a majority of the suburban areas,” Gilstrap says.

Gilstrap says it would be manageable for someone to live in the Los Angeles area without a car, and still have a way to get around.

“With the second largest transit property in the country, Metro’s system picks up over 1.5 million passengers per weekday,” Gilstrap says. “Metro also encourages and supports vanpooling and cycling as modes of transportation.”

Gilstrap says bike racks are available on all Metro buses.

The Benefits

Jorge Grillo, a 2009 graduate of the Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree program in Healthcare Administration at South University Online, says demographics are a big factor in a city’s public transportation system.

“A portion of the populace always benefits from public transportation” Grillo says.

He says the culture of a city has a lot to do with whether or not resident rely on public transportation to get around. “It depends on how spread out the city is and when they run,” Grillo says.

People that rely on public transportation to get around have to plan their lives out differently than those with access to a car, Grillo notes.

In addition to helping the environment and saving money, public transportation has other benefits.

Grillo says he made friends with people on a bus that he took regularly that he probably wouldn’t have met otherwise, although they lived relatively close to one another.

The Los Angeles Metro takes many different measures to ensure the safety of their riders.

“Metro contracts with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to have deputies patrol and ride the bus and rail system,” Gilstrap says. “Bomb sniffing dogs patrol all Metro train stations and transit hubs.”

Gilstrap says the Los Angeles Metro has security officers that monitor and patrol all Metro properties and stations and all buses and trains are equipped with surveillance cameras.

“Keeping the Metrorail and Metrobus system safe and clean are two top priorities for Metro,” says Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (Metro) spokeswoman Cathy Asato.

The Washington, D.C., Metro also has its own police force that works 24 hours a day to ensure the safety of their passengers, employees, and facilities, Asato says.

“We encourage our riders to report any suspicious, illegal, or unsafe activity or conditions to us,” Asato says.

“We also rely on our passengers and have used public awareness campaigns to remind riders to take their trash, newspapers, and other belongings with them” Asato adds.

read more original article https://www.southuniversity.edu

How does public transportation help the environment?

Published Date : April 17, 2017

In January 2004, the citizens of Milan, Italy, were preparing for a strike that would shut down all public transportation. Since an estimated 28 percent of greater Milan’s 3 million populace relied heavily on public transit, the strike meant gridlock and frustration for most of the city. For a team of researchers from the University of California, Irvine, however, the looming transit chaos provided a rare opportunity to examine how public transportation affects air quality.

By collecting sets of 24 air samples around Milan on three days before and during the public transit strike, the team could precisely monitor changes in specific chemical compounds that ultimately form tropospheric ozone (O3), a reactive oxygen molecule harmful to both people and the environment. The data the researchers collected showed that, during summer months, a public transit strike would result in ozone spikes ranging from 11 percent to 33 percent. The study proved what many already suspected: getting people out of their cars and onto public transit improves air quality. But public transportation benefits the environment in several other ways as well. Before we look at those benefits, let’s study how cars affect our planet in the first place.

Sure, cars are a reality of modern life, but we might not think about how drastically we’ve changed our environment in order to accommodate them. For instance, more than 40 million miles (64 million kilometers) of roads snake across the Earth’s surface, says the University of Washington’s civil and environmental engineering department. That number becomes even more impressive when you consider the fact that each mile (1.6 kilometers) of a one-lane highway requires between 7,000 and 12,000 tons (6,350 and 10,886 metric tons) of material to build and maintain, according to the engineering department. That same stretch of highway also generates 2,500 tons (2,260 metric tons) of waste, according to the department. Although engineers go to great lengths to lessen the impact, building roads also damages the environment by disrupting sensitive ecosystems.

Naturally, we put those roads to good use. One billion cars, trucks and buses registered throughout the world drove over those roads in 2010, according to auto industry analyst Ward’s. Unfortunately, each of these vehicles produces pollution. For instance, the average passenger car in the United States generates the following pollutants and emissions annually, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency:

It also consumes 581 gallons (2,199 liters) of gasoline every year, according the EPA. These figures also don’t address the inevitable environmental damage caused by drilling for oil to fill vehicle tanks and contaminating groundwater with road runoff. Based on these numbers, it’s easy to see how driving strains the environment. How can public transportation alleviate that strain? Read on to find out. http://science.howstuffworks.com/transport/engines-equipment/public-transportation-help-environment.htm

How radical ideas turned Curitiba into Brazil's 'green capital'

Published Date : April 17, 2017

In the late 1960s, Brasília cast a long shadow across Brazil. Built from scratch in just four years, the city was a symbol of modern, rational, functional planning. “President Kubitschek wanted to build a new capital,” architect Oscar Niemeyer said in a BBC interview. “He wanted a city that would represent Brazil. So I dedicated myself to finding a new solution, something that would attract attention.”

Niemeyer, along with the architect Lúcio Costa, designed the city to look like a bird in flight – a network of highways in the wings, and the administrative offices in its head. Among political elites, if not all architecture critics, Brasília was viewed as a triumph over Brazil’s urban chaos.

A thousand miles to the south in the city of Curitiba, capital of the agricultural state of Paraná, urban planners were hard at work replicating the Brasília model. New lanes would be added to Curitiba’s downtown roads, with historic buildings demolished to make room for them. A new viaduct would link with the central square at Rua Quinze de Novembro to ease traffic congestion.

“But we said no!” exclaims Jaime Lerner. The former mayor of Curitiba is speaking over the phone from his office in Curitiba, where he now directs his eponymous private architecture firm. Back then, Lerner was a recently graduated architecture student, leading a movement against the existing mayor’s vision of a Curitiba for cars. “We were starting to lose our history, our identity,” he says.

