Seize'em and freeze'em Preserving samples in liquid nitrogen. Credit: USDA) Mulligan's column reminded me of a variation on this cloning idea years from almost 20 years ago.
You need to do a bit of chemistry to get the sugar out. Mother Nature has five types of sugars--we can use two types,
six-carbon and five-carbon sugars found in nature. Smartplanet: Cobalt has seen investment from Vantagepoint, Pinnacle, LSP and Harris & Harris, among others.
That's really the challenge with all these fuel and chemical technologies, they have to cross the Valley of Death.
The first thing we want to do is sell butanol into the chemical market. That's a $7 billion dollar market.
when you sell into the chemical market, and we should have completed our facility by the end of 2011.
From a volume perspective, the fuels market is much better than the chemicals market. The chemicals market is pretty exciting--the revenues are the same.
Trillion-plus-dollar markets. The real key to winning is to get out there and build a lot of these things
Coca-cola notes that there is a big difference between water footprinting and carbon footprinting. Here's what it says in the report:
With carbon footprints, one can compare similar products (if the same boundaries and methodology are used) knowing that lower carbon
(or zero carbon) is better. On the other hand, water footprints help identify where water is used in the production of a production and
what type of water is used. Water is local and thus water footprint numbers must be considered in the context of the local watershed.
specifically one produced by Coca-cola Enterprises in The netherlands Beet sugar supplied to Coca-cola in Europe Minute maid
High efficiency natural gas boilers produce nearly net zero carbon dioxide; the plants absorb the gas during photosynthesis. Biomass will be utilized in the future, Lynn noted.
The underlying building receives the added benefit of a 20 percent energy cost reduction, Lynn said.
The crux of these awards is that they recognize innovations in sustainable agricultural that encourage the rise of so-called sustainable agriculture--which encourages farming according to methods that don t introduce chemical pesticides
and fossil fuel that s needed to make chemical fertilizer, mechanize working the land and its crops,
Butanol is drop in fuel molecule that can be used in existing vehicles and fuel distribution infrastructure,
but can we do them with wood as a way to reduce the carbon impact
that you could build a high-rise made of wood that would reduce its carbon footprint
which absorbs carbon while it grows. But not just any wood. You use laminated wood composites like glulam
would erase the carbon-reducing benefits. You d want to look and see if you are using within a 500-mile limit,
 It is estimated that some 5 percent of all global greenhouse gas or carbon dioxide, emissions come from making
mass timber high-rises could help offset billions of pounds of greenhouse gases. According to an estimate by Vancouver architect Michael Green, who designed an eight-story wood building in Prince George that will be the tallest in North america
That s the same amount of gas given off by 118 cars in just a single year of driving.'
their energy consumption and management of greenhouse gas emissions. The companies are rivals in environmental leadership, as well as products.
when companies claim carbon neutrality without lifting a finger to reduce actual consumption. The other work that it is important to mention
especially considering the relatively poor progress made by large companies toward cutting greenhouse gas emissions,
HP's update about its energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions goals sees it setting new goals for its consumption reduction goals,
because every tech company contributes to the carbon footprint of the planet not just through its own business operations
And they release dangerous chemicals like BPA as they do so. Picture by CBS from Photobucket.
and we can capture the carbon used in burning coal, that just leaves more coal ash.
One example centers on Disney's greenhouse gas emissions. Even though the company has set a zero net goal for direct greenhouse gas emissions over the long term
when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions. I'm sure that theme park attendance is partially to blame for the erratic performance the chart shows.
Drones will play a role in oil and gas exploration. Utilities can also use drones to survey power lines.
And that's because when human proteins are expressed in plant cells, they're usually decorated with plant-specific sugar molecules,
which could prompt a dangerous immune reaction if injected into patients, Nature explains. The team tweaked the protein-producing genes,
not to alter the sequence of the human protein, but to ensure that, once made, the proteins would not be moved through the cell's Golgi complex,
a structure where the problematic sugars are added. The engineered maize seeds produced proteins decorated with sugars that could be converted to human forms.
In the end, they were able to synthesize alpha-L-iduronidase, the enzyme used to treat the rare lysosomal storage disease mucopolysaccharidosis
I. Other plants are already being used to make biopharmaceuticals. In May, the US Food and Drug Administration approved the first ever drug produced in a genetically engineered plant cell:
however, maize may one day become the go-to way to make complex protein drugs.
