Why Earth Day 2020 Is More Important Than Ever?

21.04.2020

waterfall_vodopad_nature_priroda — Photo-illustration: Pixabay

22 April is Earth Day. While the coronavirus (COVID-19) has been spreading around the world and dominating news headlines, thoughts and attention, the need to take climate action has remained as urgent as ever.

By the end of 2020, global CO₂ emissions need to have dropped by 7.6% and continue to fall by 7.6% each year for us to have keep global heating under 1.5^oC, according to the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Emission Gap Report 2019.

Earth day 2020 is not just the 50^th anniversary of Earth Day, but also the anniversary of the signing of the Paris Agreement to take climate action.

The pandemic is a stark reminder of the vulnerability of humans and the planet in the face of global scale threats. Unchecked damage to our environment must be addressed. In his response to the socio-economic impacts of COVID-19, United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres noted that, “Had we been further advanced in meeting the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, we could better face this challenge.”

Background on Earth Day

The first Earth Day took place in 1970. Outraged by oil spills, smog and polluted rivers, 20 million people took to the streets, protesting what they recognized as an environmental crisis. It was the planet’s largest civic event at the time and compelled governments to take concrete actions, including passing environmental laws and establishing environmental agencies. In addition to these practical outcomes, the event demonstrated just how much can be achieved when people come together and demand action.

The day continues to hold great significance. In 2009, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution formally recognizing the day as International Mother Earth Day. On Earth Day 2016, the United Nations formally adopted the Paris Agreement, articulating the commitment of nations to limit global temperature rise to less than 2 degrees Celcius over pre-industrial levels; and to strengthen the ability of countries to mitigate the negative impacts of climate change.

Earth Day in 2020

Marking its half-century anniversary, and selecting climate action as its theme, Earth Day 2020 was already poised to be a historic event. An occasion planned to bring people physically together across a series of events, COVID-19 has now prompted a dramatic shift to completely digital and virtual platforms. Earth Day 2020 calls for 24 hours of actions, big and small, for people and the planet. On this 50th anniversary, civil society organizers hope to fill the world’s digital landscape with global conversations, positive acts, performances, webinars and events supporting urgent action on climate change.

As the world rushes to plan for a post-pandemic recovery, UNEP and other parts of the United Nations system see this as opportunity to call attention to the need to “build back better.” The risks faced by ignoring the threats of environmental destruction must be understood and addressed with protections and policies. April 22 is a timely reminder to embrace the opportunities of the natural world for green jobs, sustainable economic stimulus, for urgently taking action to protect ourselves against unsurvivable global heating and for securing healthy, dignified futures.

What can you do?

On April 22, join earthday.org livestreamed discussions, events and actions you can take from wherever you are. Explore the many virtual Earth Day events via this directory to online events across global time zones. There are new tools for volunteering and advocacy and opportunities to participate as citizen scientists–using the Earth Challenge 2020 app to measure data such as air quality and plastic pollution, right where you are. There are challenges for daily action; graphics for sharing on social media; tips for making your own Earth Day window sign; and a place to tell others about your own personal “act of green.”

Front-line community leaders will observe the occasion with a webinar on 21 April, including Earth Day blessings from leaders around the world; a message from youth climate activists; and conversations with religious and indigenous leaders.

Just like on the first Earth Day, 50 years ago, it is time to demonstrate solidarity, take action and send a clear message to world leaders to act on climate change, halt biodiversity and habitat loss, and make certain environmental protection is a fundamental foundation of building back better.

Looking ahead to the next 50 years, and in the lead up to World Environment Day on 5 June, UNEP will be sharing information on actions that can be taken to protect biodiversity, to contribute reforestation efforts of degraded landscapes and to commit to the overall sustainable management of natural resources.

Nature is in crisis, threatened by biodiversity and habitat loss, global heating and toxic pollution. Failure to act is failing humanity. Addressing the current coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and protecting ourselves against future global threats requires sound management of hazardous medical and chemical waste; strong and global stewardship of nature and biodiversity; and a clear commitment to “building back better”, creating green jobs and facilitating the transition to carbon neutral economies. Humanity depends on action now for a resilient and sustainable future.

Source: UNEP

Europe’s Environmental Footprints Exceed Several Safe Limits

20.04.2020

field_njiva_agriculture_poljoprivreda — Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Global sustainability challenges increasingly raise concerns about the stability of the Earth system that supports all life on our planet. A joint study by the European Environment Agency (EEA) and the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), published recently, focuses on four critical elements of that system, such as the nitrogen cycle and changes in land use. The study explores different ways of defining Europe’s share of the global safe operating space and shows that Europe is not yet living within those limits.

A new joint EEA-FOEN report ‘Is Europe living within the limits of our planet?’ explores two key questions related to Europe’s long-term sustainability ambitions. The first question is how to define a ‘safe operating space’ for Europe where all humanity can continue to develop and thrive. The second question is whether Europe’s consumption, or environmental footprint, is currently smaller or larger than its estimated ‘safe operating space’.

The report acknowledges that there are different ways to allocate Europe’s operating space in the global context, which inevitably involve normative choices about fairness, equity, international burden sharing, sovereignty and the right for development. Based on these different allocation principles, the study arrives to a minimum European share of 2.7 %, a maximum share of 21 %, and a median share of 7.3 % of the global limits.

Using a consumption-based analysis for four of the Earths life support systems, the report shows that Europe currently exceeds its safe operating space for nitrogen cycle by a factor of 3.3; phosphorous cycle by a factor of 2.0, and land system change by a factor of 1.8. Conversely, Europe does live within its limits when it comes to freshwater use, although problems with overconsumption and water scarcity remain locally and regionally.

The report also includes a case study of Switzerland’s biodiversity footprint. Considering the potential for global species loss because of land use, and by using and an equal share of land use per capita, the Swiss biodiversity footprint exceeds the threshold value by a factor of 3.7.

Source: EEA

Initiative in Indjija

19.04.2020

93149844_220503649053510_9111686063771877376_n — Photo: Indjijativa

Life in a local community can be much better if it fosters a collective spirit and turns criticism into action, as eight students from Indjija demonstrated by founding the Association Indjijativa. For a year and a half, they roused dormant citizens and municipal authorities and solved more than 100 problems in their city. The spirit of their activism is now slowly spreading across Serbia

We would all like to have a healthier and better-arranged environment, yet again there are very few situations in which we are ready to do something about it jointly. When they realised that want to change many things that bother them in their city and that criticism and complaints will not improve anything, eight students from Indjija spontaneously came up with the idea to do something and move from words to deeds. That is how the Indjijativa, an association of volunteers and activists, was created with the aim of working together with citizens and authorities on identifying and solving various problems in their local community.

With their activity, the members of Indjijativa have awakened their fellow citizens and authorities of municipal government, although reactions to their work have been divided from the very beginning. “There were both positive and negative reactions. Citizens initially obser-ved us with a great deal of suspicion, seeking to fathom the motives of our work which they thought were hidden and driven by personal interest. On the other hand, the municipal authorities had a very positive attitude towards us since they liked the zest and enthusiasm we radiated. Things changed, over time. Citizens have come to love us, due to the work and act that stood behind us, and we were not afraid to praise the municipal government when there were reasons for it, but also to criticise when criticism was more than necessary. With such an attitude, however, the doors of the municipality were left ajar to us,” says Mladen Rajic, one of the activists of the association, which now has seven experts of different professions, united in their desire to encourage positive changes in the society.

