World's first community-owned tidal turbine to power up

The world’s first community-owned tidal turbine will be made and deployed in Scotland, after a fabrication contract between Scottish firms Steel Engineering and Nova Innovation was announced by First Minister Alex Salmond.

During a visit that formed part of the Scottish Government’s Summer Cabinet programme in Renfrew, the First Minister confirmed that the two companies had reached agreement to manufacture a tidal turbine that will be connected to the grid and provide electricity to people in one of the most remote parts of Scotland.

The Nova-30 device, to be used by the North Yell community in Shetland to power a local ice plant and industrial estate, will be fabricated for Leith-based Nova Innovation Ltd in Steel Engineering’s newly expanded Renfrew facility. The new premises, which will help the firm meet its ambition to create 120 new jobs, were officially opened by the First Minister today.

During his visit to Steel Engineering, the First Minister also opened The Renewable Energy Skills Training Academy (TRESTA), a cutting-edge centre run by Steel Engineering with the help of our agencies that will train 60 apprentices a year in the skills required to play their part in Scotland’s renewables revolution.

First Minister Alex Salmond said: “Scotland is leading the way in the development of marine renewables, and today’s announcement that the world’s first community-owned turbine is to be manufactured and deployed on these shores is a truly fantastic endorsement of our burgeoning renewables sector.

“The turbine being developed by Nova Innovation – based in Leith – and manufactured by Steel Engineering – based in Renfrew - will be used to power businesses in a Shetland community, showing the very tangible benefits that marine renewable power can bring to Scotland’s businesses and people in the years to come.

“The Steel Engineering plant in Renfrew is a truly impressive industrial site, and this contract win has created a real buzz among the workforce, some of whom I met today during my visit. I was particularly excited to speak to the young apprentices who are just beginning their training at the fantastic new skills training academy on site.

“Steel Engineering is a great example of a dynamic Scottish company leading the way in offshore engineering while ensuring that the next generation of engineers is ready and equipped to help take forward Scotland’s renewables revolution.”

Peter Breslin, managing director of Steel Engineering, said: “We are delighted to win this ground-breaking renewable contract and look forward to a long-term working partnership with Nova. This contract will help to put Steel Engineering on the map as a major renewable manufacturer and will also help to safeguard and create Scottish jobs at our facility in Renfrew.”

Simon Forrest, Director of Nova Innovation, said: “Nova Innovation is delighted to announce this important milestone which will help accelerate the growth of our business and significantly advance marine energy in Scotland.

“Steel Engineering is rapidly building a strong reputation as a leading manufacturer of renewable products and we are confident in the company’s ability to fulfil this contract to an excellent standard.

“We see significant potential for tidal arrays for other communities across Scotland and look forward to working with Steel Engineering on this and future marine renewable projects.”

The Nova-30 (30kW) tidal turbine employs a horizontal axis, three-bladed rotor to extract reliable and predictable energy from the tides. The turbine, which will be deployed in the Bluemull Sound between the islands of Yell and Unst, will be owned by the North Yell community, which received a grant of £150,000 from the Scottish Government to help its development. It will help regenerate the fragile economy of North Yell – one of Europe’s most remote communities, providing valuable income and supporting local jobs.

Europe is exporting more waste than ever as illegal trade grows

As waste is increasingly moving across EU borders for recovery or disposal, the European Environment Agency (EEA) is warning of a big rise in the export of hazardous waste to countries outside of Europe.

Increasingly stringent and harmonised waste policies in the EU have led countries to transport more waste material elsewhere, for example if they do not have the facilities to recycle or dispose of particular types of waste.

There are increasing demands for recyclable materials, both within the EU and beyond, particularly in booming Asian economies.

While trade of hazardous waste grew between 2001 and 2007, shipped volumes decreased in 2008 and 2009, probably due to the economic downturn, according to the report ‘Movements of waste across the EU's internal and external borders’. Exports of waste plastics and metals picked up again after the economic downturn and exceeded the pre-2009 levels in 2011.

The international trade in recyclable material is expected to continue to grow, the report states, driven by more recycling, growing global competition for resources and increasing awareness of the value of waste. Trade in hazardous waste is also expected to increase, although the driver in this case will be the need to treat waste in specific facilities that are not available in all countries.

Overall the EU should put more efforts into waste prevention in order to become more resource-efficient, a key element of the EU 2020 growth strategy. The report recommends encouraging new technologies and business models that generate less waste, or waste that is less hazardous.

“European countries are exporting more waste than ever,” EEA Executive Director Jacqueline McGlade said. “The trade in non-hazardous waste can be seen as largely positive, as material is often transported to places where it can be better used. However, we should not lose sight of the bigger picture – in an increasingly resource-constrained world, Europe needs to dramatically reduce the amount of waste it generates in the first place.”

Non-hazardous waste

* Exports of waste iron and steel, and copper, aluminium and nickel from Member States doubled between 1999 and 2011, while waste precious metal exports trebled and waste plastics increased by a factor of five.

* Increasing export volumes and rising prices are both contributing to the growing economic importance of waste exports. The value of scrap iron and steel exports out of the EU has increased by a factor of eight between 1999 and 2011 to €18 billion. Waste copper, aluminium and nickel exports expanded by a factor of six and waste precious metals increased by a factor of 15. The value of annual exports to Asia has grown at an even greater rate.

* Trade in waste wood has also increased steeply. Since 2003, EU imports of waste wood have exceeded exports. Imports of waste wood are primarily driven by the large demand of the particle board industry for wood material. Another demand driver is energy production from solid biomass, which grew by more than 50 % between 1995 and 2008.

* Transporting non-hazardous waste for recycling can have positive environmental effects overall, the report notes. Although transporting the material causes additional environmental damage and greenhouse gas emissions, these impacts are often much less than the environmental impacts of processing virgin materials.

Hazardous and electronic waste

* Exports of hazardous waste, which may be explosive, flammable, irritative, toxic or corrosive, grew by 131 % in the period 2000–2009, while the amount of hazardous waste generated in the EU increased by 28 % in the same period. Flows of hazardous waste into the EU countries, from other EU countries and also from outside the EU, almost trebled between 2001 and 2009, reaching 8.9 million tonnes (Mt).