A zero-fat soybean oil called Plenish under its Pioneer brand in 2012. We have a unique capability to have both science in advanced materials as well as biotechnology,
energy security, rural community growth, fewer greenhouse gas emissions, food constraints, green jobs. Binetti outlined the advantages of cellulosic ethanol:
60 percent reduction in greenhouse gases. Grown on marginal land. Good income for farmers. Then he outlined the advantages of biobutanol:
 Meats and protein had largest price differences. Healthier options cost $0. 29 per serving more than less healthy options.
and fats/oils, and not significant for soda/juice. Comparing extremes, healthier diets cost $1. 48 per day more than the least healthy ones.
The greatest potential for greenhouse gas reductions, the authors say, appears to be in e-commerce (206 million tons), telecommuting (over a half a billion tons), teleconferencing (200 million tons) and paper reduction (57 million by reductions in newspaper circulation alone).
In general, the evidence presented in this study shows that broadband-driven technologies can make a sizable contribution to reducing carbon emissions,
You have this polymer that s made from carcinogenic compounds like benzene and it will last up to 10,000 years.
In forests there s a lot of fungi that are breaking down the compounds. So the mycelium from mushrooms you use that as a glue to hold together these agricultural byproducts?
Walker Lunn founded Envirelation in an effort to help the hospitality industry reduce its carbon footprint
or alienated when you start taking about greenhouse gas emissions. Composting they get it. It s so real.
EPA releases interactive map of US biggest pollutersa new map released by the EPA yesterday gives us an interactive glimpse of the largest U s. based greenhouse gas polluters.
and the type of GHG (greenhouse gas) emitted. If they wish, they can also download the entire data set.
The Scherer coal-fired power plant near Macon, Ga.,is labelled as the largest producer of greenhouse gases in the United states. In 2010,
The collated data for greenhouse gas emissions in 2010 shows: Power plants were the largest stationary sources of direct emissions. 2,
CO2 accounted for the largest percent of greenhouse gas emissions, claiming a share of 95 percent.
nitrous oxide and fluorinated gases coming in last for the remaining 1 percent. 100 facilities each reported emissions over 7 mmt of carbon dioxide,
-and fuel-saving efficiencies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and foster technologies to protect public health and the environment.
Shifts in carbon policies
EPA's stance on greenhouse gas draws legal fire from Chamber of Commercebeen stewing over this one for a few days,
because it's likely to be protracted a dispute. But did you know that the U s. Chamber of commerce has filed actually a lawsuit with the U s. Court of appeals in the District of columbia that challenges the U s. Environment Protection Agency's decision not to reconsider its position on greenhouse gas emissions?
The Chamber of commerce along with a bunch of other groups including the mysterious Coalition for Responsible Regulation had petitioned the EPA to reconsider its finding from late last year.
The Chamber's lawsuit challenges the wisdom of regulating greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act,
which was created not to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. So, at this point I'm thinking about all the times--this year alone--our legislators have backed away from doing something about the environment.
The coalition is made up of local chambers who are focused on the flip side of addressing climate change--that it could be a catalyst for group.
Now companies must rely on more expensive coal-and gas-burning power generators. A lack of grass is also dramatically raising the costs to farmers in animal Feed in addition, cities with seemingly endlessly-growing levels of pollution, like Madrid, Barcelona,
and to take decisive action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, with integrated health, environmental and climate change policies,
What else are you doing to reduce the level of chemicals put into he environment through your products?
One thing unique about Scotts fertilizer is that we re the only company that has combined all the nutrients in each particle.
We re developing a bio-herbicide to kill weeds that would replace the chemical herbicides.
Meanwhile, Monsanto (yep the herbicide and GM seeds maker) is developing a new weapon to battle the disorder:
RNA molecules that kill parasites by disrupting the way their genes are expressed, Technology Review explains.
The EERC is working withã Â Vermont-basedã Â Wynntryst to develop a gasification power system to use the waste from the Green Mountain Coffee Roasters processing plant to produce energy.
and produce clean synthetic gas, or syngas, by using the EERC's advanced fixed-bed gasifier.
or it will be converted to biofuels or chemicals. The pilot-scale tests will determine the quality of syngas that can be produced from the Green Mountain waste.
who started his career as a molecular biologist before becoming the economics minister of the Republic of Georgia and finally a biotech entrepreneur.