In focus:

The fellow-citizens regularly contact them via email or social networks with the request of solving a problem, and the members of Indjijativa ask them to describe the issue in detail and to send them a picture or a video. Very often, they conduct site visits and talk to citizens about the problems that bother them. Then they contact the relevant services through the System 48 – a platform implemented in the municipality to report utility problems. If there is a different type of problem, they address the institutions in written or oral form, using all the means and tools secured by legal regulations and according to the rules of democratic society operation – they write petitions, requests for the information of public importance, petitions, etc. “What is perhaps our mark is that we give a media character to everything which brings the problems closer to the whole community. That creates public focus and achieves a certain amount of pressure that encourages decision-makers to come up with a solution,” Mladen points out.

Much of their credibility has been built through the portal indjijativa.rs and social networks, which helped them to become more visible not only locally but also across the country. Thus, the residents of Indjija, as well as the who-le of Serbia, can see that this association has been able to initiate and help to solve more than 1000 problems in the-ir municipality over the past year. They are proud of each of those actions, but they set aside a charity picnic at the Koki Zoo, where they organised series of workshops and an auction of paintings, and the money they raised was given for the treatment of two little fellow citizens. Action-reaction attracted significant attention, when the members followed up illegal cut down of two linden trees in the centre of the city and asked the authorities to punish the perpetrator and plant new trees. The last action they are particularly proud of is launching a campaign #prO2disi that encourages fellow citizens to plant trees and reduce the use of plastic bags.

Based on the previous experience, the members of Indjijativa noticed that the citizens are most sensitive to problems for which it is clear that the money from the budget was poorly used or misspent. “Those problems directly affect the majority of the citizens, and they activate around them more,” says Mladen, adding that on the other hand, the municipal authorities are most firm on the issues that directly indicate the irresponsibility of the authorities. “Usually, these are the things that should have been resolved by a project or allocated funds from a budget, but they haven’t. Here we come upon a conflict that escalates with any criticism that is publicly addressed to those who we find guilty. Certainly, it is complicated to solve problems that require a strategic and long run of dealing with them, since the perspective of those responsible for dealing with the problem usually extends over a four-year period – which is a length of their term.”

There are also situations in which a problem cannot be solved persistently, but the members of Indjijativa do not surrender. One such an example is the problem of a curb located at the pedestrian crossing that is unsuitable for people with walking difficulties or moving in wheelchairs, as well as mothers who often pass there with strollers since it is at the beginning of the pedestrian zone in the city centre. “We have been waiting for the solution of the problem, precisely for the curb to be removed, for almost a year. We got promises from the competent authorities that the problem would be solved within a few days, another one when the construction season begins, etc. The reasons why this has not been resolved yet are now clear to us, and for the anniversary of not solving the problem, we are preparing a performance which will, as we hope, draw attention and resonate beyond Indjija and provoke a reaction. The point is not to give up on any problem,” Mladen points out.

One of the goals of the association is to make Indjija, as one of the least green municipalities in Vojvodina, European Green Capital. Since Vojvodina is generally poorly afforested region, and Indjija is one of the most developed municipalities, the members of Indjijativa believe that it should take the lead in reversing this trend. Indjijativa members did not only awake Indjija, but they have also motivated many local communities across the country.

At the end of the year, Indjijativa members are slowly finishing the existing actions, such as planting trees, and they are preparing for the new ones. Soon they will set “kind-hearted” racks, on which citizens can put away their unnecessary clothes so that the ones who need it can take it. At the same time, they are working on a project for revitalisation of children’s playgrounds and sports fields in the municipality with an emphasis on increasing the green areas. The project should start at the beginning of the next construction season if everything goes as planned.

When asked how much Indjija changed in the last year and a half, Mladen Rajic proudly points out that despite pollution, their activism is being spread in the air, and it provokes positive reactions among citizens. They are now motivated to step out of their comfort zone, speak out loud about their problems, and start looking for a way to solve them themselves. The members of this association are encouraged by the fact that they realise they are not alone and that they have the support and help.

Prepared by: Gordana Knezevic

This article was published in the new issue of the Energy portal Magazine GRINNOVATIONS, December 2019 – February 2020.

Waste Glass in a Whole New Ballgame

18.04.2020

kuća_staklo_saksije — Photo-illustration: Unsplash (Sierra Bell)

Recycling raw materials mostly have limited use, especially when it comes to glass. Although it is generally thought that new glass products, which are of the same structure (such as jars, bottles, cups, etc.) are obtained from waste glass packaging, it is widely known in the scientific community that the range of application is much wider. At the Faculty of Technical Sciences in Novi Sad, within the framework of the doctorate with a very clear title “Model of the use of waste glass packaging as secondary raw material in the production of clay blocks” whose author is Zorica Mirosavljevic PhD, is precisely about the new application. Motivated by years of work on waste management, which goes back to the time when she was just a kid, Zorica decided to turn her enthusiasm into science.

EP: In Europe, whose trends we are striving to adopt, glass is treated as a recycling raw material in a closed cycle – we get glass packaging products from recycled glass. Various financial instruments stimulate recycling. What is the case with such practice in Serbia?

Photo: Private archive of Zorica Mirosavljevic

Zorica Mirosavljevic: The amount of glass has increased significantly over the last 20 years. Changing lifestyles and habits came with new age and integration into the consumer society. Few people think about reusing packaging, as our grandmothers and mothers used to do when preparing winter stores. We buy, consume and discard, and therefore the amount of waste increases. And that’s why we think about recycling intensely.

In particular, 85 per cent of glass in municipal waste is made up of glass packaging, and when it comes to recycling, that is the exact glass packaging that we have in mind. Of all types of glass, glass packaging is the most important during the management of municipal waste, and only glass packaging can be recycled by re-melting to obtain new glass packaging. This circular recycling process is fantastic because it saves on raw materials and energy by as much as 80 per cent than producing new glass packaging using only natural raw materials. In practice, unfortunately, due to the inadequate level of separation of glass packaging from municipal waste, it is difficult to come up with some more representative quantities that can be handled. Most glass packaging is intermixed when it comes to different colours of glass (white, brown, green), so it is difficult to recycle and reuse it for the production of glass packaging. The reason is that the melting temperature of the glass varies depending on the colour of the glass. Sorting the glass by colour further complicates the process, and it is necessary to have a developed system for collecting glass packaging, so in developing countries, therefore, most of the glass packaging most often end up in the landfill. That is why, according to European-level statistics, Serbia is in a very low place in terms of how much it recycles glass packaging and how it complies with European directives.

In Serbia, on the other hand, the low recycling rate for glass packing is primarily due to the low purchase price of glass, the high cost of collecting and transporting waste glass packaging and the very high cost of sorting glass by colour, which is necessary in order to use it as a secondary raw material in the production of new glass packaging. From an environmental point of view, this represents the best possible management option for glass packaging. As glass generally has high chemical and thermal stability, its degradation at landfills is negligible, which in turn creates a major problem at landfills. Technology that would provide a higher level of separation costs a lot, and there is no financial incentive in the form of subsidies or the form of waste disposal fees. The increasing amount of that glass in landfills is a consequence of this policy.

