Snowcapped mountains not only look majestic – They’re vital to a delicate ecosystem that has existed for tens of thousands of years. Mountain water runoff and snowmelt flows down to streams, rivers, lakes, and oceans – and today, around a quarter of the world depends on these natural “water towers” to replenish downstream reservoirs and groundwater aquifers for urban water supplies, agricultural irrigation, and ecosystem support.

But this valuable freshwater resource is in danger of disappearing. The planet is now around 1.1 degrees Celsius (1.9 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than pre-industrial levels, and mountain snowpacks are shrinking. Last year, a study co-led by Alan Rhoades and Erica Siirila-Woodburn, research scientists in the Earth and Environmental Sciences Area of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), found that if global warming continues along the high-emissions scenario, low-to-no-snow winters will become a regular occurrence in the mountain ranges of the western U.S. in 35 to 60 years.

Para leer más ingrese a:

https://newscenter.lbl.gov/2022/11/22/limiting-global-warming-freshwater-resource/

As human knowledge grows deeper and broader, new and more complex scientific problems require multidisciplinary teams with more diverse ideas and skills.Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRCs)—funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Basic Energy Sciences (BES)—are a prime example of this approach, bringing together teams from multiple organizations and disciplines to tackle the toughest challenges in energy technologies through fundamental research. This year, the Department of Energy awarded $400 million to establish and continue 43 EFRCs.

By leading one of these EFRCs and supporting six others, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) will collaborate with many different organizations to advance the BES goals to use discovery science and basic research to enable future clean energy technologies and advanced manufacturing.

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https://www.nrel.gov/news/program/2022/science-is-a-team-sport-seven-energy-frontier-research-centers-boost-nrel-research.html

Conflicts and disasters can happen anywhere—in the middle of a vast desert, on an isolated island, or in the dark arctic tundra. No matter where those catastrophes happen, the military and humanitarian organizations that sprint to aid affected communities need fast access to one critical resource: electrical power.

“In those situations, you typically can’t accept total loss of power,” said Brent Houchens, a mechanical engineer at Sandia National Laboratories.

That is one reason why Houchens, along with collaborators at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Idaho National Laboratory, spent the last four years exploring how wind energy could power both military and disaster relief efforts—both of which need fast and reliable power to succeed. Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Wind Energy Technologies Office, the Defense and Disaster Deployable Turbine project brought technology developers and researchers together with military and disaster response organizations to learn what kind of wind turbine system could best serve their needs.

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https://www.nrel.gov/news/program/2022/how-wind-turbines-could-power-defense-and-disaster-relief.html

RMI, founded as Rocky Mountain Institute, today releases a report urging mineral industry leaders to holistically account for and monitor how minerals — such as aluminum, cobalt, and lithium — are produced and sourced around the world. The goal is to hold global markets accountable for the ecological and social impact of mineral extraction and create markets where commodities can be differentiated based on their sustainability characteristics.

The new report, Supply Chain Traceability: Looking Beyond Greenhouse Gases, arrives promptly after international discussions around the “just” energy transition at the annual United Nations’ Climate Change Conference, COP27, and a forecasted increase in demand for critical battery minerals. In fact, just last week the White House announced a $30 million investment in critical mineral supply chains in Brazil, through the US International Development Finance Corporation, to support supply chain resilience for the renewable energy transition.

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https://rmi.org/press-release/report-on-responsible-mineral-supply-chains/

Five major airlines today announced that they have joined forces with academic, technology, and nonprofit partners to launch the Contrail Impact Task Force. The cross-sectoral task force was established to explore the formation and mitigation of persistent condensation trails, or “contrails,” that affect the climate impact of flight. The task force was created by Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Southwest Airlines®, United Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, Airbus, Boeing, Breakthrough Energy, Flightkeys, Google Research, Imperial College London, and nonprofit RMI.

Contrails form when high-heat exhaust from aircraft meets cold, humid air in the lower atmosphere during flight. Depending on atmospheric conditions, these formations can last for hours and evolve into persistent contrail-cirrus clouds. There is an emerging scientific consensus that some of these thin lines of cloud contribute to the total climate impact of flight by trapping heat that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere. The precise magnitude of impact remains uncertain, but sector leaders are nonetheless taking the first steps to define the challenge and explore solutions.

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https://rmi.org/press-release/airlines-unite-with-tech-sector-and-academia-to-tackle-climate-challenge-of-aviation-contrails/

RMI and Energy Web Foundation today announced that they will build a digital registry for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) certificates that will bring more transparency to emissions reduction claims about air travel. The registry will also support and accelerate the deployment of sustainable aviation fuels that drastically reduce lifecycle emissions from air transport.

The registry will support ongoing work with the Sustainable Aviation Buyers Alliance (SABA), a coalition of   corporate buyers and aviators committed to decarbonizing aviation, co-founded by RMI and the Environmental Defense Fund

“RMI is very excited to see this crucial tool to fruition,” said Bryan Fisher, managing director for RMI’s Climate-Aligned Industries Program. “A transparent, easy-to-use registry built on a rigorous accounting approach will lift public confidence in SAF emissions reduction claims, propel investment in SAF production, and accelerate decarbonization of the aviation sector.”

Para leer más ingrese a:

https://rmi.org/press-release/rmi-partners-with-energy-web-foundation-to-build-sustainable-aviation-fuel-certificate-registry/

Today, Nov 15th, 2022 – The United States, Japan, Canada, and six European countries have pledged to raise at least $20 billion under Indonesia’s Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) to help wean Indonesia off coal and reach carbon neutrality by 2050, a decade earlier than planned.

Over the last 8 months, RMI (Founded as Rocky Mountain Institute) has been supporting the Government of Indonesia to analyze its coal fleet and provide evidence-based guidance on the best path for Indonesia to transition to renewable energy through JETP engagements.

Para leer más ingrese a:

https://rmi.org/press-release/historic-20b-investment-in-indonesia-decarbonization-is-model-for-other-coal-dependent-nations/