Sustainable Arlington

See It, Say It:  Climate Change - Washington Post Editorial

“Nothing More than ash and bones.”  That grim description of how some victims were found underscores the horror of the wildfires that swept through and devastated Northern California.  At least 38 people were killed, including a 14-year-old boy found dead in the driveway of the home he was trying to flee, a 28-year-woman confined to a wheelchair and a couple who recently had celebrated their 75th anniversary.  In addition to the lives lost, approximately 5,700 homes and businesses were destroyed, including entire neighborhoods turned into smoldering ruins. Some 220,000 acres, including prized vineyards, have been scorched, and the danger is not over, as some fires are still burning and officials fear the return of winds could spread more catastrophe.  Fire season is part of life in California, something that residents know and prepare for after the hot, dry summer months.  But the events that began last Sunday have been unprecedented, and so the question that must be confronted is what caused the deadliest week of wildfires in the state’s history. Gov. Jerry Brown (D) pointed the finger at climate change.  “With a warming climate, dry weather, and reducing moisture, these kinds of catastrophes have happened and will continue to happen and we have to be ready to mitigate, and it’s going to cost a lot of money,” he said last week. No single fire can be specifically linked to climate change, and certainly other factors, such as increased development or logging and grazing activities, are involved.  But scientists say there[…]

Innovative Satellite Launched for Monitoring Global Methane and Air Quality

Last Friday, the European Space Agency Sentinel-5p satellite went into orbit above the earth.  Onboard is an imaging spectrometer instrument called TROPOMI, led by SRON (Dutch Space Agency) and KNMI (Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute) to monitor the amount of methane, ozone and other air quality-related pollutants in the atmosphere. There has been quite a buzz around this unique advancement in space, and the valuable data it will provide on methane, a powerful greenhouse gas that accounts for a quarter of the warming our planet is experiencing today.  Curbing anthropogenic methane emissions is one of the most efficient and economical options available to slow the rate of warming over the next few decades, while efforts continue to reduce CO2 emissions worldwide. Detecting methane from spaceMethane sources include both natural and manmade emissions from livestock, agriculture, oil & gas operations, and landfills.  These sources are distributed around the world and vary widely at local, regional and temporal scales—which makes it challenging to quantify emissions from diverse sources. This is where satellites come into play.  They bring together the unique capability of continuously monitoring the entire planet, measuring critical geophysical variables, and mapping change by collecting long-term datasets. The TROPOMI satellite sensor brings significant advances in the monitoring of air pollution in terms of better resolving methane, and other major pollutants affecting air quality (e.g. NO2, SO2, formaldehyde, aerosols).  For instance, data from TROPOMI will be available at 7 km x 7 km grids around the world, on a daily basis—which has never[…]

Delaware Researchers Discover How to Cut Offshore Wind Construction Costs by $1.6B

Working closely with industry partners, University of Delaware researchers have developed a new method for constructing offshore wind farms and proven that it is cheaper, faster, and could make possible offshore wind deployment at a scale and pace able to keep up with the region’s scheduled retirements of nuclear and coal-fired power plants. The researchers calculated that their innovative process will cost up to $1.6 billion less per project than conventional approaches and take half the construction time. “In planning for offshore wind power, the big question is how we generate electricity cost-competitively, and at a scale that is both a relevant replacement for aging power plants and also applicable to climate change,” said the project’s principal investigator, Willett Kempton, professor in the College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment (CEOE).  “We’re the first people who have shown the engineering details, step-by-step, how to achieve that.” FindingsThe key insight that allowed Kempton’s team to make such considerable optimizations in cost and deployment speed was that the entire structure, from seafloor mounting to the top of the turbine, can be assembled in one piece in port, moved as a unit, and in one step placed into the sea floor.  It may seem like a simple idea, but it was by no means obvious that it would work with existing equipment until completing the detailed engineering and cost analysis. The reference design used 10-megawatt turbines with support structures, together standing twice as tall as the Statue of Liberty and weighing 2500 metric tons,[…]

Target Announces 100% Renewable Energy Target

Target, one of America’s leading discount store retailers, has this week announced a new climate policy and goals based on the Science-Based Targets initiative, including a commitment to source 100% renewable energy in its domestic operations.Target published its new climate policy and goals on Tuesday, created with the Science-Based Target initiative “in mind” in an effort to “keep making progress” on its existing global and local environmental efforts.  As Target highlight in their announcement, the company is a two-time ENERGY STAR partner of the year, and the Solar Energy Industries Association’s (SEIA) 2016 top corporate solar installer in the US.Target’s new climate policy opens by simply stating that “Target acknowledges the scientific consensus that the climate is changing, that our business is contributing to that change, and that our supply chain, operations, and customers will continue to be impacted by the effects of climate change.”  As a result, Target is “committed to reducing our greenhouse gas (GHG) footprint, and to engaging constructively with industry peers, value chain partners, external stakeholders, and policymakers to help accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy.”Read more at Target Announces 100% Renewable Energy Target Amidst New Climate Policy

  Friday, Oct 20