Climate Change

Scientists say China must act now. The world has just two or three decades to avoid irreversible climate change, says Kelly Sims Gallagher, an energy professor at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, and author of two books on pollution. “If the Chinese don’t dramatically reduce carbon emissions from coal, there’s no way we can make a dent in climate change globally in the time period that matters,” Gallagher says. Read the full story

But away from transmission lines, DC is also gaining ground as an alternative in the developing world, according to Karina Garbesi, a professor and visiting researcher at LBNL. Getting power to remote areas from an AC grid is very costly and doesn't make much sense, since some of these regions can construct wind turbines and solar farms.

"Our findings add to the list of naturally occurring chemical compounds that could serve as biofuels, which means more flexibility and options for the biofuels industry," says Harry Beller, a JBEI microbiologist who led this study. "We're especially encouraged by our finding that it is possible to increase the methyl ketone titer production of E. coli more than 4,000-fold with a relatively small number of genetic modifications." Read the full story

If our objective is to limit the amount of carbon dioxide that accumulates in the atmosphere, it is important to think about both sides of the equation -- how much is emitted and how much is taken up and stored.

Pannonia Ethanol, a corn-ethanol plant in Dunafoldvar, Hungary, is now producing ethanol. Pannonia Ethanol Zrt., a special purpose subsidiary of Ethanol Europe, hired Fagen Europe LLC as the project’s design builder for the facility, which will produce up to 240 MMly (63.4 MMgy) of ethanol in central Hungary, said Eric Sievers, CEO of Ethanol Europe. Read the full story

In developing countries, diarrhea, which is a symptom of gastrointestinal infection, is one of the biggest health concerns. Diarrhea kills 2.5 million children each year, but little data about diarrhea and climate exists. Karen Levy, an environmental epidemiologist at Emory University in Atlanta, found that rotavirus, which causes diarrhea, becomes more active in tropical regions when the climate is cooler and drier.

“More with less, save the rest.” The three key concepts set forth in this phrase have been at the center of many recent domestic and international conversations about the future of agriculture. The discussion regarding the first concept follows the logic that food production will need to double by 2050 to meet demand. This will be due to an overall increase in the global population coupled with increases in the consumption of animal protein, fruits, and vegetables as the standard of living, especially in developing countries, steadily rises.

At Santa Rosa's Regional sewer plant, ponds covered with fast-growing aquatic plants are being used to help clean toxics and pollutants out of the water as part of the wastewater treatment process. But there's another, very different benefit those plants can offer as well. While showing off the FAB project at the treatment plant, Caden Hare explained that the effort to develop on site energy generation was driven in part by the needs of the facility itself. Read the story and hear audio clips

We are a “Sunshine Nation” too often manipulated by the experts and stakeholders of an outmoded energy technology, bellowing mightily, “Solar energy isn’t feasible.” Yet, given that the amount of solar energy hitting Earth exceeds the total energy consumed by humanity by a factor of over 20,000 times, it’s a simple matter of technology investment – a qualitative, not quantitative approach to societal need – and not any pre-ordained impossibility as suggested by these prognosticators with a coarse commitment to their industries’ bottom li