Over the next two decades – first as planner, then as mayor – Lerner would develop a radically different vision for Curitiba: “It was a change in the conception of the city. Working, moving, living leisure … we planned for everything together. Most cities in South America separate urban functions – by income, by age. Curitiba was the first city that, in its first decisions, brought everything together.”

Today, while Brasília is viewed as a white elephant city, Curitiba has become the gold standard in sustainable urban planning: variously the “green capital”, the “greenest city on Earth”, and the “most innovative city in the world”.

“Curitiba is not a paradise,” Lerner insists. “But it is a model for many cities in the world. Why?” He takes a long, dramatic pause: “Because in about two decades, a few young professionals made some very important changes.”

From chaos to creativity

Curitiba is an unlikely setting for such radical innovation. For centuries, the city was little more than an outpost for travellers moving between São Paulo and the surrounding agricultural regions. Curitiba was the “sleeping city”, a place where cattle drivers would hibernate in the winter en route to their next destination.

When a wave of European immigration hit southern Brazil, Curitiba’s sleepy farmland was an obvious attraction. Germans arrived in the 1830s, Polish and Italians arrived in the 1870s, and Ukrainians two decades later. Each group occupied a section of the city, developing their own local industries and beginning to populate the downtown area with churches, shops and restaurants.

By the 1940s, however, Curitiba’s growth was impossible to contain. The mechanisation of soybean production pushed Paraná’s agricultural workers off their land and into the city. Between 1940 and 1960, the city’s population more than doubled – from 140,000 to 360,000 residents. Curitiba was quickly becoming the archetypal Brazilian mid-size city. Favelas grew around its periphery; cars jammed into its centre.

Curitiba’s planners could do little to regulate their city’s chaos. In 1964, following Brazil’s military coup, mayor Ivo Arzua solicited a new masterplan to guide Curitiba toward growth, order, and extra room for the automobile. Over the course of several months, his government held a series of seminars known as “Curitiba of Tomorrow”, seeking to convince the public on the merits of the new masterplan.

“But as usual, from 1965 to 1970, nothing happened,” says Jonas Rabinovitch, a UN senior adviser and former planner at the Curitiba Research and Urban Planning Institute(IPPUC). Despite Arzua’s best intentions the plan remained in the drawer, and the IPPUC, set up in 1965 to implement this masterplan, remained largely idle. “The institute was basically colouring paper, producing plans, examining studies,” Rabinovitch says.

Lerner and a team of architects at the IPPUC were, however, determined to turn this tide – “and they started at the exact right time,” according to Rabinovitch. “Had they waited 10 or 15 more years, it could have been too late for Curitiba.”

Under the new military regime, Lerner was appointed mayor, and the IPPUC moved into the driving seat: “When Jaime became mayor, the plan finally began to transform into a reality,” Rabinovitch says.

Lerner’s first project in 1972 earned him an early reputation as an enforcer. He proposed transforming the Rua Quinze de Novembro from an automobile thoroughfare into a pedestrian mall. “At first, the shopkeepers were furious with the mayor,” Rabinovitch says. “People had the habit of stopping their cars in front of the stores, buying what they wanted, and then getting back into their cars. But that meant that when the shops closed down, the city centre was dead.”

The shopkeepers organised resistance to the new plan, and resolved to file an injunction to stop it – a typical tactic for arresting the implementation of urban projects in Brazil.

“Every time, you always have a big resistance,” Lerner says. “When we first proposed the project, we tried to convince the merchants. We showed them designs, information … it was a big discussion. Then we realised we had to have a demonstration effect.”

So Lerner took the plan to his director of public works, saying: “I need this [built] in 48 hours … He looked at me and asked, ‘Are you crazy? It will take at least four months.’”

Regardless, Lerner and his team – impatient, wily or both – prepared to begin work at sundown that very Friday, waiting only until after the city’s courthouse had closed so that shopkeepers could no longer file their injunction.

“If I’d received a juridical demand to stop the project, we would never have made it,” Lerner recalls. “So we finished in 72 hours – Friday night to Monday night. And at the end, one of the merchants who wrote the petition to stop the work told me: ‘Keep this petition as a souvenir, because now we want the whole street, the whole sector pedestrianised!’”

The project encapsulates Lerner’s planning philosophy: act now, adjust later. “We had to work fast to avoid our own bureaucracy, and to avoid our own insecurity, because sometimes we start to think: ‘That’s a good idea but I cannot make it happen.’ So the key issue in Curitiba was to start – we had the courage to start.”

When I press Lerner on the political implications of this kind of strong-arming – which some have described as a “technocratic approach without participation” – he has a ready response: “Democracy is not consensus. Democracy is a conflict that is well managed. It’s about how you manage that conflict – sometimes for the minority, sometimes for the majority. But it has to happen.”

Guided by this learning-by-doing philosophy, Curitiba became a laboratory for urban planning innovation. In 1974, Lerner and the IPPUC introduced a new street design that provided express lanes for buses. Passengers would board from new stations along the medians of the city’s main streets, so that buses could move uninterrupted through the city.

At the time, most planners were calling for the development of extensive subway systems as the cutting-edge mode of urban transport. But Lerner was – and remains – a major advocate of surface transport, while critical of subway projects that drain public funds and disrupt city life. As one of his most oft-cited sayings goes: “If you want creativity, cut one zero from the budget. If you want sustainability, cut two zeros!”

With the new bus transit scheme, public ridership grew steadily, as buses became both the cheapest and fastest mode of transport. But Lerner and his planners were not satisfied. In the late 1980s, he observed that the inflow and outflow of passengers was dragging the speed of the bus at each station.