EP: What is the model of the use of waste glass that you worked on as a part of your scientific work?

Zorica Mirosavljevic: When Profesor Dragana Strbac PhD, my PhD mentor, and I decided to start finding alternative uses of waste glass, we first collected a certain amount of packaging and ground it to characterize the material. At the same time, we concluded that in brickworks across Serbia, there is a problem with the quality of clay used as a raw material for making construction products. If the amount of moisture in the raw material used in the production of ceramic products is increased, a large amount of energy is consumed to make a product that satisfies the market.

The experiment was set up to find a solution to these two problems, and we soon came to interesting conclusions. A detailed analysis of the current situation revealed that by adding glass and homogenizing a mixture of clay, we obtain a product that is better, more durable and with less moisture than the primary product. Both clay and glass contain a large amount of quartz which can be used. Increasing quality is just one of the positive factors in this process of obtaining a construction product. Of course, energy savings have been generated during this process. It is achieved by lowering the drying and baking temperature of the final product, which is made up of a mixture that is saturated with waste glass recyclate to some extent.

In focus:

EP: The first analyses were carried out as part of the project “Using Waste Glass Packaging from the Landfill in Novi Sad as a Secondary Raw Material for Brick Production” which was approved at the provincial level, and later the continuation of the research is carried out as part of your doctoral dissertation. How far have you come now when everything has taken on a practical dimension?

Zorica Mirosavljevic: For everything to make sense, it was necessary to present the project as technologically and industrially possible. Therefore, it was required to comply with some of the following conditions. When making clay blocks, we wanted to simulate the conditions that take place while obtaining construction products in brickworks. Firstly, the temperature range of the process was defined. The glass does not melt below 800 °C, and the baking of ceramic products usually takes place above 1000 °C, depending on the quality of the input raw material – clay. After that, we began to determine the size of the glass beads that are most suitable for mixing. The optimum size was below 0.71 microns. The next item was to determine the percentage of mass fraction of glass powder in the clay mixture. According to scientific papers published abroad, we reach a range of 0 to 20 per cent, while within our study, the range was expanded to 30 per cent by weight of glass powder, to see what is the most suitable composition of the mixture by checking the properties of the obtained experimental samples that would meet market standards. The first results are in favour of increasing the strength and reducing the moisture of the resulting product. According to the final estimates, the material has been obtained whose service life has been extended by more than 25 per cent. The part we should be practically working on, perhaps in the next project, is to reduce energy consumption. The brickworks in which we did the experiments reduced their temperature production process to 880 °C, due to the quality of the clay, so we could not overly influence the energy aspect here. According to scientific papers from the United Kingdom, it is estimated that up to 20 per cent of energy savings can be achieved, depending on the mass fraction of glass. It is up to us to check this in practice when the conditions allow us.

Interview by: Mladen Rajic

Read the whole article in the new issue of Energy portal Magazine GRINNOVATIONS, December 2019 – February 2020.

96% of All Worldwide Destinations Have Introduced Travel Restrictions in Response to the Pandemic

16.04.2020

airport_aerodrom — Photo-illustration: Pixabay

The scale of disruption caused by COVID-19 to global tourism is shown in a comprehensive new report on travel restrictions from the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). The landmark report, published at a time of unprecedented disruption for the sector, shows that almost all global destinations have imposed restrictions on travel since January 2020, including complete bans on all travel as they work to contain the pandemic.

Over recent years, as the United Nations specialized agency for tourism, UNWTO has been regularly monitoring travel facilitation and observing a continuous trend towards more openness. COVID-19 has dramatically interrupted this. According to research carried out for the new report, as of 6 April, 96% of all worldwide destinations have introduced travel restrictions in response to the pandemic. Around 90 destinations have completely or partially closed their borders to tourists, while a further 44 are closed to certain tourists depending on country of origin.

Effect on lives and livelihoods

UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili said: “COVID-19 has impacted travel and tourism like no other event before in history. Governments have put public health first and introduced full or partial restrictions on travel. With tourism suspended, the benefits the sector brings are under threat: millions of jobs could be lost, and progress made in the fields of equality and sustainable economic growth could be rolled back. UNWTO therefore calls on governments to continuously review travel restrictions and ease or lift them as soon as it is safe to do so.”

The UNWTO global review shows that the global regions are largely consistent in their response to COVID-19. In Africa, Asia and the Pacific and the Middle East, 100% of destinations have adopted COVID-19-related restrictions since January 2020. In the Americas, 92% of destinations have taken similar steps, while in Europe, the proportion is 93% (as of 6 April).

Level of response evolving

More specifically, the analysis identifies four key types of restrictive measures, namely:

Complete or partial closure of borders to tourists;
Destination-specific travel restrictions (“Passengers who have transited or been in x are not allowed to enter x”);
The total or partial suspension of flights;
Different measures, including requirements for quarantine or self-isolation, medical certificates, invalidation or suspension of visa issuances etc.

Timely and responsible recovery

In many instances, destinations have already adjusted their restrictive measures as the situation has evolved. UNWTO will continue to regularly track and analyse the evolution of travel restrictions, in an effort to effectively support the responsible but also timely recovery of the tourism sector.

Source: UNWTO

London-Based E-Bike Passenger and Cargo Service Provider Added Home Delivery

16.04.2020

The home delivery market worldwide has been given a boost as many nations have implemented a range of movement restrictions ranging from issuing strong social distancing guidelines to stay-at-home orders to full lockdowns. It appears the social distancing practices will also give a much needed boost to firms using e-bikes in the last-mile/home delivery industry.

The coronavirus-induced global economic slowdown will most likely result in businesses adopting a more cautious approach when it comes to spending. They will be looking to cut operational costs significantly. One area where quick wins can be found is in the logistics and last-mile delivery space. This is where e-bikes come in and can slash opex costs for businesses. The social distancing and the need to ensure contactless interactions during this pandemic has resulted in a surge in demand for online shopping and delivery services as people avoid crowded places.

Recently, one start up in Namibia has pivoted to home deliveries as the coronavirus-induced slowdown has decimated the tourism business there. This April, London-based e-bike passenger and cargo service provider Pedal Me has added home delivery services. Some of the partners already using Pedal Me for home deliveries include Coleman Coffee, Dunns Bakery, Furanxo (wine and food shop), The Butchery Ltd, East London Liquor Company, and Feedr for Fresh food hampers plus pre-prepped meals.

Deloitte’s Discover the Future 2020 Predictions for UK Technology, Media and Telecommunications summarizes the appeal of e-bikes. The battery assistance makes pedaling a whole lot easier for longer. Average speeds on e-bikes can be up to 50% higher compared with standard bikes. The battery assistance also makes acceleration on take-off much easier after stops. Riders also get a power boost when going uphill, carrying heavy loads, facing headwinds, and in the case when a rider may encounter a combination of all of these at the same time. All of these coupled with realtime tracking via apps make e-bikes, and especially the cargo versions, perfect for the home deliver industry. 130 million e-bikes are expected to be sold between 2020 and 2023.

