the 330-foot-long, hydrogen cell powered sailing vessel is proposed by the veer group, a bahamas-based company committed to zero carbon emissions. the design was approved by the american bureau of shipping.

“if there was a desire for this in the great lakes, it would just make me super happy to be able to fulfill that,” said veer ceo danielle doggett.

whether such vessels will someday enter the great lakes is uncertain. but interest is high in decarbonizing shipping. globally, the shipping industry’s 100,000 vessels are responsible for 3% of carbon emissions, according to maersk mc-kinney moller center, a nonprofit research company affiliated with the mærsk shipping company that is committed to decarbonizing the maritime industry.

the past and future of shipping

the maritime administration recently announced a study to explore low carbon options for shipping on the great lakes. the group, which includes the international council on clean transportation, the american bureau of shipping and others, is looking at alternative fuels and power.  the study will examine environmentally friendly fuel alternatives like biofuel and how to incorporate different power systems, like hydrogen fuel cells, into great lakes shipping, according to a press release.

combustion engines have dominated the shipping industry since the 1930s. veer is looking to bring sailing cargo back, doggett said. the company seeks funding to begin an 18-month build and have two vessels sailing by 2024 and six by 2026.

greenhouse gas emissions significantly contribute to climate change. they increase global temperatures, weather variability and air pollution. the great lakes have seen the effects of emissions from increased flooding, algal blooms and soil erosion.

“veer sail ships in the great lakes would make a lot of sense,” doggett said.

one reason is that veer’s plans are consistent with the clean shipping goals of the u.s. and canada, doggett said. another component for the great lakes is that the hydrogen fuel cells produce freshwater. it would be nice to excrete freshwater into a freshwater lake rather than into the ocean, doggett said.

growing up around the great lakes ships in kingston, ontario, inspired her field of work, she said.

addressing climate change and its effects

cleaner shipping comes at a crucial time for action, said university of michigan naval architecture and marine engineering professor matthew collette.

in 2021, the u.s. joined a united nations coalition to reach net zero emissions. the executive order emphasized the goal to reach net zero carbon emissions from federal operations by 2050. reaching zero means replacing energy sources that produce man-made emissions with renewable energy sources, like solar and wind power.

“if we want to be at zero carbon by 2050, the decisions we make in the next five years are really going to shape what fuel will become dominant,” collette said.

great lakes vessels primarily see the impact of climate change through variability in lake levels, extreme cold weather and major weather events, said jim weakley, president of the lake carriers’ association, a group participating in the maritime administration study.

“if the levels are low, or lower than normal, for each inch of water we lose as much as 270 tons of cargo per vessel load,” said weakley, whose organization moves over 90 million tons of cargo throughout the great lakes each year.

the group wants to reduce the risk of climate change and is open to using veer group vessels once they are sailing, said debra dicianna, director of environmental affairs for the lake carriers’ association.

but using the existing ships on the great lakes would be better, she said.

“with our membership and their existing fleet, they are doing well at hauling the cargo that they need to,” she said.

all about balance

veer’s sailing vessels may be part of the solution, collette said. but figuring out a balance of technologies and fuel is the way to a more sustainable future.

“we don’t have a single winning technology today that everyone is pointing to and saying this is the way forward,” he said.

while veer’s methods may not be in the cards for the great lakes for another few years, the idea of sail-assist to reduce emissions is relevant today, collette said.

it is easier to update existing great lakes vessels by adding sails or replacing combustion engines with a lower sulfur level fuel cell, he said.

“adding sails to existing ships might reduce emissions from 10% to 30%, he said. “but i think we are also going to have to figure out a zero carbon fuel source for them.”

alternative fuels that don’t involve burning a hydrocarbon include methanol, ammonia or hydrogen, collette said.

“i think there’s a lot of work to be done on figuring out which one of those will be the most effective,” he said.

decarbonizing great lakes shipping may require multiple approaches.

