Day: May 8, 2023

‘Carbon-capture’ pipeline plans across central Illinois worry land owners

Read the full story from the Chicago Sun-Times.

According to environmental groups, Illinois is at the precipice of a rush of corporations coming in to the state to lay thousands of miles of pipelines without the proper protections in place for neighboring residents. 

The goal of the pipeline is to capture carbon dioxide in a liquified state from factories or power plants before it can be released into the atmosphere, then transport it in the pressurized pipeline and store it deep underground — a process billed as a way to clean up dirty industries and reduce carbon emissions. 

Carbon capture and storage has been around since the 1920s, though it didn’t become commercialized until the 1970s. And it hasn’t been until the past two decades that it began being seen as a way to address the climate crisis. 

But environmental groups including the Sierra Club Illinois are skeptical it can deliver on its promises. 

Bringing climate risk home, one property at a time

Read the full story at The Hill.

As part of a broader attempt to visualize future climate risk, insurance companies, federal mortgage managers and consumer financial authorities are partnering with First Street Foundation to bolster the U.S. economy against the rising risk of extreme weather.

Climate exposure represents a serious threat to the U.S. housing market, which may be overvalued by more than $200 billion dollars, according to First Street data published in Nature.

On Wednesday, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation — better known as Freddie Mac — was the latest to announce that it would join dozens of other federal and private companies in using First Street data to evaluate climate risk to the properties it helps finance.

Why this startup wants to help build a seaweed industry in Alaska

Read the full story at Fast Company.

Macro Oceans turns seaweed into a replacement for petrochemicals used in everything from cosmetics to packaging.

Mastercard to require banks to use recycled materials for cards

Read the full story at Bloomberg.

Mastercard Inc. wants the plastic in consumers’ wallets to do less damage to the environment.

Starting in 2028, the company will require all banks issuing one of its payment cards to use sustainable materials as it seeks to remove first–use, PVC plastics from its network, according to a statement Wednesday. Acceptable alternatives include recycled or bio-sourced plastics.

‘Bees are sentient’: inside the stunning brains of nature’s hardest workers

Read the full story in The Guardian.

‘Fringe’ research suggests the insects that are essential to agriculture have emotions, dreams and even PTSD, raising complex ethical questions

Payment for the past: Recognizing indigenous seed stewardship

Read the full story at Modern Farmer.

Indigenous royalties acknowledge the past, but they are complicated to implement.

United Airlines invests $5 million in algae-based fuel producer

Read the full story at Simple Flying.

United Airlines has revealed its plans to develop sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) from algae. By investing $5 million in algae biofuel producer Viridos, the carrier aims to unlock algae’s exciting potential when it comes to SAF production.

The technology used by Viridos accelerates the amount of oil that can be produced from microalgae. This oil can then in turn be used to develop sustainable aviation fuel, which according to current estimates, is expected to have a 70% lesser carbon footprint compared to traditional aviation fuel. Uniquely, algae can be grown and harvested at scale without impacting on the food chain.

Streamlining Planning and Permitting to Accelerate Wind and Solar Deployment

Download the report.

This Insights Briefing focuses on one of the most pressing execution challenges to the rapid scale-up of clean electrification – slow planning, permitting, and land acquisition. While this set of challenges affects multiple clean energy technologies, the focus in this report will be on utility-scale solar photovoltaics (PV) (e.g., ~1 MW or above in size) and onshore and offshore wind, as the critical “backbone” zero-carbon generation technologies. After providing context on renewables deployment trends and current challenges, this Insights Briefing will develop an in-depth assessment of major planning and permitting barriers across project stages. It will then provide an overview of solutions, analysing the potential to shorten wind and solar development timelines at different stages whilst maintaining strong environmental and social safeguards.

Webinar: Campus Sustainability: A Whole Systems Approach

May 23, 2023, 10 am CDT
Register here.

Ball State University has embedded sustainability deeply in the academic and organizational structure which has created opportunities, ranging from process improvement to inventive education outreach and research.

This webinar will explore that history by providing insight on delivering value, overcoming complications, and leveraging resources, national guidelines, and the expanding scoring/rating systems used in public sustainability reporting.

Implications of Green Technology for Climate Change Mitigation Minimizing Waste and Pollution

Arnima Tamta; Sudhanshu Kumar Jha (2023). “Implications of Green Technology for Climate Change Mitigation Minimizing Waste and Pollution.” International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology 8(3). https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7789118

Abstract: Climate change is the long-term alteration of temperature and weather patterns. Natural factors like variations in the solar cycle as well as human activity, particularly the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas, may be to blame for these shifts. The main greenhouse gases that cause climate change are carbon dioxide, CFCs, and methane. Energy, industry, transportation, buildings, agriculture, and land use are the main emitters. The globe has warmed by about 1.1°C since the late 1800s, according to the discovery. The warmest decade on record occurred between 2011 and 2020. Currently, some of the repercussions of climate change include severe droughts, water shortages, deadly fires, increasing sea levels, flooding, melting polar ice, catastrophic storms, and a reduction in biodiversity. More than half of the world’s population lives in shelters, which account for three quarters of the world’s energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. This is the foundation of global climate change mitigation and strategic low-carbon development (GHG). Solar energy, organic compost, nanotechnology, vertical farming, and other modern examples of green technical methods are utilised. The efficient application of green technology is crucial for managing trash and pollutants in an eco-friendly and sustainable way, which will reduce GHG emissions and the effects of climate change. This review article argues that it is imperative to investigate novel and alternative approaches for making use of these potentially valuable resources and to modify people’s behaviour in this direction.