Pedal Me’s cargo e-bikes are from Netherlands-based Urban Arrow. Urban Arrow’s cargo bikes come in several options, with ranges of up to 80 km in eco mode and 40 km in turbo mode depending on the bike, the weight of the cargo, as well as the rider’s weight. The bikes use Bosch motors and have 500 Wh batteries. Dual battery options are also available. We certainly hope that the recent surge in demand for delivery services can be sustained once the stay-at-home orders are relaxed. This could lead to wider adoption of e-bikes in delivery services on certain routes, replacing diesel vans where possible.

Author: Remeredzai Joseph Kuhudzai

Source: Clean Technica

Ford Is Making Reusable Gowns From Airbag Materials

15.04.2020

Isolation-Gowns-3-2048x1152 — Foto: Ford, via Clean Technica

Automakers are putting their engineering and fabrication skills to use in the fight against COVID-19 as they can, it seems. Some, like Tesla, are re-purposing existing parts to help patients and medical providers. Others, like Lamborghini, are using their team of upholsterers to work making masks and protective face shields. Ford, which showed off an early sketch of a possible powered respirator early in the fight against COVID-19, has also joined the fight, producing face masks and face shields, of course, but it’s the company’s latest hack that may end up being the most significant. It is now making reusable gowns from airbag materials.

“This was a really great find,” Ford director Marcy Fisher says, as she explains how the lightweight fabric used in airbag construction — a material called Nylon 6,6 — is perfectly fluid-resistant. What’s more, this fabric that’s used in parachutes, carpets, and garden hoses is not only ideal for PPE — it’s also washable. “The gowns are washable and they retained their performance qualities, (even) after 50 times in the wash.”

Ford didn’t come to this realization alone, of course. In an interview with Quartz magazine, Ford explained that it has been working with local hospitals to “finesse” the sewing pattern for the isolation gowns and have conducted internal tests to make sure the reusable gowns are meeting the standards set by both the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM F3352-19) and the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (ANSI-AAMI PB70-2012).

It’s not just a sturdy smock, in other words. It’s a well-engineered piece of medical equipment that is critically needed to help keep healthcare workers safe as they fight the Coronavirus pandemic.

Ford, for its part, is proud of the work it’s doing these days. “We knew that to play our part helping combat Coronavirus, we had to go like Hell and join forces with experts like 3M to expand production of urgently needed medical equipment and supplies,” said Jim Baumbick, vice president, Ford Enterprise Product Line Management. “In just three weeks … we’ve unleashed our world-class manufacturing, purchasing and design talent to ‘get scrappy’ and start making personal protection equipment and help increase the availability and production of ventilators.”

Oh, and that sketch of a powered respirator that was set to be made from Ford HVAC controls and seat fans? The one we mentioned in the first paragraph? That one’s also in production. They have capacity to build about 100,000 of them with a staff of UAW volunteers, and they look absolutely awesome.

Author: Jo Borrás

Source: Clean Technica

All for One, CEEFOR for All

15.04.2020

energija_vetra — Poto-illustration: Pixabay

The company CEEFOR was founded in 2010 in Belgrade. At their disposal, customers have a diverse team of more than 20 professionals with many years of work experience – from mechanical, electrical and civil engineers, through technology engineers, architecture, traffic and fire protection, to economic and financial experts, translators and philologists.

By completing tasks in the field of energy technologies, CEEFOR reduced not only its customers costs but also emissions of harmful substances and gases, making the company one of the domestic economic elites pursuing social responsibility.

In addition to the two obvious fields of activity, sustainable development and energy efficiency, the company also offers consulting and design services in the field of renewable energy, in which its contribution to reducing the carbon footprint is particularly prominent.

By designing solar power plants, wind power plants, biogas power plants and hydropower plants, CEEFOR has “enriched” the energy mix of Serbia and the region with more than 100 pure megawatts and has positioned itself as a forerunner of the fossil fuel phase out in our market and an innovator.

Energy-efficient solutions, whose implementation was contributed by a group of CEEFOR employees, include two 2 MW solar power plants in Kladovo and a solar power plant on the roof of the IKEA department store in Belgrade.

The team of engineers also worked on the investmenttechnical documentation for a 9.9 MW solar power plant for the Electric Power Industry of Serbia as well as for a wind farm in Kostolac with a total installed capacity of 66 MW was also designed. Kostolac windmills are expected to supply about 30.000 Serbian households.

In focus:

The Petroleum Industry of Serbia also hired CEEFOR and one of the projects implemented for the period from 2013 to 2015 was the design, obtaining permits and technical inspection of cogeneration and gas power plant in the municipalities of Kanjiza, Srbobran and Veliko Gradiste. They provided a multinational corporation from France, Suez, focused on operations in water, electricity, natural gas and waste management sectors, with the preliminary design, the conceptual design, and the project for building permit for a landfill gas power plant in Vinca.

On top of that, the company is an authorized consultant for the Green for Growth Fund and ProCredit Bank, the first domestic user to be guaranteed the “renewable” origin of the consumed electricity by the Electric Power Industry of Serbia. Part of the energy needs will be potentially met from biogas plants with cogenerations from Stara Pazova (600 kW), Sombor (999 kW) and Cestereg (600 kW), whose designing also involved CEEFOR employees.

Whether you hire a company as a reliable consultant for energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy sources, or as a direct partner in the design of studies, projects and project documentation, you can count on the dedicated work of CEEFOR employees to find a practical and long-lasting solution adjusted to your requirements and capabilities.

When you put your trust in the expert hands of specialists, there is no need to worry that it could be abused, only that your expectations will be exceeded. The list of CEEFOR’s current clients is long, and, in the future, you can enrol in it.

Prepared by: Jelena Kozbasic

This article was published in the new issue of the Energy portal Magazine GRINNOVATIONS, December 2019 – February 2020.

The Biggest Fall in Carbon Emissions Since WW2 Could Be Short-Lived

14.04.2020

carbon_emissions_emisije_ugljenika — Foto-Ilustracija: Pixabay

Experts warn that without structural change, emissions declines caused by coronavirus could be short-lived as economies get back to normal.

* Emissions have to peak in 2020 to hit climate goals

* Experts differ on likely impact of the coronavirus

* Only lasting downward trend will curb climate change

Carbon dioxide emissions could fall by the largest amount since World War Two this year as the coronavirus outbreak brings economies to a virtual standstill, according to the chair of a network of scientists providing benchmark emissions data.

Rob Jackson, who chairs the Global Carbon Project, which produces widely-watched annual emissions estimates, said carbon output could fall by more than 5% year-on-year — the first dip since a 1.4% reduction after the 2008 financial crisis.

“I wouldn’t be shocked to see a 5% or more drop in carbon dioxide emissions this year, something not seen since the end of World War Two,” Jackson, a professor of Earth system science at Stanford University in California, told Reuters in an email.

“Neither the fall of the Soviet Union nor the various oil or savings and loan crises of the past 50 years are likely to have affected emissions the way this crisis is,” he said.

