It didn’t command headlines but an important piece of legislation passed recently that involves water research. The House of Representatives on April 23 passed H.R. 1145, the National Water Research and Development Initiative Act of 2009. It’s designed to coordinate national research-and-development efforts regarding water use, supply and demand. The problem is Americans are drinking a lot of tapwater containing trace quantities of prescription drugs and other complex chemical compounds. Currently there is no long-term plan to address this issue and what level of drugs pose health concerns to the public. In line with investigating that problem, it’s also important to study how these compounds can be removed from our drinking-water sources. The act basically calls for federal research on the on the impact of trace amounts of pharmaceuticals...

No doubt, cleantech companies were upbeat when the White House stimulus package allocated 13 percent of the total $104 billion stimulus package for green technology. Much of the economic stimulus will flow to cleantech infrastructure, but exactly where will it go? Cleantech sectors, which were big winners, include smart grid technology with $4.5 billion, energy efficiency for federal buildings with $4.5 billion and wind and solar with $6 billion for new loan guarantees. It’s an unheard of sum for cleantech. And a recent survey of technology experts by Changewave Research sheds some light on where the impact will be felt most. Changewave surveyed 409 members of the Changewave Research Network, people who work for companies involved in infrastructure projects. The March 12-17 survey covered...

You wouldn't think so if you read recent press reports. Just like this time last year, the global press is bombarding the public with alarming reports coming from the bottom of the world. From the Discovery Channel on April 28th, 2009 "Huge Ice Shelf Breaks From Antarctica, Fractures." From National Geographic News on April 30th, 2009 "Giant Antarctic Ice Shelf Collapses." From Reuters on April 28th, 2009, "New York City-sized Ice Collapses off Antarctica." Exactly one year ago, similar stories circulated, and if anything, they were more alarming. On March 25th, 2008, the BBC reported "Antarctic Ice Hangs by a Thread," a result, they stated, of "unprecedented global warming." But these reports, both last year and this year, are talking about the same ice shelf - the Wilkins Ice Shelf, an insignificant bit of floating ice that is located on the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. Didn't it break up last year? How many times do we recycle...

Droughts are a farmer's worst nightmare: Crops meant for the dinner table wither away in the dry heat leaving people hungry and farmers broke. Not all plants are as sensitive to drought, though, and it is the genetic makeup of these more resilient plants that is of interest to scientists who feel the need to develop crops that can handle drastic shifts in their environments. U.S and Finnish researchers recently discovered the specific gene responsible for controlling the amount of water released by the plant as it absorbs carbon dioxide-more specifically, the gene that controls the plant's stomata. All leaves are covered with stomata, which are tiny pores used to suck up carbon dioxide and to release water vapor back into the air. Some of the 'hardier' plants...

As a physicist, my belief is that one of the reasons that intelligent energy policies have not gained sufficient traction is that we are allowing those with political agendas to define some key energy terms. Probably the most significant concept that we have unwittingly gone along with is the definition of the word "renewable." Giving some critical thought to this moniker is no academic matter, as the majority members of the US Senate's Energy Committee is currently pushing for a national Renewable Portfolio Standard (see: "Title VIII - Renewable Portfolio Standard" to view a draft). Their decision as to what is a "renewable" will have profound technical, economic and environmental consequences on the United States. To my knowledge there is no official definition of this bandied about term. When asked, the meanings...

Environmentalism, ideally, is a broad and pluralistic movement that embraces diverse ideologies and myriad disagreements, unified only by a shared and sincere concern for the health of the natural world. Aside from this core value, how individuals and organizations practice their environmentalism must and should display infinite variety, because how love for the natural world is balanced with empathy for the aspirations of humanity is never easy. Environmentalism in this broadest sense is a value that has acquired a welcome momentum in recent years, but challenging this ideal, pluralistic version of environmentalism are powerful political agendas. These agendas have become mainstream and monolithic and incorporate foreboding certainties centered on two fundamental planks: (1) We are...

A recent article in New Scientist by Fred Pearce entitled "Rainforests may pump winds worldwide" describes a new meteorological theory wherein vast forests play a critical role in generating winds that pump water around the world through the atmosphere. Here is how Pearce summarizes this theory: "How can forests create wind? Water vapour from coastal forests and oceans quickly condenses to form droplets and clouds... the gas [from this evaporation] takes up less space as it turns to liquid, lowering local air pressure. Because evaporation is stronger over the forest than over the ocean, the pressure is lower over coastal forests, which suck in moist air from the ocean. This generates wind that drives moisture further inland. The process repeats itself as the moisture is recycled in stages, moving...

Earlier this week, on April 15th, 2009, not coincidentally the day each year when tax returns are due from America's workers, there were "tea parties" held throughout the United States - approximately 2,000 separate events, some drawing over 10,000 people. It is probably accurate to estimate several hundred thousand people participated. In Sacramento, California, at what was reputed to be one of the biggest events, there were over 5,000 people in attendance at peak, but given the duration of the event, well over three hours, and the apparent turnover of people arriving and departing, probably closer to 10,000 people actually participated. Press coverage of these events in mainstream media - apart from Fox News - was somewhat cursory. Part of the reason for this was...

Researchers at the University of Minnesota reported recently that the production of ethanol fuelstocks may consume as much as three times more water than previously thought, depending on where they’re grown. They found that ethanol fuelstock grown in Iowa uses the least water — about 6 gallons of water for each gallon of ethanol. While fuelstock grown in Minnesota uses about 19 gallons of water per gallon of ethanol. And that’s just on the farm. The researchers found that total water use in the production of a single gallon of ethanol is up to 2,100 gallons of water — from farm to fuel pump — depending on the regional irrigation practice in growing corn. Although a dozen states in the Corn Belt consume less than 100 gallons of water per gallon of ethanol, making them better-suited for ethanol...

There's no better way to take the pulse of innovation than to survey R&D spending. And there's no better time than during a downturn, because history tells us that this is the opportunity for businesses to gain advantage by investing and growing. Two recent R&D surveys, one from the Wall Street Journal and the other from McKinsey were released recently and both confirm that many companies are still spending on R&D (for now). So what about green investment? Are companies spending on cleantech? They should be, since transforming energy markets (which is critical) will require an unprecedented level of R&D. But the challenges are enormous. The energy industry is the largest on the planet, with sales of more than $2 trillion a year, and industrial labs and government have...