The measures have been a major setback to seed giants like Monsanto who argue that GMOS--like those that produce crops resistant to disease--are feed necessary to a growing planet and pose no harm to humans or the environment.
even though Monsanto argues that no legitimate, peer-reviewed studies have proven this. The European union has required such labeling for nearly a decade.
Spent grease is turning into biofuel. Excess food is donated now to shelters and soup kitchens. Used food is diverted to feedstock.
and used grease to drawing in new customers who favor their social responsibility. The effort has stimulated also a micro-economy of biofuel makers, compost haulers, urban farmers and recycling outfits.
and for using food waste in methane gas capture. In Atlanta, the zero-waste zone downtown has brought new players into the market,
if cutting carbon emissions is the goal, this biomass even if just the woody scraps on the forest floor is the wrong way to go.
Most people assume that wood bioenergy will be carbon-neutral, because the forest re-grows and there's also the chance of protecting forests from carbon emissions due to wildfire.
However, our research showed that the emissions from these activities proved to be more than the savings.
Oregon and California are considered carbon sinks. This means they hold more carbon than they naturally release into the atmosphere.
An OSU forestry professor tells the Seattle Post Intelligencer that in the long run, however, the biomass could still be better than burning fossil fuels.
and carbon-holding potential. Such forests would also be more likely to burn and thus, release their carbon on their own.
Just last month, the USDA granted a total of $80 million to University of Washington and Washington state University for next-gen biofuel research.
GMO trees for sequestering more carbon? Salvaging biofuel from West's pine beetle devastation Could biodiesel be worse for the environment than diesel?
Airlines say biofuels can shrink the industry s carbon footprint because they do not emit CO2 the way conventional hydrocarbon jet fuels ââ oetypically kerosene-do.
But Foe points out that jet biofuels can actually increase carbon emissions if planters of feedstocks like palm, jatropha and camelina eradicate forests and grasslands,
Plowing, fertilizing and harvesting emit CO2 and other greenhouse gases, it points out. A report produced by IEEP (Institute for European Environmental Policy) for Friends of the Earth Europe
15%of jatropha and 5%of animal fat and as such is environmentally responsible. Camelina and jatropha are plants that are inedible to humans.
but that it responsibly obtains it, the camelina and animal fat from Australasia, EU countries, North america, and Southeast asia.
and pitchfork if industry were to declare it was intentionally overshooting government greenhouse gas reduction targets by a wide margin.
Paula Owen. Not only can people cut their carbon footprint, but they can also bring down their electricity bills considerably.
Emissions would stand at 43.6 million tons of greenhouse gases, compared to a goal of 36 million tons.
à  We re all flouting greenhouse gas reduction goals. Tonight, as you lean forward towards your 17-inch Mac monitor,
I was first a chemical engineer for Nalco Chemical. I grew up in the industrial boat.
We have a lot of technologies around desalination that reduce the cost, take the energy cost out--about 50 percent of the cost of running a desal plant is energy
take natural gas. In New york and Pennsylvania, we're sitting on one of the greatest shale gas reserves in the world.
and frees the gas bubbles up. What comes up is really nasty wastewater combined with gas.
They separate the gas, and the wastewater is really nasty stuff. The way to get rid of it is put it in a really giant evaporation pond,
or put it in a disposal well--states like Texas and Louisiana do this --and remove it from the cycle completely.
Today, we want the natural gas because it meets the needs of global climate change, but it taints our water supply.
coal, nuclear, gas. A big power plant uses a boatload of water. The primary use is to cool those processes--the big hyperbolic cooling towers.
They decided to test the canola plants in the Warehouse Foods ditch for proteins that would tell them
delivering the news like an unexpected pregnancy test the crop developed genes that are resistant Monsanto's Roundup or Bayer's Liberty Link herbicide.
Monsanto: Supreme court lifts ban on genetically modified seeds
Genetically modifying plants to absorb arsenicsince ancient times, humans have been using and abusing arsenic for everything from mining to medicine to murder.
Arsenic and its compounds occur naturally in many places, but high levels accumulate in the environment through wood preservatives, fertilizers, coal burning, paints and other industrial uses.
It's a great example of digital data used as a catalyst for action. Full disclosure-the founders of the Cedar Grove Institute are old friends of mine.
 According to the Stern report, keeping forests intact is one of the most cost-effective ways to cut carbon emissions.
GPS saves gas for produce delivery companymichael Gilbert says the Navman Wireless installation paid for itself in 90 days.