Three innovations followed: a new system of raised platforms (the futuristic “tube” station system for which Curitiba has grown famous) that allow passengers to move straight from the station into the bus without the hassle of stairs; longer buses to add extra capacity to the fleet; and a system of pre-payment so that bus drivers do not have to issue tickets and collect money on the go.

 

The impact was marked: today, roughly 85% of Curitiba uses the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT). “It’s about creating a complete network,” Lerner explains. “We are transporting two million each day, while the London subway carries three million.” His pride in the system is clear: “We started BRT in 1974; now 300 cities around the world are using it.”

For Lerner and his team, the social implications for the city were all-important. “We realised people were taking such a long time to get to the city centre,” Rabinovitch says. “So the idea was to incorporate the essential features of a subway system – and in doing that, people coming from the periphery were spending 20 to 25 minutes less per journey.”

Other projects have built on this social mission. Under the Green Exchangeprogramme, developed by Lerner’s assistant Nicolau Klüppel in 1989, Curitiba residents trade trash for tokens – four pounds of trash for a pound of produce. Today, 90% of the city participates in its recycling programme, and more than 10,000 residents make use of the trash-for-tokens exchange. Where most cities develop mountains in landfills along the periphery, Curitiba recycles 70% of its garbage. “We can’t have landfills forever, and we can’t ask others to accept our trash,” Lerner said. “Garbage removal is a citizen responsibility.”

Alongside these efforts to clean the city were new programmes to green it. Back in 1971, Curitiba had only one park at the Passeio Público downtown; today it has more than 50 sq metres of green space per person – compared to neighbouring Buenos Aires’s two per person. Lerner and his team were aggressive in developing parks and city gardens, and in protecting the city’s main river Iguacu from being channelised along concrete walls.

 

Lerner focuses less on these big projects, however, than on the smallest details of sustainable planning. “If you visit Curitiba, the private architecture is normal – some terrible buildings, some good ones. But when you look at the parks, the architecture is just great, because it is silent architecture. We bought treated, wooden poles from the energy company and used them for all the architecture in the parks – so, existing tree poles could substitute concrete poles … Like I said, if you want creativity, cut some zeros!”

A sustainable future

Among many observers, Curitiba’s list of accolades generates some suspicion. Can it all be true? Did Curitiba really avoid so many pitfalls of planning in Latin America?

The short answer, according to Bill McKibben – an environmentalist and author who writes extensively on the city in Hope, Human, and Wild – is yes: “Curitibanos were cynical themselves, and somewhat introverted – they are not the gregarious Brazilians of Rio or Recife. But against their own conservatism, they came to like their city a lot.”

“Many people ask me about how Curitiba did all this,” says Rabinovitch. “They say the population of Curitiba is more educated, or more European. But what we usually say is that the population is not made by Swiss clockmakers. Up to 8% of Curitiba still lives in favelas; it is not a socio-economic island within the Brazilian context.”

Green beans - why pulses are the eco-friendly option for feeding and saving the world

Published Date : April 17, 2017

Green beans: why pulses are the eco-friendly option for feeding – and saving – the world

by Caroline Wood and Wayne Martindale, 17.8.16, posted on The Conversation

We all know the score: current trends predict there will be 9.7 billion mouths to feed by 2050. Producing enough food without using more land, exacerbating climate change or putting more pressure on water, soil and energy reserves will be challenging.

In the past, food security researchers have focused on production with less attention paid to consumer demand and how food is ultimately used in meals. However as developing nations aspire towards the “Western diet”, demand for meat and animal products is rapidly climbing.

This is bad news for the planet. Meat is a luxury item and comes at a huge environmental cost. Shuttling crops through animals to make protein is highly inefficient: in US beef, just 5% of the original protein survives the journey from animal feed to meat on the plate. Even milk, which has the best conversion efficiency, has just 40% of the original protein.

Consequently, livestock farming requires huge amounts of water and land for grazing and feed production, taking up an estimated 70% of all agricultural land and 27% of the human water footprint. Much of this land is becoming steadily degraded through overgrazing and erosion, prompting farmers to expand into new areas; 70% of cleared forest in the Amazon, for instance, is now pastureland. Livestock production is also one of the greatest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, including 65% of man-made nitrous oxide emissions (which have a global warming potential 296 times greater than CO₂).

Nevertheless, millions of people in developing countries still suffer from protein malnutrition. The burden, therefore, must fall on people in richer nations to reduce their meat consumption and embrace other sources of protein.

Pulses are a healthy alternative

Enter the pulses: beans, peas and lentils. Although generally cheaper than meat, these are rich sources of protein and also come with essential micronutrients including iron, zinc, magnesium and folate. As low GI (glycaemic index) foods, they release their energy slowly over time, preventing surges in blood glucose. Naturally gluten-free, they are also ideal for the rising numbers of those with coeliac disease.

Besides being rich in goodness, pulses are also low in many undesirables including cholesterol, fat and sodium, which all contribute to heart and blood issues. In fact, pulses seem to actively protect against these maladies. Numerous studies confirm legume-rich diets can decrease cholesterol levels and when 50g of lentils were added to the diet of diabetic patients, their fasting blood sugar levels significantly decreased.

Meanwhile, populations with the greatest lentil consumption also have the lowest rates of breast, prostate and colorectal cancer. This may be partly due to the high fibre content of pulses: increasingly, a high-fibre diet is associated with a reduced risk of colorectal cancer. Fibre content may also explain the satiating effect of pulses: for example, incorporating lentils into energy-equivalent meals causes greater fullness and leads to a lower calorie consumption later in the day.

