News briefs on energy and the environment

Beach erosion caused by Hurricane Irene.

Good news for the Ocean State

The U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works last month approved the RESTORE the Gulf Coast States Act of 2011, which included an amendment introduced by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) to create the National Endowment for the Oceans, Coasts, and Great Lakes. “The endowment,” Whitehouse says, will “protect our oceans and support the fishing, research, and tourism jobs which are central to Rhode Island’s economy.” The endowment will distribute funds through grant programs to coastal states and regional planning organizations for projects to restore habitat, manage fisheries, plan for sustainable coastal development, relocate critical coastal infrastructure, and acquire coastal properties for preservation—something sure to please the members of the Planning Commission.

By Linda Felaco

When it isn't a Baby Ruth floating in the water

A new accurate, economical wireless, autonomous sensor can detect E. coli outbreaks at beaches and drinking water sources and return results in 1 to 8 hours, making it potentially more valuable to public health authorities. The device accurately identified the presence or absence of levels of E. coli deemed to be "significant" by public health authorities in 13 out of 15 samples. Current methods to detect E. coli, a bacterium that indicates the presence of fecal matter in water, typically require 24 to 48 hours to produce useful results, by which point many more people may have potentially been exposed.

Fill up your tank with your lawnmower? 

Most biofuels today are made from corn or sugar, which puts pressure on world food supplies by removing land from agricultural use. Biofuel makers would like to be able to use nonfood plants instead, but the most likely candidates, trees and grasses, are difficult to break down into biofuel because they’re high in cellulose. Now researchers have engineered bacteria that can produce the normally expensive enzymes needed to break down cellulose to create biofuel. The process is not very efficient, but if it can be improved upon, one day we could be growing grassoline in our yards.

Now for the bad news

A new analysis suggests that so-called carbon capture technologies that would combat climate change by sucking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and burying it may not be economical or practical. Previous estimates have placed the cost at a few hundred dollars per ton of carbon dioxide removed. At $300 per metric ton, it would cost more than $10 trillion to completely counteract the estimated 33.5 billion tons of CO₂ emissions generated by humans—a huge expense, but still feasible. But the new study concluded that just capturing CO₂ would cost at least $1100 per ton, meaning a total price tag of at least $33 trillion just to hold atmospheric concentrations of CO₂ steady. Then, once the gas is captured, even more energy is required to compress it into a liquid and dispose of it. And if powering these processes emits CO₂, the net result might actually increase atmospheric CO₂ rather than reduce it. So much for that idea.

Environmentally friendly living Christmas tree.

If the atheists don’t get ‘em, climate change will

While Doreen Costa was busy lighting her “Charlie Brown Christmas tree”—her brave stance against “Satan’s spruce” was even featured on the Daily Show—the Rhode Island Climate Change Commission was holding its inaugural meeting. The 28-member board, which was authorized by the General Assembly in 2010, brought together state lawmakers and organizations representing businesses, environmental groups, the education sector, and government agencies. According to the 2010 Climate Risk Reduction Act (pdf), Rhode Island’s average temperature has increased 1.5° since 1970 and winter temperatures have increased by 4°. The report also notes that if fossil-fuel emissions continue at their current rate, the annual number of days with temperatures greater than 90° is expected to increase sharply from about five a year today to about 50 at the end of the century. Bad news for the growers of Christmas trees. So the commission certainly has its work cut out for it.

Perverse incentives
A University of Michigan engineering/economics study has found that there are incentives in the new Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for automakers to build larger vehicles that are allowed to meet lower targets. The most recent CAFE standards, released in July, require carmakers to raise the average fuel economy of new cars and trucks to 35.5 miles per gallon by the 2016 model year and 54.5 mpg by the 2025 model year. But the calculation of these averages changes each year based on the “footprints”—defined as track width times wheelbase—of the vehicles made by each manufacturer.

The University of Michigan researchers developed 21 scenarios involving 473 vehicles where car companies could adjust the size of their vehicles, add fuel-saving technologies, balance acceleration performance with fuel economy, and adjust vehicle prices. In 20 of the 21 scenarios, automakers actually increased the size of their vehicles.

The authors calculate that the sales-weighted average vehicle size in 2014 could increase by 1 to 16 square feet, undermining fuel economy improvements between 1 and 4 mpg. That increase in vehicle size means the industry as a whole would not achieve the fuel economy goal for 2014.