by Mary Eiserman | Jan 8, 2025 | Clean Energy, Environmental Impact
Virginia is home to more data centers than any other place in the world, but does not have enough energy or transportation capacity to support their growth. One way to increase energy supply is by expanding pipelines. Trancso has filed for a Southeast expansion allowing for the transport of more natural gas alongside existing pipelines. The Piedmont Environmental Council cautions against the use of more environmentally damaging natural gas, as well as the potential consequence of rushing the construction of pipelines. You can hear more watching this video by 29News – WVIR Charlottesville, VA
Electric Demand may triple, but resistance to power generation is growing too. The two are on a collision course. – Cardinal News
This article looks at the growing demand for electricity in Virginia and various ways to meet the demand. Hard choices will be made. To quote a poem written in 1886 by Josephine Pollard:
Free lunches, free passes, they have at command,
Rich gifts that to others are lost,
And gayly they feast on the fat of the land,
And travel regardless of cost.
But for all the fine banquets, the wear and the tear
Of public or private displays,
Though you may go free, ’tis as sure as can be
That somebody pays
This post was put together from contributions by Connie Brennan, Susan McSwain, and Mary Eiserman
by Mary Eiserman | Nov 4, 2024 | Environmental Impact
WHOI Scientists Discover Fastest Degrading Bioplastic in Seawater – Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
The Earth’s oceans have become a dumping ground for the plastic waste that humans generate. Every year, anywhere from 4.8 to 12.7 million tons of plastic enter the oceans. Replacing traditional plastics with those that degrade in the ocean would reduce harm to marine animals and the environment.
Woods Hole, Mass. (Oct. 17, 2024) – Scientists at the Wood Hole Oceanographic Institution have been working for years to find out what types of plastics have the shortest and longest lifespans in the ocean, and what types of plastic products – like straws and food wrappers – most commonly contribute to plastic pollution. Researchers are racing to develop biodegradable materials that can replace traditional plastics without causing harm to ocean environments.
After years of testing, a new version of cellulose diacetate (CDA) has been found to be the fastest degrading bioplastic material tested in seawater. The new CDA is a a plastic-like polymer derived from wood pulp material that degrades 15 times faster than solid CDA, and even faster than paper. It can replace other foam plastic materials, like Styrofoam, which can linger in the environment for many years.
summary by Susan McSwain for FoN
by Mary Eiserman | Oct 14, 2024 | Clean Energy, Environmental Impact
Exported gas produces far worse emissions than coal, major study finds | Fossil fuels | The Guardian
For years, oil and gas producers have promoted gas as a “bridge” fuel and a “climate solution” over burning coal, and there is now a glut of new liquefied natural gas (or LNG) terminals, primarily in the US.
However, recent research at Cornell University shows that LNG – from drilling to transporting it – has a larger greenhouse gas footprint than any other fuel. For example, around half of the total emissions occur during the long journey taken by gas as it is pushed through pipelines to coastal terminals after it is drilled (usually via hydraulic fracking) from shale deposits in the U.S.
More than 125 climate, environmental and health scientists have reviewed and defended the research and urge a continuation of the pause on LNG exports.
Summary by Susan McSwain for Friends of Nelson
by Mary Eiserman | Sep 27, 2024 | Clean Energy, Eminent Domain, Environmental Impact
Running modern societies on clean electricity rather than burning fossil fuels will require improvements to our electric grid. Building new power lines is costly and involves time-consuming processes to acquire new land, rights-of-way, and other permits.
“Reconductoring” – replacing existing steel-cored power lines with advanced conductors with composite cores – can carry twice as much power at a given diameter compared to conventional lines. Reconductoring could provide 80% of the transmission capacity increases needed to achieve 90% clean energy generation by 2035. Upfront costs are higher, but $180 billion in generation and transmission costs would be saved by 2050, compared to building new power lines.
This would result in far fewer cases of eminent domain on private property to build new power lines
Read more from the article at anthropocenmagazine.org
An elegant and affordable solution to expanding the grid
Summary by Susan McSwain
by Mary Eiserman | Feb 2, 2024 | Clean Energy, Environmental Impact
New Jersey enacts EPR for EV batteries (resource-recycling.com)
New Jersey is the first state to make producers responsible for electric vehicle batteries and other, similar propulsion batteries. In three years, a ban on disposing of propulsion batteries in landfills [in N.J.] will come into effect. A consumer complaints and public education program is being established by the N.J. Department of Environmental Protection. Battery producers will be required to create and submit management plans to the state Department of Environmental Protection
Other states have used similar extended producer responsibility (EPR) bills to manage other kinds of batteries. Vermont did so in 2014 for single-use household batteries. In 2021, Washington D.C. enacted the U.S.’s first single-use and rechargeable battery EPR law, followed by California in 2022 and Washington state in 2023.
Banning EV batteries from landfills could help build the battery recycling industry.