Green beans

Just as they are good for us, beans, lentils and peas are also good for the environment. As they work with bacteria that convert atmospheric nitrogen into useful ammonia or nitrates, legumes actually improve soil fertility and reduce dependence on energy-intensive fertilisers.

Pulses are also highly water-efficient; for each gram of protein, the average global water footprint of pulses is only 34% that of pork and 17% that of beef. Meanwhile, the carbon footprint of pulses is less than half that of winter wheat and on average 48 times lower than the equivalent weight of British beef cattle.

Despite all this, the potential of pulses is largely unrecognised. Currently demand is dominated by India and Pakistan, however poor yields mean the two countries import more than 20% of global pulse production. Even big exporters like Australia and Canada remain inefficient, achieving barely half the yield per acre found in Croatia. This “yield gap” exists because these countries typically grow pulses as animal feed or to break up crop rotations. Optimising pulse harvests in both developing and developed nations could thus be an easy way to boost global protein production.

Nevertheless, pulses face traditional barriers in the West, including the need for overnight soaking, unappealing tastes and potential flatulence from a high-fibre diet. To overcome these, ingredient manufacturers have developed pulses into new functional ingredients that provide all the benefits of eating whole pulses. These already include pasta, crackers, batters, flours and egg/meat-replacement products.

Even so, we should all consider how much meat we really need. A more plant-based diet is a winning strategy for our wallets, our health and the environment.

Falafel, anyone?

read more original article https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/

Advancing insects as animal feed

Published Date : April 17, 2017

Agriculture is probably the single most damaging human activity for the planet. Natural resources are already stretched, and to feed the future growing population and meet the demographic shifts in diet, extreme environmental damage will occur.

The optimum direction would be for the global population to shift to a more plant-based diet. The trajectory however is for 70% increase (PDF) in fish and meat consumption by 2050. But around 70% of agricultural land and 70% of fresh water use is already designated to produce feed for animals (PDF), and a recent report from The Economist has highlighted nearly 100% of fish stocks are now under pressure, to varying degrees of severity.

It’s therefore essential that we better manage the way we feed our livestock animals and farmed fish (as well as reduce our demand for meat and dairy products).

How we feed protein to our farm animals

Wild caught pelagic fish and intensively farmed soya are the major components used globally in feed formulae for aquaculture and livestock. According to the FAO, protein from these sources makes up 60-70% (PDF) of the price of animal feed.

The protein feed industry is truly globalised, and as such is subjected to any common global market shocks and fluctuations. Fishmeal for example is massively dependent on Pacific-caught fish – with Chile and Peru accounting for about 40% of global production (PDF). This seasonal catch is heavy disrupted by major global changes in weather patterns, particularly El Niño. More worryingly, the dependence on wild fisheries will not meet the projected future demand.

When we’re not feeding our animals protein from fish its terrestrial production such as soybean meal. In Argentina and Brazil, South America hosts two of the four largest producers, and the two largest exporters. Brazil’s vast reserves of farmland could permit a continued significant expansion in soybean area.

However, its intensive cultivation leads to environmental degradation, and the sustainability of this production – much of it GM soybean – remains widely debated. Moreover, increasing yield alone only represents a short-term solution.

What we want to feed aquaculture and livestock

Alternative sources of food, particularly protein, are seriously needed. And this is where the insects come in.

My start-up company Entocycle has spent the past 18 months developing the techniques and technology to mass rear Hermetia illucens (more commonly known as black solider fly) for this purpose.

Black solider flies are nature’s apex composters – converting waste food from farms, factories and supermarkets into fertliser and insect biomass in as little as six days. The larvae can then be processed into organic feed for livestock and aquaculture. Unlike many other insects of interests, black solider flies are non-disease vectors, non-pests species, and thrive in incredibly high densities.

What’s holding us back?

However, the successful application of using this technology has been hampered by the difficulty in rearing this species on a large scale at a cost competitive price.

So our primary focus until now has been on developing breeding technologies. With this goal in sight, the next step is the development of the UK’s first automated ‘pilot facility’. We need collaborators to do this, and are developing ties with a specialist partner in Brazil ‘BUG’, and are working with several UK universities and research institutes.

There is a plethora of UK-based businesses and educational resources looking to grow in this area, and the UK is potentially well placed to be leaders in this rapidly growing industry. (See this GFS report (PDF) and blog post for more.)

But there are several well defined technical hurdles. The most significant being current EU regulations. Even though free-range animals naturally eat many insects, when produced specifically as feed they are considered Processed Animal Protein (PAPs). As such, they are currently not allowed in commercial feed.

Although there is a roadmap and other insect start-ups pushing for their use, I fear we might ‘miss the boat’. Instead of developing and potentially exporting the technology, we could end up importing both the insect protein and the technology.

read more original article food security

What is the impact of animal production on the environment?

Published Date : April 17, 2017

Each one of us has an impact on the environment and the world in which we live. Growing food and raising animals also uses resources from the earth. Humans impact the environment through deforestation, agricultural and livestock activities, urbanization and burning fossil fuels (Shepherd, 2011).

Do animals make greenhouse gases?

Each and every living creature produces greenhouse gases (GHG). Greenhouse gases are gases in the earth’s atmosphere and can be produced in nature and through human industry. An increased amount of GHG generates high temperatures on earth. The most abundant GHG are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and ozone.

The amount of GHG that agriculture and farming produces around the world is different. This is because each livestock production system is different in the way it uses resources. Agricultural systems are often categorized into two types of systems: extensive farming and intensive farming.

Extensive farming is a type of agriculture that is mainly a pasture-based and land-based system. In beef cattle production, for example, cattle in an extensive system would graze in a pasture. Intensive systems have more concentrated operations and are often more mechanized. A feedlot is an example of an intensive system for beef cattle production.

