Photosystem II molecule, which plays a central role in photosynthesis |

Using ultrafast imaging of moving energy in photosynthesis, scientists have determined the speed of crucial processes for the first time. This will help scientists understand how nature has perfected the process of photosynthesis, and how this might be imitated to produce fuels by artificial photosynthesis.     Read More |

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Coral Walls 'Mesophotic Reefs' Reveal New Type of Photosynthesis |

Now, researchers have discovered that the corals that inhabit this "Mesophotic zone" have a never-before-seen adaptation that enables them to eke out enough light energy to survive. The photosynthetic algae that live on and power these corals have unusual cellular "machinery" that enables them to conduct photosynthesis more efficiently than species that live at shallower depths ...             READ MORE

Researchers discover feedback mechanism in photosynthesis that protects plants from damage by light |

This new knowledge could have important repercussions on the
quest to improve photosynthesis for more sustainable agriculture |

Textbook: Bicarbonate is formed when carbon dioxide dissolves in water, so its concentration
is related to the amount of carbon dioxide in the local environment. As well as low carbon dioxide levels causing electrons to build up and trigger the release of bicarbonate, the study also suggests the possibility that the level of carbon dioxide itself in the local leaf environment could
impact on the bicarbonate binding. "This is such an intuitive feedback mechanism at the heart of biology that I think it will go into school textbooks," said lead author, Professor Bill
Rutherford FRS from the Department of Life Sciences at Imperial.

"Now that we understand this new mechanism in the lab, the next step is to define when it kicks in out there in the field - not to mention the forest, greenhouse, plant pot, sea, lake and pond."

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Signs suggest recent dramatic drop in price for solar panels:

Factors that have led to the low price quotes include incentives for work in China and the high number of sunny days typically found in Dubai, but industry analysts have suggested that the lower prices are a signal that prices for solar panels are significantly lower than they have ever been & some have suggested that the drop is likely to continue. 



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The irony of the Anthropocene |

It has become increasingly commonplace to suggest that humans now dominate the planet. Perhaps the Anthropocene’s greatest challenge will be forcing us to think beyond our strictly human needs and to understand those of the ecological systems in which we are embedded. It may just be that our lives depend upon it.

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How warmer seas are changing our planet |

September 20, 2016
Source: University of Sheffield
Professor Grant Bigg, from the University's Department of Geography: "Many people may associate warmer seas with the pleasant weather conditions they're used to experiencing while on holiday, but the fact of the matter is that an increase in sea temperatures is having a huge impact on the world's weather.
"Our study has shown that severe hurricanes, storm surges, melting ice in the Arctic region and changes to El Niño are all being caused by sea temperatures rising across the planet. These are all things that can have a devastating impact on the way we live our lives.         Read More |

Researchers create the first practical design for photoelectrochemical water splitting |

Date: September 9, 2016
Source: Forschungszentrum Juelich

Scientists from Forschungszentrum Juelich research institute have developed the first complete and compact design for an artificial photosynthesis facility. This is a decisive step towards applying the technology.

Massive wind harvesting project to go up in Iowa |

September 2, 2016
 Iowa is currently the state with the second-largest production of wind-powered electricity (generating 15 MWh) behind only Texas, which generates 36 MWh. In Iowa, that accounts for a leading 31.3 percent of all electricity consumed.
 Unique to the project is a promise made by Des Moines-based MidAmerican that the installation costs of the turbines will not affect consumer energy bills, nor will the state be asked to pay for them—instead, MidAmerican will be footing the $3.6 billion cost itself. It is a utility company offering electricity and natural gas to customers in Nebraska, South Dakota, Illinois and of course, Iowa. The company has set a goal of getting the state off coal completely and expects this new project to advance that goal—they project that once the project is fully operational, and other projects go forward as well, fully 85 percent of the electricity used in Iowa will come from wind powered turbines by 2020.

Refocusing the full potential of science & technology for achieving sustainability goals |

Harnessing the full potential of science and technology to promote sustainable development requires that more researchers target a significant portion of their efforts on sustainability problems, and that those efforts become more effective in producing knowledge that is truly useful - and used - for achieving sustainability goals.  Read More:

Water plays a major role for our planet, not only at the surface, but in the atmosphere too |

Water plays a major role for our planet not only in its liquid form at the surface. In the atmosphere too, it considerably affects our lives as well as weather and climate. Clouds and rainfall are one example. Water vapor, the gaseous form of water, also plays a prominent role on Earth. It is the most important greenhouse gas in the atmosphere, without it the Earth would be a frozen planet.
 ~This knowledge is also of paramount importance for the general climate research. The temperature of the tropopause decides on the input of water vapor into the stratosphere: The higher the water vapor content in the stratosphere; the higher the surface temperatures increase. Anthropogenic climate change also has an effect on the temperature of the tropopause, and this effect could become more evident in the coming decades.
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An unprecedented study combining projections of future climate |

Trees can slow the warming of our planet by taking carbon out of the air, but only if they’re healthy:

Predicting long-term trends in forest growth requires accurate characterization of how the relationship between forest productivity and climatic stress varies across climatic regimes. Using a network of over two million tree-ring observations spanning North America and a space-for-time substitution methodology, we forecast climate impacts on future forest growth. We explored differing scenarios of increased water-use efficiency (WUE) due to CO2-fertilisation, which we simulated as increased effective precipitation. In our forecasts: (1) climate change negatively impacted forest growth rates in the interior west and positively impacted forest growth along the western, southeastern and northeastern coasts; (2) shifting climate sensitivities offset positive effects of warming on high-latitude forests, leaving no evidence for continued ‘boreal greening’; and (3) it took a 72% WUE enhancement to compensate for continentally averaged growth declines under RCP 8.5. Our results highlight the importance of locally adapted forest management strategies to handle regional differences in growth responses to climate change.