* Hazardous waste can include fly ash from incinerators, contaminated soil, lead batteries, waste mineral oils and other chemicals. Most hazardous waste exports stay within the EU, going to neighbouring countries. The biggest importer of this material in 2009 was Germany (3 Mt) while the biggest exporter was the Netherlands (2.8 Mt). Most of this material is recycled or used as fuel, although some is still sent to landfill.

* It is illegal to ship hazardous waste from EU Member States to countries which are not members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Old computers, home appliances and other electronic equipment should be collected separately under EU legislation.

* However, a large volume of used electrical products are shipped out of the EU to West Africa and Asia, much of them falsely classified as ‘used goods’ although in reality they are non-functional. The report estimates this trade to be at least 250 000 tonnes every year, possibly much more. These goods may subsequently be processed in dangerous and inefficient conditions, harming the health of local people and damaging the environment.

* The illegal waste trade seems to be growing, the report says, noting that the EU needs to intensify and harmonise inspection activities across the EU to combat illegal waste transfers.

Source: www.clickgreen.org.uk

The Great Man-Made River Project: Libya’s Achievement

September 1st is the anniversary of an event little known in the West. Today, over twenty years on, the people who deserve to be celebrating it, are instead enduring a war. Yet the achievement changed their lives greatly and merits recognition. A tap was turned on in Libya. From an enormous ancient aquifer, deep below the Sahara Desert, fresh water began to flow north through 1200 kilometres of pipeline to the coastal areas where 90% of Libyan people live, delivering around one million cubic metres of pure water per day to the cities of Benghazi and Sirte. Crowds gathered in the desert for the inaugural ceremony. Phase I of the largest civil engineering venture in the world, the Great Man-made River Project, had been completed. It was during the 1953 search for new oilfields in southern Libya that the ancient water aquifers were first discovered, four huge basins with estimated capacities each ranging between 4,800 and 20,000 cubic kms. Yes, that’s cubic kilometres. There is so much water that Libya had recently also offered it to Egypt for their needs.

After the bloodless revolution of 1969, also on September 1, the new government nationalised the oil companies and spent much of the oil revenues to harness the supply of fresh water from the desert aquifers by putting in hundreds of bore wells. Muammar Gaddafi’s dream was to provide fresh water for everyone, and to turn the desert green, making Libya self-sufficient in food production. He established large farms and encouraged the people to move to the desert. But many preferred life on the coast and wouldn’t go.  So Gaddafi next conceived a plan to bring the water to the people. Feasibility studies were carried out by the Libyan government in the seventies and in 1983 the Great Man-made River Authority was set up. The project began the following year, fully funded by the Libyan government. The almost $30 billion cost to date has been without the need of any international loans. Nor has there been any charge on the people, who do not pay for their reticulated water, which is regarded in Libya to be a human right and therefore free.GMMRP figures are staggering. The ‘rivers’ are a 4000-kilometre network of 4m diameter lined concrete pipes, buried below the desert sands to prevent evaporation. There are 1300 wells, 500,000 sections of pipe, 3700 kms of haul roads, and 250 million cubic metres of excavation. All material for the project was locally manufactured. Large reservoirs provide storage, and pumping stations control the flow into the cities. The pipeline first reached Tripoli in 1996 and when Phase V is completed, the water will allow about 155,000 hectares of land to be cultivated.  To achieve all this, construction work was tendered and many overseas companies, including from US, Korea, Turkey, Britain, Japan and Germany took up contracts for each Phase, and some have worked for decades in Libya. The project has not been without problems, including faulty materials and financial difficulties within some of the contracting firms. Since the NATO air attacks on Libya began in March, most foreign nationals have returned home, including those employed on the hydro scheme. The final phase of the Great Man-made River Project is stalled. Libyan people put their hearts into work on the GMMR from the beginning, and years ago took on most of the managerial and technical positions as their expert knowledge increased, with government policy encouraging their education, training and employment. They proudly call the GMMRP “the eighth wonder of the world.”(UN Human Development Index figures for Libya since the beginning of Gaddafi’s influence can be found here http://bit.ly/b4ItsI )The project was so well recognised internationally that UNESCO in 1999 accepted Libya’s offer to fund an award named after it, the Great Man-Made River International Water Prize, the purpose of which is to “reward remarkable scientific research work on water usage in arid areas”. http://bit.ly/rnxiCf  Gaddafi was often ridiculed in the West for persevering with such an ambitious project. Pejorative terms such “pipedream”,“pet project” and “mad dog” appeared in UK and US media. Despite a certain amount of awe for the enormity of the construction, the Great Man-made River was often dismissed as a “vanity project” and then rarely mentioned in western media. But truth is, it’s a world class water delivery system, and often visited by overseas engineers and planners wanting to learn from Libyan expertise in water transfer hydro-engineering.

Source: www.scoop.co.nz

Subaru of Indiana, America's Scrappiest Carmaker

Set amid tawny popcorn and soybean fields, weathered barns, and rusty silos, the Subaru of Indiana Automotive plant cuts a swath. A 3.4-million-square-foot monolith abutted by railroad tracks, SIA has a mountain of compost and the occasional coyote skittering through the surrounding 832 acres of woodland. Step inside, though, and you'll discover why this might be the most exemplary car factory in America.

In its 22-year history—a period that has spanned three recessions, a global financial crisis, massive U.S. auto bankruptcies, and the departure of Isuzu, a founding partner, from the operation—SIA has rolled out more than 3 million vehicles and has never resorted to layoffs. Instead, it's given workers a wage increase every year of its operation. Staffers also enjoy premium-free health care, abundant overtime ($15,000 each, on average, in 2010), paid volunteer time, financial counseling, and the ability to earn a Purdue University degree on-site—all in a state that has lost 46,000 auto jobs and suffered multiple plant foreclosures in the past decade. And the truly astonishing thing is how it achieved all this: through a relentless focus on eliminating waste. "This is not about recycling, or a nice marketing to-do," says Dean Schroeder, a management professor at Valparaiso University who has studied the plant. "This is a strict dollars-and-cents, moneymaking-and-savings calculation that also drives better safety and quality."