Each of these systems occurs all around the world and each has an environmental impact. The challenge for global livestock production is to improve environmental sustainability within each region rather than prescribing a one-size-fits-all global system (Capper, 2011). Currently in the United States, agriculture accounts for seven percent of the total GHG emitted.

Carbon dioxide from livestock production is a result of fuel use from equipment and changes in the carbon content of soil, such as, crops, deforestation and direct land use by animals (Hermansen et al., 2011).

Livestock production is the largest methane source emitter in the world and the third largest in the United States (Shepherd, 2011). Most of this methane is a result of manure storage and enteric fermentation, which is methane produced in the digestive tract of an animal (Hermansen et al., 2011).

The source of nitrous oxide in livestock production is the application of manure and artificial fertilizers on fields and from ammonia losses during and after the growing season (Hermansen et al., 2011).

Farmers are now using a process called Precision Feed Management which allows the farmer to feed his animals a more precise amount of nutrients so there is greater feed use and less waste in the form of uneaten food and animal manure. When animals are better able to use the food they eat, fewer nutrients are released into the environment.

How do animals affect water quality?

Water is a scarce and valuable resource essential to human and animal life.  The consumption of animal products contributes to more than one-quarter of the water footprint of humanity. Water for livestock production is used for drinking, irrigation to grow crops/ pasture and for different animal services such as cleaning. The water needed to produce feed is the major factor behind the water footprint of animal products (Hoekstra, 2012).

Animals can negatively affect water quality by having free access to water sources where they are able to deposit waste and cause the water to become cloudy from stirring up mud. Waste from animals can be dangerous because it carries harmful bacteria which people may drink. Globally, 3.2 percent of human deaths are caused by unsafe water. This problem is especially prevalent in developing countries. However, only a small portion of these deaths are related to bacteria from livestock (McAllister et al., 2012).

Photo courtesy of Animal Frontiers

Water contamination can occur in many different ways. In extensive systems, livestock often have access to bodies of water where they are able to deposit waste. This waste travels downstream and has direct contact with humans. In intensive production systems, bacteria can enter water sources during heavy rainfalls that might result in an overflow of the manure catchment basin or from manure that has been put on fields as fertilizer (McAllister et al., 2012).

The presence of bacteria in water can also result from urban wastewater, sewage, septic tank discharge and waste from wildlife (McAllister et al., 2012).

Manure, odor and dust

If you’ve ever been to a farm, you might have noticed that some of the smells take some getting used to. One smell is manure, or animal waste, which contributes to the farm’s environmental impact. As indicated above, manure can be a large source of GHG especially from methane and nitrous oxide. Farmers have different ways of dealing with manure and the odor that comes from these wastes.

The use of biogas or methane digesters on farms not only serves as a source of energy for the farm, thereby decreasing the amount of fossil fuels, but also allows a reduction in methane, CH₄, and nitrous oxide, N₂O, and a decrease in the use of synthetic fertilizers (Hermansen et al., 2011). When manure is stored in a digester, it is covered, which prevents much of the odor from escaping into the air.

When farmers put manure on their fields as a form of fertilizer, they can use several different methods to reduce odor and better use the nutrients in manure. By using a drag hose and injection to spread manure, odor-causing compounds are integrated into the soil and cannot escape into the environment. This helps to reduce the amount of nitrous oxide and ammonia that is released (Wright et al., 2011). An Odor Management Plan (OMP) helps farmers assess odor issues on their farm and discover how best to alleviate the issues.

Farms can also cause dust and dirt particles to be released into the air. These particles are called volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Volatile organic compounds come from items such as manure, bedding and dust. When farmers practice manure management and odor management they are able to reduce the amount of VOCs emitted.

How do farmers minimize the impact?

A term you might hear when talking about climate change is carbon footprint. A carbon footprint is the amount of carbon that each person uses and emits into the atmosphere. People are often encouraged to lower their carbon footprint by recycling or walking instead of driving.

We all have a responsibility to the earth to keep it clean and use fewer resources. By improving its efficiency, the livestock industry can work to reduce carbon emissions and conserve resources (Capper, 2011). See how farmers are stewards of the land.

read more original article animalsmart

Organic Farming Could, Maybe, Feed The World, Say Scientists

Published Date : April 17, 2017

It’s been claimed before: Organic farming is a lark, a profitable process for a handful of farmers and an indulgence for a handful of consumers, a pie-in-the-sky dream that sounds nice but won’t fly in our quest to feed the world. But a new survey suggests otherwise.

Previous studies have looked specifically at the cost or yield of organic farming, sometimes in specific countries, or at the cost of transitioning to an all-organic system. But this new survey—from John Reganold and Jonathan Wachter at Washington State University and published in February’s issue of Nature Plants—takes a more holistic view: It examines 40 years of studies to figure out if it would be possible to rejigger the system to feed the world with organic food.

The survey takes into account the four main tentpoles of sustainability, as laid out by the National Academy of Sciences: productivity, economics, environment, and community well-being. These, say the researchers, can all be answered with organic farming. Organic products are more expensive, which can make up for lower yields for farmers, say the researchers. They cite studies that indicate that yields that have in the past been considered too low to feed massive groups of people may rise due to climate change. The environmental aspects are not really disputed; organic farming, concerned primarily with soil health, promotes better quality soil, less polluted water, lower greenhouse gas emissions, and greater biodiversity of plants, animals, and microbes.

