Environmental Chemistry Blog 2025

 Anthony Rovinski News article (fixed link):  Solar panels in space ‘could provide 80% of Europe’s renewable energy by 2050’ Paper:  Assess space-based solar power for European-scale power system decarbonization Background:                As part of the goal to limit warming by the end of the century, many countries have pledged to strive towards carbon neutrality. (1) To make these pledges a reality, there must be a shift away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy sources, but renewables are not a perfect solution. Some power generation, such as geothermal or hydroelectric, are constrained geographically. For wind and solar, technologies that have seen large increases that are projected to continue increasing, they are held back by their intermittent nature. Both are dependent on the weather and solar power varies across seasons, forcing these technologies to rely on secondary infrastructure to store excess power and ...

  By: Lanna Lewis News Article: https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/25/us/wind-farm-opposition-study-climate   Peer-Reviewed Article:  https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2302313120   Background:                Communities of color with higher rates of poverty are more likely to host coal fueled power plants and bear their adverse effects (1). Coal plants emit carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, particulate matter, and volatile organic compounds while leaving behind ash (2). This has been linked to adverse health effects such as cancer, asthma, heart attacks, and premature deaths (1). To reduce the carbon footprint of humans and mitigate global warming, many countries have tried to implement more clean, renewable sources of energy. Some common renewable energy technologies are solar, wind, and hydroelectric power (3). Renewable energy is able to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution; however, opposition to it has led to ...

By Claire Thomson News article: https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/10/climate/methane-seeps-antarctica   Journal article: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-63404-3   Background        Seafloor seeps, also called cold or marine seeps, are fissures in the seafloor that release gases and fluids rich in hydrocarbons. These seeps tend to form along areas of tectonic activity or continental margins, and are generally considered fairly stable. The methane and other chemicals released at these sites is mainly created by chemosynthetic microbes like methanogens [1]. This methane is often sequestered as methane hydrate, a solid form of methane that is stable only under sufficiently high pressures and low temperatures. When the hydrate dissociates, methane (and other gases or fluids) can be released into the ocean. Because the stability of methane hydrates is connected to temperature and to pressure (which depends on factors like ice sheet weight), climate ch...

By: Kristen Sheng News Article: https://www.denver7.com/news/environment/air-monitoring-study-finds-elevated-radioactivity-near-suncor-oil-refinery-in-commerce-city  Research Article: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10.1080/10962247.2024.2393194?needAccess=true  Background: Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas that results from uranium, thorium, and radium breaking down. It is quantified in becquerels per cubic meter (Bq/m^3) or picocuries per liter (pCi/L). The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that approximately 21,000 people die from lung cancer related to radon in the US, and 20,000 people in the EU. Radon comes naturally from the earth, so people are continually exposed to small amounts. Even still, there are no safe levels of radon exposure [1]. ​ Radioactive decay is a form of ionizing radiation and occurs from unstable atoms. Alpha particles are positively charged, composed of two protons and two neutrons. They result from the ...