Toyota made kaizen—the Japanese principle of constant "change for the better," with a special focus on efficiency, aka "pushing lean"—famous. SIA, you could say, has instilled green kaizen, or pushing green. Starting in 2002, SIA set a five-year target for becoming the nation's first zero-landfill car factory. That meant recycling or composting 98 percent of the plant's waste—with an on-site broker taking bids for paper, plastic, glass, and metals—and incinerating the remaining 2 percent that isn't recoverable at a nearby waste-to-fuel operation to sell power back to the grid. Within two years, the results spoke for themselves.
"Everyone quickly saw the green dividend of not wasting anything," says Tom Easterday, the plant's executive vice-president, passing a stack of yellowed Styrofoam cases that have survived four round trips around the globe. "You reduce packaging, negotiate a better deal from suppliers, and everyone then shares in the savings."

Today, the plant abounds with boxes and containers scribbled over with marks that show how many times they have traveled from Japan to Indiana and back (and back again). On a tour of the plant, Easterday sped a golf cart past a welder whose metal shavings are swept off the asphalt floors and auctioned into a roaring bull market for copper. Last year, Easterday says, SIA saved approximately $5.3 million by obsessively reducing, recycling, composting, and incinerating; Valparaiso's Schroeder calculates that Subaru saves multiples of that figure by using zero-landfill discipline to reduce worker injuries and fatigue. He cites the example of SIA's switch away from taking cars apart to check the quality of welds—a process that wasted metal and risked jackhammer injuries—to ultrasonic technology that did so better, faster, and far cheaper. SIA workers get bonuses (grand prize: a new Subaru Legacy) for pointing out excess packaging and processes that can be cut from the assembly line and then rebated by suppliers. All the savings are effectively plowed back into plant operations—and overtime.

To score a cherished "associate" position at the factory—there's a 10-1 ratio of applicants to openings—would-be employees are expected to put in long hours learning and practicing SIA's low-impact manufacturing. That means scrutinizing every byproduct, from welding slag to plastic wrap, for savings. And obsessively slicing seconds off assembly procedures. And a willingness to work whole months of six-day shifts, and likely years on the graveyard shift, while resisting the siren call of unionization. (The United Auto Workers has failed three times to organize the plant's workers.)
There's always a catch, and at SIA it's this: All that ultra-efficiency—when applied to employees—can lead to unforgiving schedules. SIA workers, who start at just over $14 an hour and peak at about $25 an hour, put in 47-hour workweeks that include two Saturdays a month at time and a half—good for $50,000 to $60,000 a year in per-employee salary. (That means roughly 100 employee salaries were protected by the aforementioned $5.3 million zero-landfill rebate.) The upside? When the Japan earthquake interrupted the supply of parts in March, slowing down the plant's breakneck output, SIA was able to keep paying its workers in full to volunteer in town. The downside: "Everyone's burned out here," says Kay Tavana, a 48-year-old who installs airbags and headlights. Not that she isn't grateful for the work and the SIA perks. Working while on chemotherapy for a blood disease, Tavana avails herself of SIA's free gym to rev up for her shift from 4:30 p.m. to 3:30 a.m.
The cost savings and social programs at SIA wouldn't amount to much if Subaru's cars weren't in demand. From 2008 to 2010, unit sales jumped 41 percent, while last year the company's 22 percent rise in vehicle sales was double the broader car market's increase. "You get worker commitment to productivity by offering job security," says Kristin Dziczek, who studies labor issues at the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich. "But the best job security is still a product people will buy."

With SIA operating at maximum capacity and with an expansion plan under way, Vice-President Easterday says this "experiment" in the middle of Indiana corn country could someday export its American-made Japanese cars to the rest of the world. His SIA case study left Schroeder convinced that "Dumpster diving can be great for business."

Source: www.businessweek.com

Come Hell and High Water: Last Call for a Living Ocean

The siege upon the ocean is now in its final convulsion. Nearly all marine species are enduring man-made forces that are outpacing their ability to reproduce and adapt to a deteriorating environment. Overfishing, dumping pollutants, rising sea levels and temperatures, dissolving reefs and shelled organisms by spewing ever more CO2... all besiege the ocean. The assault on terrestrial species and habitat, as bad as it is, pales in comparison.

Rio+20, the U.N. summit meeting supposedly guiding sustainable development and Earth's environmental future, began June 20, 2012 with a terribly watered-down draft statement, titled "The Future We Want." Representing 190 nations, the great majority of delegates were instead protecting their governments' shortsighted monetary interests rather than addressing the reality of an imperiled planet, which included the glaring omission of a clear mandate to end the unabated decimation of the ocean.

Now is not the time for toothless proclamations from summits like the charade taking place in Rio de Janeiro. The International Energy Agency, the world's foremost authority on energy economics, issued a no-nonsense deadline in their annual World Energy Outlook in November of 2011. They revealed that Earth would lock-in runaway feedback processes by 2017 if fossil fuel use continued to increase. While lifestyle choice depends on using more fossil fuel, life depends on using less. It's too late for piecemeal solutions. We have just five crucial years to level out on fossil fuel extraction and emissions while halting the degradation of vital greenhouse gas reservoirs: the soil, tundra, forests and ocean.

In early 2011, marine scientists at the International Program on the State of the Ocean, working with the International Union for Conservation of Nature, examined the ocean's condition regarding the combined impact of climate chaos, acidification and overfishing. They concluded that the ocean would soon approach catastrophic, potentially irreversible change. The consequence is unequivocal: "If the ocean continues to decline, it will reach a point where it can no longer function effectively and our planet will be unable to sustain the ecosystems that support humankind."