But the big caveat here: “Although organic agriculture has an untapped role to play when it comes to the establishment of sustainable farming systems, no single approach will safely feed the planet,” reads the paper. The researchers freely admit that the transitioning to a system in which organic agriculture really does feed the world would require absurd amounts of money and infrastructure changes; that a huge part of the effort would have to involve reducing food waste dramatically to make up for what still likely would be lower overall yields; and that labor would be sorely lacking for these sorts of agriculture jobs.

Basically, this survey is saying that years of research into organic farming’s efficacy does not prove that organic farming is incapable of feeding the world. But to turn that into “organic farming COULD feed the world” would require a total upheaval of the world’s agricultural infrastructure. No small feat! But theoretically possible.

Livestock Production

Published Date : April 17, 2017

Because some degree of climate change is now inevitable, sustainable agricultural practices are critical to climate change adaptation. A focus needs to be on the implementation of farming practices that limit or reduce direct and indirect greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from livestock production. Modifications to current practices will be necessary with environmental sustainability as the top priority.

Livestock production contributes 27 percent of overall agricultural GHGs in Manitoba (1), making this agriculture sector an important target for climate change adaptation. Livestock produce the largest amount of methane (CH₄) in Manitoba. The gas is produced both directly and indirectly by animals.

• Animals directly produce emissions in the form of burps, a product of enteric fermentation.
• Indirect emissions are a result of manure storage practices. Manure storage and spreading also releases nitrous oxide (N₂O), another potent GHG.

Manitoba’s agriculture is in a good position to influence GHG emissions,(2) because farming practices can be modified to become part of the climate change solution. There are practical on-farm techniques that can be implemented to help reduce GHG emissions from livestock production. Management strategies can include improving pasture and forage quality, using efficient feed rations to lower fermentation losses, following proper manure storage and spreading regulations and enhancing carbon (C) sequestration and storage on pastures.(3)

For more information, download our publication “Farming in a Changing Climate in Manitoba – Livestock Edition (2013)

How Clean Cookstoves Create Gender Equality

Published Date : April 17, 2017

Imagine spending hours every day cooking your family’s food over an open fire, your eyes burning and lungs struggling from the constant smoke. Then imagine spending additional hours, often in the dark of dawn or dusk, searching for the fuel needed to start cooking again.

That’s the reality — and a fulltime job — for millions of women in the developing world, where a lack of access to clean cookstoves and fuels demands arduous hours that could be far better spent.

As the world begins to align around the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals, now is the time to recognize the critical role cleaner and more efficient cooking solutions play in achieving gender equality for millions of girls and women around the world.

Without convenient, reliable and affordable access to cooking fuels, women endure incredible hardships — being exposed to deadly smoke that kills over 4 million people every year, walking long distances to search for fuel and carrying heavy loads of firewood — or they are forced to spend their hard-earned income on fuel.

Making Progress

With a 30 percent increase in fuel efficiency from an improved cookstove, a family purchasing fuel could save enough money to send two children to school. More efficient and cleaner stoves and fuels can prevent deaths and can save women up to 300 hours or $200 per year, allowing women the time and income needed to pursue opportunities of their choice.

In rural Tanzania, 39-year-old Martha Lobulu knows the issue all too well, living for years in a small mud home with no ventilation. The traditional fires used for cooking had long exposed her and her three children to household air pollution (HAP) levels of more than 35 times the World Health Organization’s standard. After learning about clean cookstoves and the dangers of household air pollution, Martha not only changed her own cooking habits, but she also went on to direct a team of cookstove installers in her community. As a result, she has reduced the levels of toxic smoke in her home and cut her own wood use by half, saving considerable time on fuel collection. In addition, Martha now serves as an inspiration to other Maasai women, leading them toward cleaner homes and healthier lives as she teaches them about the health issues related to HAP and the benefits of cleaner cookstoves.

While there is much to celebrate regarding progress made for women and girls since the original Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, a crucial driver of gender equality and women’s empowerment was completely omitted from the framework — access to cleaner household energy. And while many gains have been made over the past 20 years for girls and women, they remain on the frontlines — the first responders to some of life’s most difficult and dangerous moments. They are the first to feel the impacts of poverty — which is exacerbated by not having access to household energy.

Building the Market

There is a growing sector focused on creating awareness about the clean cooking issue, on enhancing the performance and availability of technologies and fuels and on strengthening enterprises so they can scale production and distribution. The efforts are being led by the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves and the organization’s more than 1,000 partner organizations across six continents. A public-private partnership hosted by the UN Foundation, the Alliance is taking a market-based approach to ensure culturally-appropriate cookstoves and fuels are available and accessible to those who need them.

The Caterpillar Foundation is key supporter of the Alliance’s efforts to secure access to clean cooking solutions for women around the world. The post-2015 framework and the Sustainable Development Goals present a crucial opportunity to ensure sustainable development around the world. The Caterpillar Foundation helps make it possible for the Alliance to engage in the clean cooking sector, which is resulting in women’s empowerment, economic growth, environmental protection and positive health impacts for girls and women around the world.

We must acknowledge the critical role access to clean cookstoves and fuels plays in achieving gender equality. And we must also commit to working together to improve the daily lives of millions of women whose full-time job is one of the most dangerous acts in the developing world — cooking food for their families.

read more original article Global citizen 

Clean Cookstove Research

Published Date : April 17, 2017

According to the World Health Organization, cookstove smoke is a major contributor to indoor air pollution in developing countries causing approximately 4 million premature deaths annually and a wide range of illnesses.

Nearly half of the people in the world still depend on the burning of biomass (wood, charcoal, crop residues, and dung) and coal in rudimentary cookstoves or open fires to cook their food. People in developing countries, primarily women and children, are exposed to smoke with high concentrations of pollutants such as fine particles composed of toxic compounds.