The prediction – among a range of new forecasts being produced by climate researchers – represents a tiny sliver of good news in the midst of crisis: Climate scientists had warned world governments that global emissions must start dropping by 2020 to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.

But the improvements are for all the wrong reasons, tied to a world-shaking global health emergency that has infected more than 950,000 people – while shuttering factories, grounding airlines and forcing hundreds of millions of people to stay at home to slow the contagion.

Experts warn that without structural change, the emissions declines caused by coronavirus could be short-lived and have little impact on the concentrations of carbon dioxide that have accumulated in the atmosphere over decades.

“This drop is not due to structural changes so as soon as confinement ends, I expect the emissions will go back close to where they were,” said Corinne Le Quéré, a climate scientist at the University of East Anglia in eastern England.

After world greenhouse gas emissions dipped in the aftermath of the 2007-2008 global financial crisis, they shot back up a whopping 5.1% in the recovery, according to Jackson.

The pattern of a swift rebound has already begun to play out in China, where emissions fell by an estimated 25% as the country closed factories and put in place strict measures on people’s movement to contain the coronavirus earlier this year, but have since returned to a normal range.

That kind of resilience underscores the magnitude of the economic transformation that would be needed to meet the goals of an international deal brokered in Paris in 2015 to try to avert the most catastrophic climate change scenarios.

A U.N. report published in November found that emissions would have to start falling by an average of 7.6% per year to give the world a viable chance of limiting the rise in average global temperatures to 1.5C, the most ambitious Paris goal.

“I don’t see any way that this is good news except for proving that humans drive greenhouse gas emissions,” said Kristopher Karnauskas, associate professor at the Department of Atmospheric & Oceanic Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Vanishingly thin

With the world dependent for fossil fuels for 80% of its energy, emissions forecasts are often based on projections for global economic growth.

Last month, Glen Peters, research director of the Center for International Climate Research in Oslo, predicted carbon emissions would fall between 0.3% and 1.2% this year, using higher and lower forecasts for global GDP growth from the OECD.

A few days later, the Breakthrough Institute, a research centre in California, predicted emissions will decline 0.5-2.2%, basing its calculations on growth forecasts from JP Morgan, and assuming the global economy recovers in the second half.

“Our estimates indicate that the pandemic’s climate silver lining is vanishingly thin,” said Seaver Wang, a climate and energy analyst at the institute.

“It’s as if we went back in time and emitted the same amount we were a few years ago — which was already too much. In the grand scheme of things, it really makes no difference.”

Some foresee a bigger hit to the economy. The London-based Centre for Economics and Business Research estimates that world GDP will fall by at least 4% this year — albeit with a “huge margin of error.”

That drop would be more than twice as large as the contraction during the financial crisis, and the largest annual fall in GDP since 1931, barring wartime, the centre said.

With governments launching gigantic stimulus packages to stop their economies collapsing, investors are now watching to see how far the United States, and China, the European Union, Japan and others embrace lower-emission energy sources.

“Even if there is a decline in emissions in 2020, let’s say 10% or 20%, it’s not negligible, it’s important, but from a climate point of view, it would be a small dent if emissions go back to pre-COVID-19 crisis levels in 2021,” said Pierre Friedlingstein, chair in mathematical modelling of the climate system at the University of Exeter in southwest England.

“This is why it is important to think about the nature of the economic stimulus packages around the world as countries come out of the most immediate health crisis,” said Dan Lashof, U.S. director at the World Resources Institute.

Source: WEF

WMO Is Concerned About Impact of COVID-19 on Observing System

14.04.2020

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is concerned about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the quantity and quality of weather observations and forecasts, as well as atmospheric and climate monitoring.

WMO’s Global Observing System serves as a backbone for all weather and climate services and products provided by the 193 WMO Member states and territories to their citizens. It provides observations on the state of the atmosphere and ocean surface from land-, marine- and space-based instruments. This data is used for the preparation of weather analyses, forecasts, advisories and warnings.

“National Meteorological and Hydrological Services continue to perform their essential 24/7 functions despite the severe challenges posed by the Coronavirus pandemic,” said WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas. “We salute their dedication to protecting lives and property but we are mindful of the increasing constraints on capacity and resources,” he said.

“The impacts of climate change and growing amount of weather-related disasters continue. The COVID-19 pandemic poses an additional challenge, and may exacerbate multi-hazard risks at a single country level. Therefore it is essential that governments pay attention to their national early warning and weather observing capacities despite the COVID-19 crisis,” said Mr Taalas.

Large parts of the observing system, for instance its satellite components and many ground-based observing networks, are either partly or fully automated. They are therefore expected to continue functioning without significant degradation for several weeks, in some cases even longer. But if the pandemic lasts more than a few weeks, then missing repair, maintenance and supply work, and missing redeployments will become of increasing concern.

Some parts of the observing system are already affected. Most notably the significant decrease in air traffic has had a clear impact. In-flight measurements of ambient temperature and wind speed and direction are a very important source of information for both weather prediction and climate monitoring.

Meteorological data from aircraft

Commercial airliners contribute to the WMO Aircraft Meteorological Data Relay programme (AMDAR), which uses onboard sensors, computers and communications systems to automatically collect, process, format and transmit meteorological observations to ground stations via satellite or radio links.

The AMDAR observing system produces over 800 000 high-quality observations per day of air temperature and wind speed and direction, together with the required positional and temporal information, and with an increasing number of humidity and turbulence measurements being made. Currently 43 airlines and several thousand aircraft contribute to the AMDAR programme, which is expected to be significantly expanded in the coming years as a result of a joint collaboration on the programme with IATA.

In many parts of the world, in particular over Europe and the United States, the decrease in the number of commercial flights has resulted in a reduction from around fifty to more than eighty percent of observations of meteorological measurements from aircraft platforms over the last couple of weeks. The countries affiliated with EUMETNET, a collaboration between the 31 national weather services in Europe, are currently discussing ways to boost the short-term capabilities of other parts of their observing networks in order to partly mitigate this loss of aircraft observations.

Additionally, WMO, EUMETNET and national AMDAR programme partners have collaborated with the avionics company FLYHT to ensure any available additional aircraft observations from their own network of airlines are made available during the COVID-19 emergency period to WMO and its members.

Surface-based observations

In most developed countries, surface-based weather observations are now almost fully automated.

However, in many developing countries, the transition to automated observations is still in progress, and the meteorological community still relies on observations taken manually by weather observers and transmitted into the international networks for use in global weather and climate models.

WMO has seen a significant decrease in the availability of this type of manual observations over the last two weeks. Some of this may well be attributable to the current coronavirus situation, but it is not yet clear whether other factors may play a role as well. WMO is currently investigating this.

“At the present time, the adverse impact of the loss of observations on the quality of weather forecast products is still expected to be relatively modest. However, as the decrease in availability of aircraft weather observations continues and expands, we may expect a gradual decrease in reliability of the forecasts,” said Lars Peter Riishojgaard, Director, Earth System Branch in WMO’s Infrastructure Department.

“The same is true if the decrease in surface-based weather observations continues, in particular if the COVID-19 outbreak starts to more widely impact the ability of observers to do their job in large parts of the developing world. WMO will continue to monitor the situation, and the organization is working with its Members to mitigate the impact as much as possible,” he said.