Without exaggeration, a ruined ocean rivals a massive asteroid strike in orders of magnitude. As the ocean is essential to maintain Earth's life-support systems, this unfolding disaster will severely impact life on land as well. Sixty-five million years ago, Earth's 5th mass extinction event destroyed 85% of all life when an asteroid slammed into the Yucatan peninsula. This time around, we are the asteroid.
Tragically, despite decades of increasingly dire warnings from the world's leading organizations on climate and earth science, no significant action is underway. The perpetual growth myth and willful ignorance remain the status quo, even though our own survival is clearly at stake. The answer lies within our capacity to foresee and forestall. Unlike an asteroid, we possess a precious gift: the ability to alter course.
While dangerous acidity and greenhouse gas levels are already embedded in Earth's ecosystems, overfishing is a major stressor that can be readily eliminated. We can rapidly downscale fishing pressure and expand marine protected areas (MPAs). Government subsidies for fishing fleets must cease, while only science-based management should govern legislation on the proper use of the seas. Navies and coastal patrols can enforce a new generation of strict maritime laws in a global campaign to seize all illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing vessels.
Artisanal boats can strive to achieve sustainability by monitoring their catches through local consensus and by using selective methods such as handline fishing. Conversely, most far-ranging nomadic ships are indiscriminately pillaging the seas with mechanized efficiency, such as netting entire schools that gather beneath fish aggregating devices (FADs). Using equipment such as longlines, trawls, purse seines and driftnets, these vessels are ultimately producing famine rather than nourishment. After an area is fished-out, they simply move on to ravage yet another fishery. All IUU ships should be recognized as weapons of mass destruction in an on-going attack and acted upon in terms of disarmament. Confiscated vessels can be refitted for benign use, cut up for scrap or sunk. After decontamination, sunken ships can provide replenishment as new habitat.

People are a part of nature, its domination is an ingrained conceit we can no longer indulge. All the rhetoric about marine preservation is ultimately about one single goal: to curtail economic ruthlessness to ensure the ocean's vitality for the sake of its inhabitants and, in return, a habitable world. Once the consequence of unsustainable exploitation is fully realized, that greed-driven practices will devastate young and future generations, reason and integrity can spur both individual lifestyle change and collective systemic change. As for the latter, governments can be compelled to act, but only with a growing public involvement demanding an all-out offensive to end the ocean's destruction.

Saving the ocean is nothing less than an absolute necessity...humankind's most immediate and profound planetary challenge. The seas can still possibly rebound, but only if the carnage is reversed with a surge of action based on precaution, protection and restoration. When those we love face immanent danger, we'll use all means necessary to defend them. By extension, we must be equally determined to defend the life of an ocean which sustains all we love.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com

Top Predators Key to Extinctions as Planet Warms

Global warming may cause more extinctions than predicted if scientists fail to account for interactions among species in their models, Yale and UConn researchers argue in Science.

"Currently, most models predicting the effects of climate change treat species separately and focus only on climatic and environmental drivers," said Phoebe Zarnetske, the study's primary author and a postdoctoral fellow at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. "But we know that species don't exist in a vacuum. They interact with each other in ways that deeply affect their viability."

Zarnetske said the complexity of "species interaction networks" discourages their inclusion in models predicting the effects of climate change. Using the single-species, or "climate envelope," approach, researchers have predicted that 15 percent to 37 percent of species will be faced with extinction by 2050.
But research has shown that top consumers -- predators and herbivores -- have an especially strong effect on many other species. In a warming world, these species are "biotic multipliers," increasing the extinction risk and altering the ranges of many other species in the food web.

"Climate change is likely to have strong effects on top consumers. As a result, these effects can ripple through an entire food web, multiplying extinction risks along the way," said Dave Skelly, a co-author of the study and professor of ecology at Yale.

The paper argues that focusing on these biotic multipliers and their interactions with other species is a promising way to improve predictions of the effects of climate change, and recent studies support this idea. On Isle Royale, an island in Lake Superior, rising winter temperatures and a disease outbreak caused wolf populations to decline and the number of moose to surge, leading to a decline in balsam fir trees. Studies in the rocky intertidal of the North American Pacific Coast show that higher temperatures altered the ranges of mussel species and their interaction with sea stars, their top predators, resulting in lower species diversity. And in Arctic Greenland, studies show that without caribou and muskoxen as top herbivores, higher temperatures can lead to decreased diversity in tundra plants and, in turn, affect many other species dependent on them.

"Species interactions are necessary for life on Earth. We rely on fisheries, timber, agriculture, medicine and a variety of other ecosystem services that result from intact species interactions," said Zarnetske. "Humans have already altered these important species interactions, and climate change is predicted to alter them further. Incorporating these interactions into models is crucial to informed management decisions that protect biodiversity and the services it provides."

Multispecies models with species interactions, according to the paper, would enable tracking of the biotic multipliers by following how changes in the abundance of target species, such as top consumers, alter the composition of communities of species. But there needs to be more data.

"Collecting this type of high-resolution biodiversity data will not be easy. However, insights from such data could provide us with the ability to predict and thus avoid some of the negative effects of climate change on biodiversity," said Mark Urban, a co-author and an assistant professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Connecticut.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com

Solar Impulse Plane

Solar Impulse Plane Could Set More World Records

A solar-powered plane that has shattered three world records plans to go the distance again this year. The pilots of the "Solar Impulse" want to fly more than 1,500 miles (2,500 kilometers) without a drop of fuel during a two-day journey — a dress rehearsal for the ultimate goal of flying around the world in 2014.

Two Swiss pilots, Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg, plan to switch off on flying the solar-powered plane at a technical stopover in Spain during the upcoming flight scheduled for May or June. That would allow them to tag-team the 48-hour flight over the Pyrenees Mountains (the natural border between France and Spain) and the Mediterranean Sea so that they can safely land in Morocco.

The Solar Impulse team has already put seven years of work into their aircraft design with the wingspan of an Airbus A340 jetliner, the weight of a family car and the engine power of a scooter. Solar Impulse's four propellers draw an average of 8 horsepower — about what the Wright Brothers had available when they first flew in 1903. Each of the four engine pods also have lithium polymer batteries.