Health studies show that exposure to cookstove smoke contributes to a wide range of illnesses such as pneumonia and low-birth weight in children, lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, blindness, and heart disease in adults, especially women who are disproportionately exposed in their homes.

Cookstove Research

As part of this effort, EPA is an international leader in clean cookstove research and provides independent scientific data on cookstove emissions and energy efficiency to support the development of cleaner sustainable cooking technologies.

Laboratory testing is being conducted at EPA’s cookstove test facility in Research Triangle Park, NC. The facility has state-of-the-art measurement capabilities to characterize emissions of gases and aerosols, including toxic air pollutants, greenhouse gases, and black carbon.

Studies are conducted using multiple stoves and fuels tested under varying conditions to simulate operating conditions found in the field. EPA also sponsors and supports field testing.

Cookstove technologies are selected for testing based on specific criteria including: quantity in use, existing test data, potential market, need for baseline data, fuel availability, unique features, innovation, and partner needs.

EPA also conducts studies to understand the health effects from exposure to emissions from cookstoves.

Impact

EPA’s research is making a significant contribution to providing cleaner cookstove technology throughout the world.

As part of this effort, EPA supports development of standard cookstove testing methods and protocols through ISO Technical Committee 285, Clean Cookstoves and Clean Cooking Solutions. Standards can provide incentive for stove developers to innovate and improve stove performance.

The work is supporting the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, which has a goal to foster the adoption of clean cookstoves and fuels in 100 million households by 2020.

Investors, donors, and governments are seeking out the independent data to make decisions about clean cookstove programs. The science is providing information to cookstove developers and manufacturers to advance clean cookstove technology. EPA helps to support international Regional Testing and Knowledge Centers, many of which are sponsored by the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves. The Centers are building capacity for evaluating stoves following existing international guidelines, and Centers will test stoves to international standards once they are established.

The scientific contributions by EPA are:

• Improving the health of people in developing countries
• Addressing environmental problems with cookstoves such as deforestation when wood is sought for burning
• Addressing emissions of black carbon and greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change.

A before-and-after snapshot shows the incredible impact of clean cookstoves

Published Date : April 17, 2017

Having to cook over an open fire — burning dung, coal, and wood for fuel — is comparable to smoking two packs of cigarettes a day. Not to mention how dangerous it is to live around an open flame every day. Clumsy or not, that’s a recipe for burns — or worse.

Luckily, some innovative folks created a cookstove that’s pretty incredible. It’s saving the lives of moms and kids — and creating jobs.

These charcoal-efficient cookstoves, currently making the rounds in Kenya, are drastically reducing smoke from cooking fires and cutting in half the amount of charcoal needed.

They come from the folks at The Adventure Project, and the impact they’ve made so far is quite mind-blowing. You don’t have to just take my word for it, you can see it for yourself:

The benefits of using charcoal-efficient stoves extend way beyond the food they help to prepare.

According to the group, every stove saves a family 20% of their daily expenses because they use 50% less charcoal per day. And it helps save them time too. In Kenya, the average woman can spend up to 30 hours a week just collecting firewood. But that’s not necessary with a clean cookstove.

When Mary bought a stove, it meant her kids could finally go to school.

She no longer has to spend so much money on firewood, and now she’s able to send her kids to get an education.

“I am using more money for school fees and buying house goods like food,” she told The Adventure Project. “Although the school fees are quite an amount, I can pay them and save money. Every month I spent 1000 on firewood but now I only spend 400 shillings so I can save 600 shillings.”

In less than two years, 17,876 charcoal-efficient stoves have been sold in Kenya.

According to The Adventure Project, these stoves have helped more than 89,000 people and saved over 107,000 trees from being cut down.

In other words, they’re working.

And perhaps the best part is that The Adventure Project doesn’t just give the stoves away. Their model is meant to last.

The organization invests in training people in Kenya, like this stove entrepreneur named Josephat, to make the stoves and sell them at an affordable price to their neighbors. And they make sure everyone is able to afford a stove, even the extremely poor, through low-interest loans. It creates sustainable local business.

Safe and reliable access to energy for cooking is a basic need.

And when you move past the top-line data points and measurements of a cookstove’s immediate impact, you can’t forget the human element it brings: Progress like this can help families bond and grow closer. Mary can attest to that.

“If they inhaled the smoke they would have very bad coughing and I feared for their health,” she recalled. “Now, with the coal stove I can cook comfortably in the kitchen, my husband can finally sit in the kitchen with me and talk to me.”

Our global food system is transforming for good — and we’re only just beginning. The Adventure Project is just one group out there focused on clean cookstoves and taking small sustainable steps toward a better world.

read more original article upworthy

Women are changing the household energy sector

Published Date : April 17, 2017

Solar-Powered Device Can Pull Water Out of Thin Air, Even in Deserts

Published Date : April 14, 2017

As a worldwide water crisis looms, engineers have invented a solar-powered harvester that can pull water out of thin air—even in dry, desert environments.

A team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of California, Berkeley have created a device using a specially designed metal-organic framework (MOF) capable of pulling liters of water in conditions where humidity is as low as 20 percent, a level common in arid areas. Impressively, it only needs the power of the sun to operate.

This breakthrough was published in a paper Thursday in the journal Science.

There are already dehumidifiers and other products out there that can collect water from humid air. The process, however, can be energy-intensive and essentially leave you with “very expensive water,” as senior author Omar Yaghi of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory put it in a statement.

The new device, however, “is capable of harvesting 2.8 liters of water per kilogram of MOF daily at relative humidity levels as low as 20 percent, and requires no additional input of energy,” the authors state in their paper. That’s about 2.8 liters of water in 12 hours.