In order to partly mitigate the impact of the decrease in aircraft observations, some WMO Members, in particular in Europe, have increased the number of radiosonde launches. Radiosondes are flown on weather balloons and transmit measurements critical meteorological variables back to the ground during their flight from the surface up to altitudes of 20 to 30 kilometers.

WMO is also monitoring the exchange of observations from the marine observing systems, which provide critical information from the 2/3 of the earth’s surface that are covered by the oceans. Most of these systems are highly autonomous, but over time the amount of observations will decrease due to missed opportunities for repair, replacement or resupply work caused by the COVID-19 outbreak. At the present time, a modest reduction in the number of observations from ships and some autonomous observing platforms has been noted. However, the impact is not yet dramatic.

Space-based observations

On a positive note, the present situation demonstrates the importance and stability of the space-based observing system component, on which WMO Member are increasingly relying. Currently, there are 30 meteorological and 200 research satellites, providing continuous, highly automated observations. The satellites are operated by members of the Coordination Group for Meteorological Satellites (CGMS) and of the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS). While in the short run the space-based observing system component is expected to remain unaffected and fully operational, WMO is in contact with meteorological satellite operators to assess the possible long-term impact of COVID-19.

In addition, there are over 10 000 manned and automatic surface weather stations, 1 000 upper-air stations, 7 000 ships, 100 moored and 1 000 drifting buoys, hundreds of weather radars and 3 000 specially equipped commercial aircraft measure key parameters of the atmosphere, land and ocean surface every day.

Source: WMO

Energy Community Launches E-Forum for Gas Distribution System Experts

13.04.2020

gas_pipeline_gasovod — Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Since 2016, the Energy Community Coordination Platform for distribution system operators for gas (ECDSO-G) convenes twice per year. Following requests for more regular communication and to deepen the level of discussion during 2019, the Secretariat launched a web-based interactive discussion forum. Its purpose is to facilitate discussion, experience sharing, exchange of views and kick-start new initiatives among experts interested in distribution system operation.

The Forum aims to tackle pertinent topics such as unbundling, measurement and network losses, tariffs, network optimisation, gas quality and acceptance of renewable gases in the future. However, given the timing of the forum’s launch, the first discussion will be devoted to measures related to COVID-19.

The discussion forum is open to members of the ECDSO-G Coordination Platform only. If you are eligible, please contact Mr. Nenad Sijakovic (nenad.sijakovic@energy-community.org) or Mrs Karolina Cegir (karolina.cegir@energy-community.org) to receive login information and access rights.

Source: Energy Community

3D-Printed Coral Mimics Nature

13.04.2020

corals_korali — Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Most of us have heard that coral reefs around the world are dying, largely because of warmer ocean temperatures and the increased acidity of seawater, but few people realize why that is important to humans. Who really cares if the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Australia is nearly lifeless? So a few rich scuba divers won’t get to see it. Boo-hoo. Actually, it’s a little more complicated than that.

Let’s begin by explaining what coral is. Is it a plant? Is it an animal? Actually, it’s a little of both. The coral on the outside provides a framework for algae who live inside. The algae actually convert sunlight via photosynthesis to produce food for themselves and the coral. The living coral, in turn, provides a habitat for hundreds of species of marine life — species that form a vital link in the food chain that hundreds of millions of people rely on for their daily sustenance. Those little algae may seem insignificant, but without them many people would die of malnutrition.

Researchers at the University of Cambridge and UC San Diego say they have found a way to 3D-print a bionic coral that supports the photosynthesis capabilities of algae. “Corals are highly efficient at collecting and using light,” said first author Daniel Wangpraseurt, a professor of chemistry at Cambridge. “In our lab, we’re looking for methods to copy and mimic these strategies from nature for commercial applications.”

That is critical for replicating structures with live cells, says co-author Shaochen Chen of UC San Diego. “Most of these cells will die if we were to use traditional extrusion-based or inkjet processes because these methods take hours. It would be like keeping a fish out of the water. The cells that we work with won’t survive if kept too long out of their culture media. Our process is high throughput and offers really fast printing speeds, so it’s compatible with human cells, animal cells, and even algae cells in this case.”

The researchers tested various types of micro-algae and found growth rates of some were 100 times higher than in standard liquid growth mediums. They used a rapid 3D-bioprinting technique capable of reproducing detailed structures that mimic the complex designs and functions of living tissues. The technique uses an optical analogue to ultrasound called optical coherence tomography to scan living corals and utilize the models for their 3D-printed designs.

The custom-made 3D-bioprinter uses light to print coral micro-scale structures in seconds. The printed coral copies natural coral structures and light-harvesting properties, creating an artificial host micro-environment for the living microalgae with micrometer scale resolution in just minutes. The coral inspired structures are highly efficient at redistributing light, just like natural corals.

“We developed an artificial coral tissue and skeleton with a combination of polymer gels and hydrogels doped with cellulose nano-materials to mimic the optical properties of living corals,” says co-author Silvia Vignolini, also of the Department of Chemistry at Cambridge. “Cellulose is an abundant bio-polymer. It is excellent at scattering light and we used it to optimize delivery of light into photosynthetic algae.”

Wangpraseurt adds, “By copying the host micro-habitat, we can also use our 3D bio-printed corals as a model system for the coral-algal symbiosis, which is urgently needed to understand the breakdown of the symbiosis during coral reef decline. There are many different applications for our new technology.

“We have recently created a company called Mantaz that uses coral inspired light harvesting approaches to cultivate algae for bio-products in developing countries. We hope that our technique will be scalable so it can have a real impact on the algal bio-sector and ultimately reduce greenhouse gas emissions that are responsible for coral reef death.”

According to TechCrunch, the research is not seen as a way to restore dying coral reefs, but rather as a way to create reef-like structures that can be studied in the laboratory. That could lead to a better understanding of the ecosystem in which the coral-algae partnership thrives and how it can be nurtured. The knowledge gained, in turn, could help rescue coral reefs around the world from further damage and deterioration.

Author: Steve Henley

Source: Clean Technica

What to Do With Healthcare Waste?

11.04.2020

healthcare_waste_medicinski_otpad — Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Interview with Keith Alverson, Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) International Environmental Technology Centre in Osaka, Japan. The Centre has produced a Compendium of Technologies for Treatment/Destruction of Healthcare Waste, a scientific and practical publication covering all aspects of medical waste—a topic that is highly relevant to the current novel coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic.

Please describe the document and how it can help in this current pandemic?

The compendium is intended to assist national and local governments, health organizations and countries in assessing and selecting appropriate technologies for the destruction of healthcare waste. It can help those with responsibility for planning and managing the significant increase in medical waste as a result of this global pandemic.

What is healthcare waste?

Healthcare waste is all the waste generated by healthcare facilities, medical laboratories and biomedical research facilities, as well as waste from minor or scattered sources. Although hospitals produce the bulk of healthcare waste by volume, they are a small fraction of the total number of sources.

Improper treatment and disposal of healthcare waste poses serious hazards of secondary disease transmission due to exposures to infectious agents among waste pickers, waste workers, health workers, patients, and the community in general where waste is improperly disposed.