“we need to make sure we are taking a holistic view of minimizing our impact on the lakes and the people who live around the lakes,” collette said.

however, restaurants are putting climate change on the menu. industry leaders are transitioning their restaurant operations to be more sustainable and climate friendly. here are 5 ways they’re doing it.

renewable energy 

restaurants are converting their spaces into sustainable buildings. azurmendi, a three-michelin-star restaurant in spain and two-time sustainable restaurant award winner, uses solar panels for electricity and uses geothermal energy for indoor climate control. root down, a sustainably focused restaurant in denver, is run entirely on wind power. nomad an ultra-local restaurant in australia operates off of solar energy and is a solar panel host site for the community. 

the shift to renewable energy is not exclusive to high-end restaurants. mcdonald’s opened a new net zero energy restaurant, the first in their fleet of 36,525 locations, in july 2020 in orlando, florida. the new location is a first step in mcdonald’s sustainability goals, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 36% by 2030. 

sustainable sourcing 

the farm-to-table phenomenon that became popular in restaurants over the past few years has been crucial to kick-starting a wave of restaurant sustainability. local, farm-to-table produce emits less carbon, as there is less transportation necessary to deliver it. amber in hong kong, the sustainable restaurant award 2020 winner, specializes in ultra-local, hyper-seasonal selections on their menu. their menu is up to 50% plant-based and they’ve removed all dairy from their dishes.

blue hill, a new york based restaurant, was one of the first to prioritize ultra-local sourcing and foster relationships with the farmers they work with. by seasonally changing menus and sourcing produce and meat products from local, sustainably operated farms, restaurants can greatly reduce their carbon footprints.

recycling

we can all do our part by recycling. we all know the saying: “reduce, reuse, recycle.” restaurants are using recycled paper products, recycled water, and recycled furniture. relae in denmark, winner of the sustainable restaurant award 2019, recycles wherever possible. from reusing empty wine bottles to serve their in-house filtered water, to using recycled furniture and wearing sustainable-fabric aprons, relae works tirelessly to employ sustainability in all aspects of their operations.

founding farmers in washington, d.c., uses recycled materials in a similar way. from recycled paper-composite counter tops, to recycled paper menus and recycled wood furnishings, the restaurant group prioritizes sustainability in all nine of their locations.

circular economy and community involvement 

many restaurants engage in circular economies and community involvement, which helps their communities and involves locals in sustainability efforts. septime in paris sources all of their produce from french farmers, and works with those farmers to save seed varieties and plant species. mil, a restaurant nestled in the andes mountains of peru, fosters close relationships with local communities and the farmers they source from, ensuring that farmers receive 50% of harvest profits. woodberry kitchen, a baltimore restaurant, repurposes oyster shells and returns them to chesapeake bay to regenerate oyster beds. 

zero food print

zero food print is an organization that enables farmers to practice carbon farming. carbon farming is a method that restores soil biology, which then pulls carbon out of the atmosphere, reviving the soil and replenishing nutrients. zero food print restaurants contribute a few cents per meal to helping farmers implement carbon farming through grants from the organization’s restore programs. according to professor rattan lal at ohio state university, “a mere 2% increase in the carbon content of the planet’s soils could offset 100% of all greenhouse gas emissions going into the atmosphere.” 

as restaurants prioritize sustainability, they are supporting local farmers, reducing their impact on the environment, and making an impact on their guests. by continuing to put climate change on the menu, restaurants will be a key player in the fight against climate change. 

wind energy is so prevalent in texas, that if the state were its own country, it would rank fifth in the world for wind energy with about 25 megawatts installed throughout the state according to the american wind energy association.

what’s even more impressive about wind-powered electricity in texas? in 2019, something monumental happened. the electric reliability council of texas (ercot) released their biannual report for the first half of the year and wind had surpassed coal. the difference in energy usage was small with wind coming in at 22% and coal at 21%, but wind has been growing steadily in practice and as a focus for politicians, educators, environmentalists, and local economies.

lubbock, texas, is the heart of wind research, industry, and education in the country. it’s the home of texas tech university and the national wind institute (nwi), and the university is the only one in the nation with a degree program for wind engineering. anyone that’s familiar with west texas knows that wind turbines are as plentiful as tumbleweeds and prairie dogs. new “wind farms” appear every year on the farmland surrounding small towns. these wind farms pump money into local economies and bring new life to these communities.