Solar cells cover the upper wing to harness the power of sunlight in flight. The aircraft also has a strong, lightweight structure based on carbon fiber-honeycomb composites.

That design helped Solar Impulse set a new flight-time record as a manned plane powered only by sunlight during a day-long voyage in 2010. It also set endurance and altitude records during the flight that lasted 26 hours, 10 minutes and 19 seconds.

Such solar-powered aeronautic feats do more than just impress — they also raise new possibilities for commercial planes that could rely on electricity rather than jet fuel. Electric motors could be far more efficient than today's jet engines, but electric planes remain limited by the weight of heavy batteries needed to store electricity.

Still, Solar Impulse has proved that the right combination of renewable energy and lightweight materials could theoretically keep a plane airborne almost indefinitely.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

Enzyme Battery

New research at Concordia University is bringing the world one step closer to cleaner energy. It is now possible to extend the length of time a battery like enzyme can store energy from seconds to hours, as shown in a study published in the Journal of The American Chemical Society. Concordia Associate Professor László Kálmán — along with his colleagues in the Department of Physics, graduate students Sasmit Deshmukh and Kai Tang — has been working with an enzyme found in bacteria that is crucial for capturing solar energy. Light induces a charge separation in the enzyme, causing one end to become negatively charged and the other positively charged, much like in a battery. The hope is that such batteries are more sustainable in the long run with less environmental effects.


In nature, the enzyme energy is used immediately, but Kálmán says that to store that electrical potential, he and his colleagues had to find a way to keep the enzyme in a charge-separated state for a longer period of time.

"We had to create a situation where the charges don’t want to or are not allowed to go back, and that’s what we did in this study," says Kálmán.

Kálmán and his colleagues showed that by adding different molecules, they were able to alter the shape of the enzyme and, thus, extend the lifespan of its electrical storage potential.

In its natural configuration, the enzyme is perfectly embedded in the cell’s outer layer, known as the lipid membrane. The enzyme’s structure allows it to quickly recombine the charges and recover from a charge separated state.

However, when different lipid molecules make up the membrane, as in Kálmán’s experiments, there is a mismatch between the shape of the membrane and the enzyme embedded within it. Both the enzyme and the membrane end up changing their shapes to find a good fit. The changes make it more difficult for the enzyme to recombine the charges, thereby allowing the electrical potential to last much longer.

"What we’re doing is similar to placing a race car in on snow-covered streets," says Kálmán. The surrounding conditions prevent the race car from performing as it would on a racetrack, just like the different lipids prevent the enzyme from recombining the charges as efficiently as it does under normal circumstances.

Photosynthesis, which has existed for billions of years, is one of the earliest energy-converting systems. "All of our food, our energy sources (gasoline, coal) — everything is a product of some ancient photosynthetic activity," says Kálmán.

But he adds that the main reason researchers are turning to these ancient natural systems is because they are carbon neutral and use resources that are in abundance: sun, carbon dioxide and water. Researchers are using nature’s battery to inspire more sustainable, man made energy storage systems.

For a peek into the future of these technologies, Kálmán points to medical applications and biocompatible batteries. Imagine batteries made of enzymes and other biological molecules. These could be used to, for example, power a monitor inside a patient from post surgery. Unlike traditional batteries that contain toxic metals, biocompatible batteries could be left inside the body without causing harm.

Sony has developed a biological battery that generates electricity from sugar in a way that is similar to the processes observed in living organisms. The battery generates electricity through the use of enzymes that break down carbohydrates, which are, in essence, sugar. Almost any liquid or moist object that has enough ions to be electrically conductive can serve as the electrolyte for a cell.

What is novel for this enzyme battery is use the enzyme to store energy for extended periods of time.

Source: http://www.enn.com/

Exposição “Os Morcegos e os seus segredos”

Exposição “Os Morcegos e os seus segredos”

Início:26.10.2011

Fim:17.02.2012

Local: PN Alvão

Entidade: ICNB e Laboratório de Ecologia Aplicada e CITAB da Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro

Integrado no projecto "À descoberta do Alvão” e nas comemorações do Ano do Morcego 2011-12 o Parque Natural do Alvão vai ter patente no seu Centro de Informação e Interpretação de Vila Real uma exposição intitulada “Os Morcegos e os seus segredos” com inauguração no dia 26 de outubro e que se estenderá até 17 de fevereiro de 2012.

Abordando a temática dos únicos mamíferos voadores, está a exposição orientada para a questão das crenças e mitos que lhe estão associados, e partirá para uma aventura de descoberta da sua biologia e das espécies existentes em Portugal e em particular nesta área protegida. Terá associada igualmente o conjunto de medidas de proteção e conservação das espécies e não faltará a observação de exemplares bem como dos ultrasons por eles emitidos. Para os mais novos e população escolar estão também previstos jogos de sensibilização sobre os morcegos.

A iniciativa do ICNB conta com a colaboração do Laboratório de Ecologia Aplicada e CITAB da Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro.

Para marcação de visitas contatar pelo telefone 259.302830

Fonte: http://portal.icnb.pt

Energia - Quem não precisa dela?

Energia, é certamente uma das mais importantes palavras-chave da Humanidade e do ambiente planetário. Dos combustíveis fósseis às diferentes formas de energia alternativa, existe um mundo de possibilidades, de interrogações e de pesquisa.


O conceito de Energia é bastante lato e abrangente, mas pode definir-se como a capacidade de produzir trabalho.


Todas as formas de vida consomem e produzem energia, mas as principais fontes de energia não são os seres vivos. Melhor dizendo, a energia, tal como a matéria, não se produz nem se consome, mas sim transforma-se.

O Homem não é excepção e hoje em dia, mais do que nunca, consome (transforma) em quase todas as suas actividades enormes quantidades de energia. Desde a revolução industrial e do grande aumento demográfico que a acompanhou, que as carências energéticas da humanidade têm vindo a aumentar drasticamente. No entanto, o empenho do Homem em transformar formas de energia natural, como o vento ou o movimento das águas de um rio, em trabalho, remonta naturalmente muito mais atrás.