“We wanted to demonstrate that if you are cut off somewhere in the desert, you could survive because of this device,” Yaghi said. “A person needs about a Coke can of water per day. That is something one could collect in less than an hour with this system.”

The Berkeley professor invented metal-organic frameworks more than 20 years ago. MOFs combine metals such as magnesium or aluminum with organic molecules to form rigid, porous structures that can store gases and liquids. More than 20,000 different MOFs have been created by researchers worldwide.

According to a news release, here’s how this new solar-powered, water-collecting MOF works:

In 2014, Yaghi and his UC Berkeley team synthesized a MOF—a combination of zirconium metal and adipic acid—that binds water vapor, and he suggested to Evelyn Wang, a mechanical engineer at MIT, that they join forces to turn the MOF into a water-collecting system.

The system Wang and her students designed consisted of more than two pounds of dust-sized MOF crystals compressed between a solar absorber and a condenser plate, placed inside a chamber open to the air. As ambient air diffuses through the porous MOF, water molecules preferentially attach to the interior surfaces. X-ray diffraction studies have shown that the water vapor molecules often gather in groups of eight to form cubes.

Sunlight entering through a window heats up the MOF and drives the bound water toward the condenser, which is at the temperature of the outside air. The vapor condenses as liquid water and drips into a collector.

When two-thirds of the world’s population is experiencing water shortages, the water vapor and droplets in the atmosphere—estimated to be around 13,000 trillion liters—is a natural resource that could address the global water problem, the authors explained in Science.

The team noted that their harvester is proof of concept and has room for improvement. The current device can absorb only 20 percent of its weight in water. They hope to double that amount or tweak the invention so that it can be more effective at higher or lower humidity levels.

Still, as Yaghi pointed out, “this is a major breakthrough.” This invention could enable people to have an off-grid water supply.”

“One vision for the future is to have water off-grid, where you have a device at home running on ambient solar for delivering water that satisfies the needs of a household,” Yaghi said. “To me, that will be made possible because of this experiment. I call it personalized water.”

5 surprising products made from hemp

Published Date : April 6, 2017

Hemp is a sustainable supermaterial with a wide range of applications that go far beyond hacky sacks and beaded bracelets. An experimental project called Fabric-Action explores exciting new uses for hemp – including modular gardens, skateboards, swings, and even air purifiers. Each design emphasizes the intrinsic qualities of this natural, sustainable and fast-growing material while showing how hemp can fit the latest production techniques such as 3D-printing, CNC technology and laser-cutting. Click on for five intriguing hemp products from the Fabric-Action show at Milan Design Week 2017.

Agri-Hemp, designed by Michele Armellini and Marco Grimandi, is a modular indoor gardening system. Agri-hemp pots of different sizes are realized in thermo-formable woven hemp, a new material inspired by traditional hemp fabric. The system is completed by vertical wooden legs designed to support the hemp pots

Delta-9 by Gabriele Basei is a skateboard made out of waterproof hemp that is decorated with textile inserts typical of Umbria’s style.

Kinesis by Ekaterina Shchetina e Libero Rutilo is a swing made out of three different types of hemp. Suspended on traditional hemp ropes, the swing features a seat made out of Canapalithos, a pressed hemp panel, and knobs made of 3D-printed hemp plastic.

Carlotta Antonietti, Laura Tardella and Marzia Tolomei‘s Paidia is a suspended cradle that utilizes several of hemp’s key attributes. Hemp is antibacterial, resistant to moisture, heat-insulating and light, so it’s the perfect material for this baby product, which is made out of hemp felt and lined with hemp fabric. Once your newborn grows up, Paidia can be easily transformed into a soft basket for toy storage.

Soft by Enrico Azzimonti is an air purification system entirely made of hemp-derived materials. The project integrates the use of digital technologies such as 3D-printing to create tubular textile hemp filters that purify indoor spaces.

These designs were presented at Milan Design Week 2017 and can be seen at Fuorisalone 2017 in Universita Statale di Milano.

read more original article Inhabitat

Restore Wetlands

Published Date : April 6, 2017

Wetlands are the transition area between open water and dry land, constantly appearing and disappearing with the ebb and flow of tides. As the heart and lungs of the Bay, wetlands support over 500 species of fish and wildlife, from the smallest microorganisms to the largest of seals. In addition to providing vital habitat, the Bay’s wetlands fulfill a central role in community and environmental health by:

• Improving water quality by filtering out trash and toxics
• Capturing and storing greenhouse gasses from earth’s atmosphere
• Serving as buffers against storms, flooding, and erosion control
• Supporting thousands of jobs in industries such as tourism, fishing, recreation, and education.
• Connecting residents to hundreds of parks, open spaces, and agricultural lands across the Bay Area

for more information Save The Bay

Wetlands Restoration Helps You!

Published Date : April 6, 2017

Coastal wetlands are disappearing at an alarming rate, despite their importance to ocean and coastal health, humans and the economy. We talk with Megan Cooper, Project Analyst at the State Coastal Conservancy, about how coastal restoration provides benefits to the environment and the economy. Restored wetlands provide habitat for birds, nurseries for marine life, flood protection, jobs, revenue and beautiful natural landscapes.

Everyday Action: Visit your local wetlands: see wildlife, go birding or take a tour to learn more about the important role wetlands play in our ocean and coastal health.

For more information, please visit:

• Southern California Wetlands Recovery Project
• South San Diego Bay Restoration Project
• California Wetlands
• California Coastal Conservancy
• Elkhorn Slough Safari Tour
• Find a Wetland Near You
• National Estuarine Research Reserve System
• Bolsa Chica Wetlands Tour

read more http://thankyouocean.org/wetlands-restoration-helps-you/