matt saldana is a small-town texas native and an employee of the national wind institute. saldana also is an instructor at texas tech, specializing in renewable energies, finance and economics, and project management. he has seen firsthand the changes that come with the wind industry while living in sweetwater, texas. while there, he witnessed a revival of the small town as money was brought into the community as a result of a new wind farm outside of town. saldana explained the entire process. 

when a contractor sees potential for a wind farm in an area, they go to the landowners of large farms and ranches with the request to put instruments on their land to take readings of wind speeds in the area, according to saldana. he said this stage is fully noncommittal and comes with no guaranteed compensation for the landowner. if the owner agrees to having turbines built on their property, the contracting company will begin construction.

as a thank you to the community, developers will often pay for new roads, sidewalks, or schools. in sweetwater, a new, state-of-the-art school district was built. this allowed for more money to be spent on teachers’ salaries, bringing in new faculty from the metroplex.

while the turbines are being constructed, thousands of temporary jobs are created. not only are local men and women hired to be on the construction crews, but local motels, restaurants, and gas stations see more business than they have in a long time. while they are under construction, the developers are subject to all local tax rates as well, ensuring the cities receive municipal funding. saldana said after construction, about 30 well-paying, permanent jobs are given to local residents. the landowners that have turbines on their properties receive a percentage of the revenue that each turbine produces (generally 3% to 8% depending on the specific company and production levels of each turbine, according to saldana).

“people are being allowed to keep the family farms they’ve had for generations,” saldana said.

the american farmer is in critical condition. production prices are at an all-time high, climate change is affecting growing seasons and harvesting, and trade wars with foreign countries have made it harder for many to sell what little yield they have. farm bankruptcies are up across every region of the country and the farmer suicide rate is one of the highest in the nation. saldana said that the extra revenue brought in by turbines to family farms has helped people save the land that’s been in their families for generations.

saldana said that research is being done constantly in order to push the industry forward. a few hot topics in the field include cybersecurity of turbines on the grid, finding a use for old and out of date equipment, moving into offshore capabilities, and finding a way to store renewable energy.

“renewable electricity can’t be stored,” saldana said. “finding a solution to that would be a game changer.”

saldana said despite the many positive aspects of the wind industry, there is still controversy surrounding wind turbines for people who live around them: endangering wildlife such as birds and bats, disrupting flora and fauna, and the low aesthetic value of the wind farms. he said the nwi is working on addressing these issues and that developers often work with wildlife conservation groups funding research and relocating bird species, like the lesser prairie chicken.

“there’s always going to be pushback no matter the industry,” saldana said. “(the positives) outweigh the negatives by environmental benefits and just keeping stuff in the ground.”

despite these controversies, there’s no question that renewable energy industries have earned their place in texas. wind powered energy has become a major source of power for the state and only continues to grow. wind energy allows for more assurance from blackouts, brownouts, and offers a new, clean means of electricity on the grid, ensuring a green method of urban resilience as our population spreads in urban areas; as a result, rural communities in west texas continue to thrive thanks to the economic spark this industry brings them.

while a report from the national renewable energy laboratory (nrel) shows wind energy is on the rise in the united states, proposed cuts to the department of energy budget cuts could deal a significant blow.

the global wind energy council released a global wind statistics report in april 2016 for wind energy by country in 2015. the report ranked the united states second in wind energy at 74,471 megawatts — behind only china. however, pushback from the house of representatives under the trump administration could cause the united states to lose that prestigious place.

thus far, attempts to undermine the budget of the department of energy have proved unsuccessful. according to a science magazine article, the house of representatives under the trump administration proposed on june 27, 2017, for the 2018 budget starting on oct. 1 to eliminate the advanced research projects agency energy (arpa-e). the proposed budget did not go through, due to a lack of support from the senate. sen. lamar alexander (r.-tenn.), who lead the senate committee on appropriations that issued the fiscal year 2018 budget, according to a science magazine article, stood up to this to say “this is not what we are going to do.”

in a bipartisan effort, the gop-controlled senate fought back against the budget the house proposed in june with a bill on july 18 to actually increase basic research funding of the arpa-e by 8%. arpa-e projects include the metacapacitors for led lighting at the city university of new york (cuny) energy institute and temperature-regulated batteries at the oak ridge national laboratory (ornl) in tennessee.