AAAS.org

Newsweek

There is intense interest in creating artificial photosynthesis as an alternative energy source |

Identification of a gene needed to expand light harvesting in photosynthesis into the far-red-light spectrum provides clues to the development of oxygen-producing photosynthesis, an evolutionary advance that changed the history of life on Earth. “Knowledge of how photosynthesis evolved could empower scientists to design better ways to use light energy for the benefit of humankind,” said Donald A. Bryant, the Ernest C. Pollard Professor of Biotechnology and professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at Penn State University and the leader of the research team that made the discovery.
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Artificial photosynthesis is considered a promising element of a sustainable future energy supply |

Chemists from the Universities of Basel and Zurich have come one step closer to generating energy from sunlight: for the first time, they were able to reproduce one of the crucial phases of natural photosynthesis with artificial molecules.

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Energy, Climate And Society |

Many technical fixes for this problem have been explored, but these studies often rely on stylized assumptions about the ways individuals, communities, countries and companies behave. An integrated approach that engages the social sciences alongside the physical and natural sciences and engineering will be necessary if society is to clean up energy production, cut consumption and ensure that humans interact with energy systems in a sustainable way.

Fracking’s Total Environmental Impact Is Staggering, Report Finds |

The body of evidence is growing that fracking is not only bad for the global climate, it is also dangerous for local communities. And affected communities are growing in number. The report, released Thursday, details the sheer amount of water contamination, air pollution, climate impacts, and chemical use in fracking in the United States. “For the past decade, fracking has been a nightmare for our drinking water, our open spaces, and our climate,” Rachel Richardson, a co-author of the paper from Environment America, told ThinkProgress.

Fracking, a form of extraction that injects large volumes of chemical-laced water into shale, releasing pockets of oil and gas, has been on the rise in the United States for the past decade, and the sheer numbers are staggering.  
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Discovering more efficient storage of green energy |

“Today on a solar farm or a wind farm, storage is typically provided with batteries. But batteries are expensive, and can typically only store a fixed amount of energy,” says Sargent. “That’s why discovering a more efficient and highly scalable means of storing energy generated by renewables is one of the grand challenges in this field.”

This device efficiently splits water into its component elements, hydrogen and oxygen, storing energy as H2. The key is a new catalyst based on abundant metals tungsten, iron and cobalt, that is three times more efficient than the current state-of-the-art.

  Read more at:

Desert cactus purifies contaminated water for aquaculture, drinking and more |

Farm-grown fish are an important source of food with significant and worldwide societal and economic benefits, but the fish that come from these recirculating systems can have unpleasant tastes and odors. To clean contaminated water for farmed fish, drinking and other uses, scientists are now turning to an unlikely source—the mucilage of cacti.
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School buildings designed as 'teaching green' can lead to better environmental education |

The energy used to create electricity to power lights, heating and air conditioning, and appliances within buildings causes nearly 50 percent of all fossil fuel emissions in the United States. Educating children about the importance of having environmentally friendly, or "green," buildings could be a key factor in whether they grow to up to own and operate buildings that are green. Read more

Severe drought no longer caused just by nature |

Scientists at the University of Birmingham are calling on drought researchers and managers around the world to consider both human activity and natural phenomena in their battle to preserve increasingly scarce global water supplies. The experts say that severe droughts experienced recently in countries such as China, Brazil and the United States can no longer be seen as purely natural hazards. Changes to the way people use the water and the landscape contribute to extreme water shortages. Read More:

Traces of the First Stars in the Universe Possibly Found

"The reason why we care [about the first stars] is intricately related
 with the air we're breathing right now," study co-author John O'Meara,

 of Saint Michael's College in Vermont, said last week at a press  conference at the 227th Meeting of the American Astronomical  Society in Kissimmee, Florida.
 "Early on in the universe, we did not have
 heavy elements [such as oxygen] at all."                  
  Read More|

Living in the Anthropocene |

The era known as the Industrial Revolution and the changes that occurred during this period, were from 1760 to 1850. While the first industrial revolution was centered on iron, steam technologies and textile production, the second industrial revolution called "The Age of Synergy" in which most of the great innovations were developed, happened during the period of 1867 to 1914. It revolved around steel, railroads, electricity, and chemicals. We are, in all probability, in a repetitive cycle of such motions. It doesn’t happen in one day, one year or even ten years. It just doesn’t happen overnight. The first industrial revolution lasted for about 90 years.
 Original Wordpress Post 

Since the time of the Industrial Revolution, 
what impact has humanity had on ecosystems

Taking land out of food production and putting it into climate regulation |

New research into the potential for sparing land from food production to balance greenhouse gas emissions has shown that emissions from the UK farming industry could be largely offset by 2050.

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