Actualmente, as necessidades energéticas da humanidade são fundamentalmente satisfeitas a partir dos chamados combustíveis fósseis, como o Carvão, o Petróleo, ou o Gás Natural. Em regra, esses recursos são transformados por via da combustão noutras formas de energia, como a eléctrica, ou a mecânica. O problema destes recursos é que não só da sua combustão resultam sub-produtos altamente tóxicos e poluentes, como as suas disponibilidades são altamente limitadas, estando previsto para breve o seu esgotamento.

Não é preciso ser muito criativo para conceber formas de energia que não sofram destes problemas. Basta olharmos para o exemplo dos nossos antepassados que tão bem souberam aproveitar a energia eólica (do vento), ou da água para fazer mover as mós dos moinhos que transformavam o grão dos diferentes cereais em farinha. Com a tecnologia e os conhecimentos de que dispomos actualmente, podemos não só aproveitar estes recursos com muito maior eficiência, como podemos ainda aproveitar muitos outros, como a energia solar ou das ondas do mar.

Com efeito as fontes de energia são muito numerosas, podendo ir, desde tudo o que se move, como a água dos rios e do mar ou o vento, passando por todos os combustíveis, fósseis ou vegetais, pela energia gasotérmica (elevadas temperaturas no subsolo), até à energia solar e à energia nuclear. Lamentavelmente, em termos práticos, todas estas hipóteses se revestem de aspectos positivos e negativos.

Os combustíveis vegetais, como a lenha das árvores foram durante séculos uma das fontes de energia mais utilizadas, e ainda hoje em alguns países do dito terceiro mundo continuam a ser. Infelizmente, o aumento no consumo de energia conduziu inevitavelmente ao derrube de florestas e ao alargamento de desertos.

As chamadas energias renováveis ou alternativas, como a eólica, a hidroeléctrica, a das ondas ou a solar, dependem em grande parte de factores atmosféricos, e o seu aproveitamento só se adequa a zonas muito particulares do globo.

A sua eficiência depende das condições naturais, que por sua vez não coincidem frequentemente com as exigências energéticas. Um bom exemplo disso mesmo é o caso da energia solar. Durante o Inverno, quando necessitamos de mais energia para nos aquecermos ou para iluminarmos a casa durante mais horas, é que nos falta o Sol para produzir a dita energia. A resposta para esse problema pode parecer óbvia: produza-se e armazene-se. Mas esse é justamente um problema talvez ainda mais difícil de resolver do que a própria produção. Essa, tem sido de resto a grande valia dos combustíveis fosseis. Eles estão no subsolo "à espera" de ser retirados ao ritmo que mais convier.

Embora não poluentes, as energias alternativas não estão isentas de impactos negativos na natureza. É obvio que um complexo hidroeléctrico de grande dimensão ou um parque eólico comprometem seriamente o ambiente das zonas onde estão implantados, tanto mais que para igualar a produção de uma central eléctrica média são necessários aproximadamente 1000 geradores eólicos ou 5Km2 de painéis solares. Por outro lado, algumas formas de captação de energia podem não só não ser economicamente viáveis, como mesmo energeticamente o balanço pode ser negativo. Vejamos um exemplo: em teoria é possível aproveitar a energia das correntes oceânicas, mas na prática, a energia necessária para construir, colocar e manter uma turbina para o efeito, poderia exceder aquela que dali adviria.

Por seu turno, a energia nuclear parece ser aquela cujo saldo matéria prima versus energia obtida parece ser o mais favorável. Com apenas um quilo de urânio 235 pode-se obter a energia correspondente a três mil toneladas de carvão. De resto, os excedentes de uma central nuclear ainda que perigosos parecem justificados face a uma tal eficácia na produção de energia. O problema reside então no risco de um acidente que fure os mais apertados sistemas de segurança e que pode implicar uma catástrofe de proporções inigualáveis por qualquer outro processo de obtenção de energia (veja-se o caso de Chernobil). Face a este cenário, numerosos investigadores têm procurado processos de aproveitar a energia atómica sem os riscos da tecnologia de que actualmente dispomos.

Neste contexto, parece que no futuro a solução para o problema da energia, terá que passar não só pela exploração de um método perfeito, mas sim da procura de um equilíbrio entre os diferentes métodos aplicados a diferentes realidades. Ainda mais importante que procurar novas formas de obter energia, de a aproveitar ou armazenar, é sem dúvida conseguir reduzir os seus gastos. É importante que nos lembremos que sempre que saímos de casa, um autocarro é, energeticamente, seis vezes mais eficiente que o automóvel e que o comboio é três vezes mais eficiente que o autocarro, e que obviamente andar a pé ou de bicicleta é muitas vezes mais eficiente que o comboio.

Fonte: http://naturlink.sapo.pt

2011 Set to Be 10th Warmest Year on Record
Global Warming is Real: Climate - Energy - Sustainability (via Global Warming is Real)

New crop varieties can cut poverty, study finds!!!

The thorny question of whether improved crop varieties do, in fact, lift peasant farmers out of poverty has been answered positively in a study of groundnut varieties, according to researchers at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), in Kenya.


Evidence that new technologies improve small farmers' wellbeing is scarce because the impact of adopting technologies depends on many factors such as the existence of infrastructure, policies and institutions that are often not fully functional in developing countries. For example, technology that increases productivity may not reduce poverty if the farmers do not have access to markets to sell their extra crop.

In addition, some studies have claimed that building capacity is more important than technology for improving livelihoods.

Researchers from CIMMYT selected more than 900 households at random from seven major groundnut growing districts in Uganda and, in 2006, surveyed socioeconomic data and information related to the adoption of improved groundnut varieties. Groundnut is an important crop in Uganda.

Farmers who adopted any of four improved varieties resistant to major pests and diseases — developed by national and international organisations, and released in Uganda between 1999 and 2002 — were compared with non-adopters. The results of the study were published in the October 2011 issue of World Development.