(which is a waste of gas) and long delivery stops (even though the drivers are, in essence, customer service representatives and are encouraged to talk to clients,
Idling can cost up to 1 gallon of gas every hour. If every truck makes six to 10 stops per day
it uses energy and increases greenhouse gas emissions. If a big company like Conagra were to make the switch,
Ground zero in the energy-water nexusthe oil and gas producing countries of the Middle east may be sitting pretty in fossil fuels,
All of the water in the emirate's distribution system--the water used for human consumption--is produced by nine large desalination plants, to the tune of 634 million Imperial gallons a day in 2011.
ADWEC Virtually all desalination activities are powered currently by natural gas-fired cogeneration plants burning an average of 1. 73 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of gas.
About half of that power generation is used for desalination. Therefore, about 0. 86 Bcf/d of gas went to water desalination in 2011,
which likely rose to 1 Bcf/d in 2012 (data for 2012 is not yet available).
Nationally, the UAE imports more gas than it produces. As I detailed in my last column, the nation produced around 5 Bcf in 2010,
In short, it imports almost exactly the same amount of gas as Abu dhabi uses for water desalination.
At current European gas import prices, that would be more than $12 million a day, or $4. 4 billion a year, in sacrificed revenue.
Exactly where UAE gets its gas imports, or what it pays for them, is not public information,
The emirate of Abu dhabi has a slightly better gas balance with a net surplus of 0. 11 Bcf/d in 2010, according to the Statistics Centre of Abu dhabi.
Desalination is the only way to produce more water in these arid countries. To put the word arid in perspective,
Desalination has so far proved the answer, but in 50 years'time we will have no usable groundwater left,
Caught between the rapidly rising cost of natural gas-powered desalination and exploding water demand, Abu dhabi is looking to its massive solar resource
We are ready to aggressively pursue desalination powered by renewable energy Dr. Sultan al-Jaber said at a press conference.
commercially viable desalination plant powered by renewables operating by 2020. More than 48 companies are already on the short list for consideration as technology partners.
Other Middle Eastern oil and gas producers are considering similar options. UAE's next door neighbor Qatar has the world's third-largest gas reserves
and is the single largest exporter of liquefied natural gas. But like Abu dhabi, it is looking to renewables as a means of securing its water supply.
Speaking on a panel, H. E. Fahad bin Mohammed Al Attiya, the chairman of the Qatar National Food Program, offered a stark assessment:
If they could free those amount of fossils they use just for desalination, if they could free those amount of fossils by using solar,
it's clear that desalination alone--especially if it's powered entirely by relatively expensive renewables--can't solve the Middle east's problem.
even in this part of the world that loves its gas hogs more than any other. Bader Al Lamki, the Director of Clean Energy at Masdar, explained to me how his electricity bill details the amount he is charged
mishandling of my consumption of electricity, water, oil and gas? he asked rhetorically. Dubai also started to do a little bit of relief of the subsidy that has been in,
The enormous amount of food grain production in the state has been made possible due to irrigation, chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
and from natural gas used to make fertilizers. Fuel is an enormous part of the cost structure for farmers,
A world characterized by high oil prices, technological breakthroughs and a high implicit or actual carbon price.
Then when that is complete, the municipality will reduce greenhouse gas by about 30 percent with an annual savings of $880,
and get it on high efficiency natural gas heating system before George bush got out of office. And I was able to meet that goal.
And getting a good understating of my own carbon footprint. The state of Maine is more dependent on home heating fuel than any other state.
All the buildings will be converted to natural gas, so that ll really help reduce the greenhouse gas load. Most municipal buildings are running on oil.
Natural gas is not only cleaner but it s cheaper. You can see the parallels between what I m doing in my own life and
what s going on the city
How Kansas city is making millions from human wasteafter cities have cleaned out waste in water treatment plants,
factoring in everything from carbon stored, to ozone, nitrogen, and particulates removed, health impact, effect on building heating/cooling costs,
have a carbon sequestration value of $386, 000, and a pollution removal value of 836,000.
Some of the vitamins are lost significantly. Once we have collected all the data, we'll have a better idea of
I was a chemistry major in college and got a job at Dunkin'Donuts in their research and development lab. The entire summer,
I gave chemistry a try the following summer and decided I wanted food science. I love it.
--whether it's packaging or chemistry or biology or micro-engineering. It's special working here.
Biochar is a carbon-negative soil amendment made from waste. It's produced through a process called pyrolysis.
when it's converted to charcoal we can sequester that carbon in the ground. We convert it into a form that will never decompose back into CO2.