Open burning and incineration without adequate pollution control exposes waste workers and the surrounding community to toxic contaminants in air emissions and ash.

How much medical waste does an average hospital produce?

An assessment of waste generation rate data from around the world shows that about 0.5 kg per bed per day is produced in hospitals. However, this figure, and the underlying composition of the waste, varies enormously depending on local context, with higher-income countries generating far higher levels of waste and plastic, for example, often making up more than half of all medical waste. Because of this huge diversity, there is no single best solution to dealing with medical waste.

The compendium provides a robust methodology for analysing local healthcare waste generation, composition and disposal needs and selecting appropriate technologies as part of a local waste management system.

Which kind of medical waste is most risky in terms of spreading infectious diseases?

Healthcare waste can be categorized according to the following general classifications: sharps waste, pathological waste, other infectious wastes, pharmaceutical waste including cytotoxic waste, hazardous chemical waste, radioactive waste, and general (non-risk) waste.

In general, between 75 and 90 per cent of the waste produced by healthcare facilities is non-risk (non-infectious, non-hazardous) general waste, comparable to domestic waste. Infectious waste is waste that is suspected to contain pathogens (disease-causing bacteria, viruses, parasites, or fungi) in sufficient concentration or quantity to cause disease in susceptible hosts.

The Compendium talks about segregation of medical waste. What does this segregation mean?

Segregation is an important element in efficient healthcare waste management. By separating hazardous from non-hazardous waste one can dramatically reduce the volume of waste that requires specialized treatment. Other elements of healthcare waste management include waste classification, waste minimization, containerization, colour coding, labelling, signage, handling, transport, storage, treatment and final disposal. And, of course, to maintain such a system requires continuous training, planning, budgeting, monitoring, evaluation, documentation and record-keeping.

What should countries do to implement a waste management policy for medical waste?

The process of institutionalization of a good healthcare waste management system is complex. It entails a waste assessment and evaluation of existing practices, evaluation of waste management options, development of a waste management plan, promulgation of institutional policies and guidelines, establishment of a waste management organization, allocation of human and financial resources, implementation of plans according to a set timelines, as well as a programme of periodic training, monitoring, evaluation and continuous improvement.

How can this compendium inform coronavirus waste management for hospitals?

Countries, cities and institutions that have used this compendium, or other similar tools, and developed an operating waste management system, are far better able to cope with surges in medical waste associated with disasters, including the ongoing pandemic. The best medical waste management systems include contingency plans for natural disasters, including pandemics.

The compendium is, however, a risk reduction tool, very useful and relevant to the pandemic response over a medium- to longer-term timescale from months to years, but must be complemented with rapid response guidelines for emergency operations in real time.

What are the basic processes involved in the treatment of healthcare waste?

There are four basic processes involved in the treatment of healthcare waste: thermal, chemical, irradiative and biological processes.

The unfortunate reality worldwide is, however, that an enormous amount of healthcare waste, including waste generated as a result of our pandemic responses, is either mistreated with improperly maintained technologies, or not treated at all.

For more information, please contact Keith Alverson: Keith.Alverson@un.org

Source: UNEP

World’s First Zero Emission Construction Site

10.04.2020

Even in cities like Oslo, Norway, which is typically thought of as progressive and “green”, more than 20% of the total CO2 emissions comes from heavy-duty construction equipment. That’s a huge number, and you can bet that older, less regulated machines in other major cities are even worse. That fact has motivated the authorities in Oslo to enact laws that say all new, public buildings must be built with “fossil-free” construction machinery. The jobsite you see here, featuring a ZE85 battery-powered electric excavator from Suncar HK, is just such a fossil-free site. What’s more, it’s believed to be the first zero emission, all-electric jobsite of its kind.

Norway’s new laws banning heavy polluters like diesel construction machines and even passenger cars from certain city centers are hardly unique. Cities like Barcelona, London, and Beijing have already passed similar laws that will go into effect in the coming years, and it’s hard to believe other countries won’t get in on the act soon, with the general public having seen how good things can get, and how quickly.

Those laws also explain why so many heavy equipment companies — including Liebherr, CASE, and Volvo CE — are spending heavily on R&D to electrify their lineup.

You can see the Suncar ZE85 battery-powered excavators get to work in this surprisingly quiet video, below, and check out the official Suncar press release below that.

Fast charging on the construction site: Swiss BEV excavator on a zero-emission construction site in Oslo

The ZE85 battery-powered electric excavator, which was presented last May at the world’s largest construction trade fair, bauma19 in Munich, is now being successfully operated on a zero-emission construction site in Norway. It is the first electric excavator with an integrated CCS fast-charging interface as it is known from electric cars. This enables full charging in under an hour.

Here is an enormous potential to reduce emissions on construction sites. In Oslo, for example, around 21% of CO2 emissions are emitted by construction machinery. Therefore, the authorities in Oslo have defined in their procurement strategy that all public buildings must be built with “fossil-free” construction machinery. The European Commission is also setting the trend, issuing guidelines in the areas of “Buying green” and “Green Public Procurement” and regulating emissions on construction sites. As a result, clean technologies such as battery-powered construction machinery are also finding their way into the construction industry.

In order to be able to tap into this rapidly growing market, more and more construction machinery manufacturers are electrifying their machines. At the R&D site of the Zurich-based start-up company SUNCARHK AG, excavators and other construction machines are electrified on behalf of major manufacturers such as Hitachi, Liebherr and others. The battery-powered vehicles and machines are successfully in use throughout Europe. The ZE85 electric excavator, developed together with SUNCAR, is in operation in Oslo on a zero-emission construction site, i.e. a construction site where only electrically driven construction machines are used. New and special to the battery-powered ZE85 excavator is the CCS fast charging interface, which is already standard on electric cars.

The electric excavators can be operated both in battery and cable mode. They have an onboard charger and can be charged at a worksite distribution board via a standard CEE three-phase power socket. The ZE85 excavator used in Oslo has a DC charging connection which reduces the charging time to three quarters of an hour.

With the vehicle-side modular DC charging system INTERFLOW, developed by SUNCAR, such a DC fast charging interface can be integrated into a vehicle or machine with little effort. The system enables the DC fast charging of high-voltage batteries up to 280 kW according to the CCS (Combined Charging System) protocol known from electric vehicles. This system can be integrated into any other battery-powered vehicle or machine with a system voltage of up to 800 VDC and a maximum charging current of 350 A and can be combined with an on-board charger.

Author: Jo Borrás

Source: Clean Technica, Suncar HK

Next Generation Farming With Solar Panels

10.04.2020

solar_panel_solarni_panel — Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Solar panels are sprouting on farmland like mushrooms after the rain, but there’s no such thing as a free lunch. If too many solar panels replace too much cropland, there goes the food supply. However, farmers are beginning to learn how to do their farming within solar arrays, and in a new green twofer, solar arrays could actually help push the regenerative agriculture movement into the mainstream.

Solar panels + farming, good

The first twist in the field of solar + farming was a relatively simple one. Raise the solar panels just a few extra feet off the ground, and you can graze sheep and other animals on the same land. You can also use the land for pollinator habitat. Et voilà, there you have something new called agrivoltaics.