"We found that the adoption of [improved] groundnut varieties significantly increased the net value of income by US$130–254 per hectare," said Menale Kassie, one of the authors of the study. "Adoption of groundnut varieties also significantly reduced poverty as measured by headcount index [the proportion of people below the poverty line] by 7–9 per cent."

In a related study, which has been submitted for publication, Kassie and colleagues found that adopting improved maize varieties also significantly improves rural households' food security and decreases the extent of poverty.

Richard Edema, a plant pathologist and senior lecturer in the school of agricultural sciences at Makerere University, Uganda, said: "Studies [such as this one] can serve as feedback for agricultural scientists to assess whether new [crop] varieties are making real impacts on farmers' lives".

Okello David Kalule, head of the Uganda National Groundnut Improvement Programme, said that, although the new groundnut varieties produce superior yields, some farmers are still growing low-yielding varieties. The reasons for this, he said, include poor agricultural extension services and a lack of access to information about the new varieties.

"Local institutions should be strengthened to collectively improve access to seeds, credit, and information to increase both the spread and intensity of adoption," he said.

Source: www.scidev.net

Poderão o sol e o vento ser a maior fonte de energia do mundo?

A pesquisa e o desenvolvimento contínuo de uma energia alternativa poderão levar em breve a uma nova era na história do Homem, em que duas fontes renováveis que são o sol e o vento poderão tornar-se os maiores fornecedores de energia na terra. Estas foram as palavras de um laureado com um Nobel durante o Simpósio Especial do 240º Encontro Nacional da Sociedade Americana de Química.


Walter Kohn, doutorado (Universidade de Califórnia, Santa Barbara), que em 1998 partilhou o Prémio Nobel de Química, fez notar que a produção total de petróleo e gás natural, que hoje corresponde a cerca de 60% do consumo global de energia, deverá alcançar o seu pico daqui a 10 a 30 anos, seguido de uma queda vertiginosa.

"Estas tendências geraram dois desafios globais sem precedentes ", afirmou. "Um destes é a ameaça de uma falha global de energia aceitável. O outro é o perigo de aquecimento global, inaceitável e iminente, assim como as suas consequências."

Kohn referiu que tais desafios necessitam de uma variedade de respostas. "A mais óbvia será continuar o progresso científico e técnico para o fornecimento de energias alternativas em quantidade e a preços baixos, que sejam seguras, limpas e sem carbono”.

Constatou ainda que os desafios são de natureza global e como tal, o trabalho técnico e científico deverá beneficiar da máxima cooperação a nível internacional, o que felizmente está a começar a acontecer.

Na última década, a produção global de energia fotovoltaica aumentou por um factor de cerca de 90 e a energia eólica por um factor de cerca de 10. Estima que estas duas energias, na verdade infindáveis, terão um aumento robusto na próxima década e no futuro, levando a uma nova era, a era SOL/VENTO na história do Homem, em que a energia solar e eólica se tornarão nas fontes de energia principais no nosso planeta.

Kohn referiu que um outro assunto de importância, cuja incumbência cairá principalmente nos países desenvolvidos, cujas populações estão mais ou menos niveladas, é a redução do consumo de energia per capita.

"Um exemplo flagrante é o consumo per capita de gasolina nos EUA, que é cerca de 5 vezes mais elevado do que a média global” afirmou. "É compreensível que os países menos desenvolvidos queiram aumentar o nível de vida até níveis semelhantes aos dos países desenvolvidos, mas em troca devem estabilizar as suas populações em crescimento."

Kohn fez notar que estava impressionado com os alunos no seu campus que tinham utilizados os seus fundos colectivos para alimentar um edifício desportivo totalmente a energia solar. Comentou que "quando toca em mostrar dinamismo dos jovens na área da conservação de energia e eficiência energética e aquecimento global, eles são fantásticos. Este é um grande compromisso social para os tempos em que vivemos."

Fonte: www.eneop.pt

Satellite Studies Reveal Groundwater Depletion around the World

Access to freshwater resources has always been a critical need for human and all forms of life on Earth. With a world population estimated at just shy of 7 billion and growing, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization says agricultural production will need to increase 70% by 2050. As agriculture takes up most of human water use, that’s going to put vastly greater demands and strains on our water resources at a time when climate change is changing temperature and precipitation levels and patterns in ways that cannot be predicted at local levels but are likely to make this even more difficult to achieve.

One thing that has been determined is that groundwater levels have dropped in many places around the world in the past nine years, including across key agricultural areas, such as southern Argentina, western Australia and the western US, according to a pair of studies of satellite gravity monitoring data conducted by researchers at the University of California Center for Hydrologic Modeling in Irvine, Science News reports.

The GRACE Project

Groundwater depletion is especially pronounced beneath parts of California, India, the Middle East and China. Besides showing that water is being pumped out of underground groundwater aquifers faster than it’s being replenished, the results raise concerns that farming in particular is the primary cause, according to the Science News report.

“Groundwater is being depleted at a rapid clip in virtually of all of the major aquifers in the world’s arid and semiarid regions,” cautioned UC Center hydrologist Jay Famiglietti, whose team presented the results at a Dec. 6 meeting of the American Geophysical Union.

The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE), conducted jointly by NASA and the German Aerospace Center, has been taking monthly snapshots of global groundwater used in the two studies since 2002. GRACE data is especially useful in accumulating data across countries where governments do not maintain extensive networks of groundwater monitoring wells. While the US maintains an extensive nationwide network of such wells, countries, such as China, do not.

Nicknamed Tom and Jerry, GRACE’s two satellites are pulled apart and pushed together by variations in the gravitational pull of the areas of the earth they pass over. While mountains and other large concentrations of mass have large, steady impacts on earth’s gravitational pull on the areas where they’re found, water moves over time and creates small fluctuations that the two satellites sense.

Isolating groundwater changes

To isolate the effects of groundwater in particular, researchers have to subtract the effects of snow pack, rivers, lakes and soil moisture, the Science Times article explains. Doing so, they can detect changes in groundwater levels greater than one centimeter (~0.4 inches) over an area about the size of Illinois.