I went to Princeton and I studied at the Carbon Mitigation Initiative. It's a think tank developing low-carbon energy technologies.
I also did soil science work with the Smithsonian in Panama. I was working on soil science issues with small farmers there.
a troubling fact considering the gas is even more potent than carbon dioxide. With 1. 2 billion methane-burping animals on the planet today, the digestive systems of livestock are worthy of examination.
or sheep's stomach where much of the gas production occurs. By measuring how much and when cattle produce methane
because it doesn't generate carbon emissions. However, the conventional method of producing hydrogen gas relies on energy from fossil fuels to separate the atoms from other molecules like water.
Deli Wang, professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the UC San diego Jacobs School of engineering
when placed in a chemical reacting zinc solution, Alyssa Danigelis of  Discovery News recently reported.
That reaction produces hydrogen gas which bubbles up through the solution. The world won't be teaming with nanowire-producing hydrogen forest anytime soon.
626 miles on a tank of gas China s new bullet train is world s fastest, smashes record Video:
which uses more chemical fertilizer than any other country. Ten million tons of fertilizer pollute Chinese waterways each year,
The lab have used them to make mayonnaise and a particularly tasty high-protein granola. Reade explained that bee larvae were an excellent gateway insect for breaking down the mental barriers people have to ingesting bugs.
Insects emit less greenhouse gases, can often be grown on organic waste, frequently prefer to be packed together,
grasshoppers, for example, provide the same protein content as beef with less fat. They have a high food conversion rate--according to the U n. Food and agriculture organization,
crickets need six times less feed than cattle to produce the same amount of protein. With these facts in mind, the European union is investing some 4 million euros in a feasibility study of insects as protein in animal feed.
An important aspect of any such study is pathology: knowing which insects are safe to eat and
and hydrolizes the proteins into simple amino acids with a rich umami flavor. Reade used a Thermomix to blend the koji with bee larvae
But they are protein-rich so the flavor comes from fermenting. The mix would sit for six weeks at 42 degrees celsius, during
 Rich in vitamins A c, K as well as fiber, calcium, and a slew of other minerals, it tops even spinach in terms of health perks.
And for that very reason they've long been regarded as mother nature's antidote for our carbon-emitting ways.
causing all that pent up greenhouse gas to be released back into the atmosphere. It's been estimated that the loss of forests contribute 15 to 20 percent of global carbon emissions,
and most of that contribution comes from tropical regions. So to help keep tabs on the rapidly growing deforestation problem
and distribution of carbon stored in Earth's tropical forests. The accuracy of the map's information will allow nations to better manage greenhouse gases.
For instance, governments participating in the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation program or REDD+can use the measurements to establish a monetary value for the carbon sequestered in forests.
This means incentives can be offered for countries to preserve their forests and invest in low-carbon development projects.
Prior estimates estimates were derived from a rudimentary process where researchers would manually measure the size of forest trees
They arrived at their carbon estimates by looking at information on the height of treetops from more than 3 million measurements.
the amount of carbon it contained. The data was rendered then into a visual representation that shows distribution of carbon stored in forests across more than 75 tropical countries.
This was achieved using NASA imagery from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument on NASA's Terra spacecraft, the Quikscat scatterometer satellite and the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission.
The most obvious fact you'll notice is that the majority of carbon is stored in the extensive forests of Latin america.
The region holds half of all the carbon found within the world's tropical forests. Brazil's carbon stock alone, at 61 billion tons,
almost equals all of the carbon stock in Sub-saharan africa, at 62 billion tons. The map reveals that in the early 2000s,
forests in the 75 tropical countries studied contained 247 billion tons of carbon, which is nearly 25 times the amount of carbon is released annually to the atmosphere from combined fossil fuel burning and land use changes.
These patterns of carbon storage which we really didn't know before, depend on climate, soil,
topography and the history of human or natural disturbance of the forests, said Sassan Saatchi of NASA's Jet propulsion laboratory in Pasadena,
Calif. Areas often impacted by disturbance, human or natural, have lower carbon storage. For climate change scientists, the map also serves as a barometer of the health
and longevity of forests and how they contribute to the global carbon cycle and overall functioning of the Earth system.
The next step in Saatchi's research is to compare the carbon map with satellite observations of deforestation to identify source locations of carbon dioxide released to the atmosphere.
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