Of course, raised solar panels can involve some extra cost, but that could be counterbalanced by an increase in efficiency. Researchers are beginning to amass evidence that allowing plants to flourish under a raised solar array can improve solar cell efficiency by creating a cooling microclimate.

As for growing human-edible crops, that’s a tougher row to hoe. For starters, the solar panel racks would limit the width and height of motorized farm equipment. That’s not necessarily a deal breaker, but then another challenge is to identify crops that can grow efficiently in the shade.

Either way, the solar + farming movement has already caught the attention of the US Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory, which is looking for ways to protect farmland against overpopulation by utility-scale solar arrays. The agency’s Office of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency has also published a handy “Farmer’s Guide to Going Solar.”

Solar panels + regenerative agriculture, better

All of this is good stuff, but it gets even better. A new solar project soon to start construction on a farm in Grafton, Massachusetts is aiming to do double duty as a holistic preservation tool that helps improve soil and enhance nutrition for grazing animals.

The ultimate goal is to create a more sustainable farm economy and cultivate the next generation of farmers. That’s an especially important consideration in Massachusetts, where farmers need to stay in the business of farming in order to maintain good standing with the state’s SMART solar incentive program for farmers.

The Boston-based developer BlueWave Solar is spearheading the project, and Clean Technica recently spoke with the company’s head of sustainability, Drew Pierson, for some additional details.

“BlueWaveBW has been around for just under 10 years as community solar developer, and we’ve always had an ethos of doing right by people and planet and furthering environmental conservation,” Pierson explained.

The company was an early agrivoltaic adopter and has been working closely with the University of Massachusetts, which administers the SMART program among other solar initiatives. The collaboration with BlueWave includes a shade modeling tool for solar arrays to help with agricultural land use planning.

The Grafton solar project includes 12 acres set aside for grazing, and two acres for raising vegetables, such as strawberries, leafy greens and pumpkins.

For both arrays, Pierson explained, the solar panels will be raised about 10 feet off the ground, and every third panel will be removed in order to let more sunlight in.

Taking advantage of yet another twist in the farm + solar saga, the solar panels will be bifacial, meaning their back side can convert solar energy reflected from the ground. Researchers are already exploring ways to enhance this “ground albedo” effect with different types of ground coverings, including vegetation. That could lead to additional enhancements in solar cell efficiency on farmland.

Solar panels on farms: But wait, there’s more

If all goes according to plan, the regenerative agriculture part of the project will really kick in when monitoring equipment is installed.

“This might be the basis for putting carbon back in the soil,” Pierson said. “We can measure how the land responds to this kind of management technique, including the infiltration of stormwater, the density of grass, and the beneficial microclimate of the solar panels.”

The human factor also comes into play. The new solar development includes a manger who will facilitate communication between the farmer, the SMART incentive program, and the various stakeholders in the solar project. Part of the aim is to help smooth compliance issues for the farmer, but that’s just for starters.

The manager will also help support the farmer with agricultural planning and resources. In addition to keeping individual farms in business, the overall aim of the manager-assisted program is to create new opportunities for starting new farming operations and reviving dormant ones.

The Grafton farm, for example, was worked by the same family for decades until the financials stopped working. With a new solar array in hand, the land will go back into production for the first time in about 20 years.

Try that with your coal mine!

Author: Tina Casey

Source: Clean Technica

Arctic Ozone Depletion Tracks at Record Levels

09.04.2020

arctic_arktik — Photo-illustration: Pixabay

Depletion of the ozone layer, the shield that protects life on Earth from harmful levels of ultraviolet radiation, is at an unprecedented level over large parts of the Arctic this spring. This phenomenon is caused by the continuing presence of ozone-depleting substances in the atmosphere and a very cold winter in the stratosphere (the layer of the atmosphere between around 10 km and round 50 km altitude).

Total ozone columns over large parts of the Arctic have reached record-breaking low values this year with a severe ozone depletion at altitudes of around 18 km. The last time similarly strong ozone depletion was observed over the Arctic was during spring 2011, and ozone depletion in 2020 seems on course to be even stronger, according to the Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service implemented by ECMWF.

Actions taken under an international agreement called the Montreal Protocol have led to decreases in the atmospheric abundance of controlled ozone-depleting substances. But their concentrations in the upper atmosphere are still high enough to cause severe ozone destruction. The spring depletion is driven by a combination of factors including low temperatures in the Arctic stratosphere during polar night and the arrival of sunlight in the early spring.

The majority of the ozone depletion in the Arctic takes place inside the so-called polar vortex: a region of fast-blowing circular winds that intensify in the fall and isolate the air mass within the vortex, keeping it very cold. As the meteorological conditions and temperatures are different from year to year, the severity of the ozone depletion also fluctuates. This means that occasional large Arctic ozone depletions are still possible .

The Arctic stratosphere is usually less isolated than the Antarctic one. Stratospheric temperatures in the Arctic usually do not fall as low as in the Antarctic stratosphere neither do they stay low for extended period of time.

However, this winter (2019-2020), the stratospheric polar vortex has been so strong and cold for so long that the temperatures in the Arctic stratosphere have dropped to levels more typical for over Antarctica, creating a large area of polar stratospheric clouds and promoting chemical processes that deplete ozone. Atmospheric conditions blocking wind-driven resupply of ozone from the lower latitudes has also been a factor.

By contrast with the Arctic, the 2019 ozone hole over Antarctica was the smallest on record since the ozone hole was first discovered.

UV Radiation

WMO’s Global Atmosphere Watch Network has stations in the Arctic and these are performing high-quality measurements of both ozone and Ultraviolet (UV) radiation.

The 2020 conditions are similar to the spring of 2011 when the ozone losses over the Arctic were near 50%. The depletion of the Arctic ozone led to an increase in surface UV radiation in the spring of 2011, with scientists observing a 60% increase in the UV Index in the Canadian Arctic, and an even higher increase over Northern Europe.

Moreover, ozone depletion in the Arctic affects the total ozone budget resulting in an increase of summertime UV levels over Canada and Europe. Each year, based on springtime ozone levels, a summer seasonal UV forecast is provided to the public in different countries.

Montreal Protocol

The most recent Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion from WMO and the UN Environment Programme shows that the ozone layer in parts of the stratosphere has recovered at a rate of 1-3% per decade since 2000. At projected rates, Arctic and Northern Hemisphere mid-latitude ozone is expected to heal completely before the middle of the century (~2035) followed by the Southern Hemisphere mid-latitude around mid-century, and Antarctic region by 2060.

Without the Montreal Protocol, this year’s ozone destruction would most likely have been worse. Ozone depleting substances such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and halons, once present in refrigerators, spray cans and fire extinguishers, have been phased out under the Montreal Protocol. Nevertheless, the atmospheric measurements and analysis allowed to detect the renewed emissions of some of the controlled substances, stressing the importance of continuous observations of these constituents.

The slow recovery of the ozone layer is due to the fact that ozone depleting substances stay in the atmosphere for several decades.

Source: WMO

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Fast charging on the construction site: Swiss BEV excavator on a zero-emission construction site in Oslo

Solar panels + farming, good

Solar panels + regenerative agriculture, better

Solar panels on farms: But wait, there’s more

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