Results of analyzing the data obtained in the two UC Center studies shows that China’s been underestimating groundwater use. GRACE’s measurements indicate that water levels have been dropping 6 or 7 centimeters per year beneath the country’s northeast plains.

Short-term variability in climate is also taking its toll on groundwater levels. having suffered recent droughts, aquifers in Patagonia and the southeastern US now store less groundwater than they did in 2002.

Farming is almost certainly the largest contributing factor, however. Booming agriculture in northern India, takes some 18 cubic kilometers of water out of the ground every year, more than enough to fill 7 million Olympic-size swimming pools, according to Science News.

Farmers in California’s Central Valley, which accounts for nearly 1/6 of irrigated land in the entire country, pump nearly 4 cubic kilometers of water per year out from underground. The valley has been sinking for decades as more wells have been drilled and water pumped out, land subsidence that’s also been occurring and causing increasing concerns, and costly remediation efforts, in Mexico City.

Aquifers in arid and desert areas with fast-growing populations, such as the Middle East, are also being depleted. The “fossil water” that fell millions of years ago and is now stored in the Arabian aquifer beneath Saudi Arabia and neighboring countries is being pumped out faster than it’s being replenished.

Just how much water is there?

Climate change only makes the problem more acute, according to UC Center’s Famiglietti. Precipitation patterns are becoming more extreme, with the severity of droughts increasing. Wet areas are becoming wetters and dry areas drier, Science News reports, and that may accelerate groundwater depletion in some areas.

A big question remains unanswered, however, as hydrologists don’t really know just how large these aquifers are and just how much water is left in them. That’s because GRACE can only show changes in aquifer levels, not their total volume.

Yet while they lack reliable estimates for the total amount of groundwater stored in the world’s aquifers, it’s become clear to hydrologists studying them that water use has become unsustainable in many areas. Better irrigation systems would help reduce water usage, as could channeling water runoff into aquifers during wet periods

Access to freshwater resources has always been a critical need for human and all forms of life on Earth. With a world population estimated at just shy of 7 billion and growing, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization says agricultural production will need to increase 70% by 2050. As agriculture takes up most of human water use, that’s going to put vastly greater demands and strains on our water resources at a time when climate change is changing temperature and precipitation levels and patterns in ways that cannot be predicted at local levels but are likely to make this even more difficult to achieve.

One thing that has been determined is that groundwater levels have dropped in many places around the world in the past nine years, including across key agricultural areas, such as southern Argentina, western Australia and the western US, according to a pair of studies of satellite gravity monitoring data conducted by researchers at the University of California Center for Hydrologic Modeling in Irvine, Science News reports.

The GRACE Project

Groundwater depletion is especially pronounced beneath parts of California, India, the Middle East and China. Besides showing that water is being pumped out of underground groundwater aquifers faster than it’s being replenished, the results raise concerns that farming in particular is the primary cause, according to the Science News report.

“Groundwater is being depleted at a rapid clip in virtually of all of the major aquifers in the world’s arid and semiarid regions,” cautioned UC Center hydrologist Jay Famiglietti, whose team presented the results at a Dec. 6 meeting of the American Geophysical Union.

The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE), conducted jointly by NASA and the German Aerospace Center, has been taking monthly snapshots of global groundwater used in the two studies since 2002. GRACE data is especially useful in accumulating data across countries where governments do not maintain extensive networks of groundwater monitoring wells. While the US maintains an extensive nationwide network of such wells, countries, such as China, do not.

Nicknamed Tom and Jerry, GRACE’s two satellites are pulled apart and pushed together by variations in the gravitational pull of the areas of the earth they pass over. While mountains and other large concentrations of mass have large, steady impacts on earth’s gravitational pull on the areas where they’re found, water moves over time and creates small fluctuations that the two satellites sense.

Isolating groundwater changes

To isolate the effects of groundwater in particular, researchers have to subtract the effects of snow pack, rivers, lakes and soil moisture, the Science Times article explains. Doing so, they can detect changes in groundwater levels greater than one centimeter (~0.4 inches) over an area about the size of Illinois.

Results of analyzing the data obtained in the two UC Center studies shows that China’s been underestimating groundwater use. GRACE’s measurements indicate that water levels have been dropping 6 or 7 centimeters per year beneath the country’s northeast plains.

Short-term variability in climate is also taking its toll on groundwater levels. having suffered recent droughts, aquifers in Patagonia and the southeastern US now store less groundwater than they did in 2002.

Farming is almost certainly the largest contributing factor, however. Booming agriculture in northern India, takes some 18 cubic kilometers of water out of the ground every year, more than enough to fill 7 million Olympic-size swimming pools, according to Science News.

Farmers in California’s Central Valley, which accounts for nearly 1/6 of irrigated land in the entire country, pump nearly 4 cubic kilometers of water per year out from underground. The valley has been sinking for decades as more wells have been drilled and water pumped out, land subsidence that’s also been occurring and causing increasing concerns, and costly remediation efforts, in Mexico City.

Aquifers in arid and desert areas with fast-growing populations, such as the Middle East, are also being depleted. The “fossil water” that fell millions of years ago and is now stored in the Arabian aquifer beneath Saudi Arabia and neighboring countries is being pumped out faster than it’s being replenished.

Just how much water is there?

Climate change only makes the problem more acute, according to UC Center’s Famiglietti. Precipitation patterns are becoming more extreme, with the severity of droughts increasing. Wet areas are becoming wetters and dry areas drier, Science News reports, and that may accelerate groundwater depletion in some areas.

A big question remains unanswered, however, as hydrologists don’t really know just how large these aquifers are and just how much water is left in them. That’s because GRACE can only show changes in aquifer levels, not their total volume.

Yet while they lack reliable estimates for the total amount of groundwater stored in the world’s aquifers, it’s become clear to hydrologists studying them that water use has become unsustainable in many areas. Better irrigation systems would help reduce water usage, as could channeling water runoff into aquifers during wet periods

Source: www.enn.com