    “…that is not what we are going to do.”

while the senate has pushed back against cuts that could threaten clean energy innovation this past july, wind energy has a long way to go. the wind energy sphere is a “material intensive industry,” according to dr. stephen hsu of george washington university’s department of mechanical & aerospace engineering.

wind turbines present an issue of cost effectiveness to repair. hsu explained that, in simple terms, it’s not exactly appealing to need to fix turbines with propellers 200 to 300 feet in the air.

this means, according to hsu, one of the biggest deterrents for a business to purchase wind turbines is damage caused by the external environment.

in the early 2000’s, there was a huge push for wind turbines, and now some of those wind turbines are coming up on the expiration of their 20-year warranties. these potential repairs are a turnoff to investing in wind energy. to tackle the challenge presented by environmental and age-related damage to turbines, hsu’s lab is focusing on technology involving cell healing for blade repair.

hsu said he thought, “maybe we can make the need for repair much less,” and that would reduce the risks of purchasing owning and operating wind turbines. so, hsu created a wind energy 2022年世界杯亚洲预选赛结果 at gw’s virginia science and technology campus. his team is currently putting research efforts into microtechnology, and his lab is focusing on technology involving cell healing for blade repair.

in a 2010 gw today article, rachel muir wrote about how “many of the new materials required to revolutionize the wind turbine industry will be engineered at the nanoscales.” revolutionizing the industry will be crucial in order to get businesses on board with buying wind turbines, and self-repairing turbines could be the innovation that builds the bridge toward a cleaner future over the economic gap.

“it’s not science fiction. it is actually feasible microtechnology,” hsu said, yet “it’s kind of a risk, because it’s untested.”

“…it’s not science fiction, it is actually feasible microtechnology.”

risky though it may be, companies have shown interest in the proposal. the 11 companies of the wind energy 2022年世界杯亚洲预选赛结果 , including ari wind, generation energy, and viryd, contributed more than $1 million to support research of the technology.

however, even with corporate funding, government support remains the key factor that could make wind energy boom. katherine dykes of the national renewable energy laboratory wrote in her paper, “enabling the smart wind power plant of the future through science-based innovation,” that “the scenario we projected in the study relies on scientific innovation and thus there is a dependency on research funding.”

hsu explained how, globally, wind energy is on the rise. thus, if funding for the department of energy decreases significantly under the trump administration, then in terms of wind energy, “after four or eight years, we could be way behind europe,” he said.

nuclear physicist and former u.s. secretary of energy ernest moniz called the proposed budget “a retreat from our nation’s commitment to clean energy research,” according to a press release from the national treasury employees union from may 26 this year. he went on to say the house’s proposed budget “would put us behind china and europe, blunting our competitive edge in a multi-trillion-dollar developing clean energy global market.”

the house and the senate remain locked in conflict. while the senate voted in july on the bill to increase arpa-e funding, the house wants to get rid of the agency altogether.

 “…after four or eight years, we could be way behind europe.”

still, hsu is unswayed by the economic circumstances. “wind energy will rise,” he said. it’s not a question of whether or not wind energy will expand ahead, it’s a question of whether the united states will invest in it.

“we have a lead,” hsu said. “why waste it?”

it was caused by a nearly decadelong series of disastrous windstorms in the southern plains. you may know it as the dust bowl.

on nov. 11, 1933, massive dust storms swept across south dakota. history.com reports that within two days, dust from the storm had reached albany, n.y. — more than 1,500 miles from where the storms originated. in 1933, there were 38 storms in total, according to pbs’ american experience. that was more than double the 14 that occurred in the region the previous year.

over the next year, the dust storms spread, and the drought became the worst in u.s. history, with more than 75% of the country affected. on april 14, 1935, a “black blizzard” developed, resulting in the most damage from any storm in the history of the dust bowl. it is now known as “black sunday.”

while the situation became dire in the plains, washington was simultaneously dealing with the great depression. franklin roosevelt took office in 1933 and congress worked quickly to push through the emergency banking act of 1933, which stabilized the bank industry. in the months leading up to black sunday, a series of farm- and drought-related actions followed, including the taylor grazing act, the frazier-lemke farm bankruptcy act and the drought relief service. a week before black sunday, the emergency relief appropriation act was approved by fdr, which along with funding created the works progress administration, employing 8.5 million people — and offering an opportunity for those hard hit by the dust storms.

soil erosion was the enemy, with experts estimating 850 million tons of topsoil lost in the southern plains to the storms over the course of 1935. the soil conservation service, established in april 1935 as part of the u.s. department of agriculture, developed techniques that have become standard practice for farmers, history.com said.

slowly, the plains were rehabbed by “changing the basic farming methods of the region by seeding areas with grass, rotating crops, and using contour plowing, strip plowing, and planting ‘shelter belts’ of trees to break the wind,” american experience reports. by the fall of 1939, the rains finally came again, ending the seemingly endless drought — and years of anguish. 

(image at top: machinery and a car are partially buried in dallas, s.d., in 1936, in the dust bowl. / united states department of agriculture)

carleton college is proud to be a second nature climate leadership award finalist for the second year in a row. through formal adoption of its statement of environmental principles, carbon neutrality value statement, and climate action plan, carleton ingrained the value of sustainability within its operations, curricular and co-curricular programs. our 2013 video submission, “clean energy in our community” highlights areas where carleton has excelled in its commitment to campus sustainability and the american college and university president’s climate commitment (acupcc).

installation of a second wind turbine in fall 2011 reduced carleton’s purchased electricity by 25% and its scope 2 emissions by 18%. carleton’s electric vehicle charging station is the first of its kind in our county. student sustainability assistants champion many campus initiatives related to waste reduction, energy conservation, and sustainable food systems—including a student organic farm which sells produce directly to the campus food service provider. and carleton’s curriculum includes a popular environmental studies major and more than thirty courses related to sustainability. carleton college is proud to model these sustainable practices in our community while preparing graduates to confront the most challenging environmental issues of our time.

•  panasonic aiming for battery-powered homes by 2011
•  battery breakthrough technology could power homes for pennies per kilowatt hour

we talk about battery-powered cars. why not battery-powered homes? these super batteries could even be fuel cells. it’s time to take innovation from the car to the home. it’s time. but, utility companies and government seem to conspire on discouraging homes to be off the grid.

but, as the u.s. power grid is already challenged, why not encourage houses to have the option to go off the grid during certain times of overload, when the house can subsist off the batter or fuel cell instead?

and as appliances get smarter, use less power, this surely seems possible today or in the next few years. the fuel cell or super battery that powers the home could get charged from the grid initially and/or through a combination of solar, wind, water, geothermal, natural gas and/or more.

the time is now, as millions every year go through more and more power outages due to severe weather. and, power outages can be quite harsh and even deadly in extreme heat or cold. as we become a wireless communication society with fewer and fewer landlines, why not evolve homes to have wireless electricity?

the briefing coincided with the release of a new report, the potential rate effects of wind energy and transmission in the midwest iso region, commissioned by the energy future coalition and produced by synapse energy economics, which concludes that adding more wind power to the midwest’s grid would place downward pressure on energy market prices and rates, even after factoring in the costs of the additional transmission needed to connect it. traditional power plants face fuel prices that fluctuate dramatically over time and they must also address regulatory uncertainty and pollution control upgrades, whereas, for example, solar, wind, and geothermal power plants are not subject to such fuel price volatility. what mix of renewable resources and traditional resources is actually the most reliable and cost effective system to meet our energy needs and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions?

the goal of this project is to have a cheaper and cleaner way to generate electricity, especially in developing countries and remote villages. the blades may be built from recycled plastic bags and bottles, saving the environment on through both manufacturing and use.