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ABB to Supply Power and Process Electrical Systems for New Bioproduct Mill in Finland

ABB will supply the complete power and process electrical systems for Metsä Group’s new bioproduct mill in Äänekoski in central Finland, opening in 2017. The mill will produce 1.3 million tonnes of pulp per year and bioproducts such as tall oil, turpentine, lignin products, bioelectricity and bark-based solid fuel.

From ABB Power Conditioning – Electrification Products Division 19 Feb 2016

UCLA Researcher Reveals Impact of Long-Term Ozone Exposure

Adults with long-term exposure to ozone face an increased risk of dying from respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, a new study suggests.

18 Feb 2016

Researchers Find Bioenergy Crops Do Best in Regions with Higher Precipitation Rates

New research has identified regions in the United States where bioenergy crops would grow best while minimizing effects on water quantity and quality.

18 Feb 2016

Experimental Pretreatments Show Promise for Cost-Effective Ethanol Production

When the Ford Motor Company’s first automobile, the Model T, debuted in 1908, it ran on a corn-derived biofuel called ethanol, a substance Henry Ford dubbed “the fuel of the future.”

17 Feb 2016

Methane-Producing Microbes Could Extend Lifespan of Coal Seam Gas Wells

UNSW Australia-led researchers have discovered a way to produce a tenfold increase in the amount of methane gas emitted by naturally occurring microbes living in coal seams and on food waste.

17 Feb 2016

Waters Surrounding Small Islands, Reefs and Atolls Support Greater Sea-Life than Near-by Open Ocean

A 60 year-old theory to explain why seas surrounding islands and atolls are particularly productive has just been proven by a marine biologist from Bangor University’s School of Ocean Science, working with a colleague at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

17 Feb 2016

Research Demonstrates Impact of Climate Change on Treatment & Prevention of Parasite Infections

New research demonstrates how climate change and the immune reaction of the infected individual can affect the long-term and seasonal dynamics of parasite infections. The study, led by Penn State scientists, assessed the infection dynamics of two species of soil-transmitted parasites in a population of rabbits in Scotland every month for 23 years.

16 Feb 2016

Marine Organisms at Risk of Infectious Disease Due to Warmer Ocean Temperatures

A new study describes how diverse marine organisms are susceptible to diseases made worse by warming oceans. The research warns that warm sea temperatures in 2015 may increase the levels of epizootic shell disease in American lobster in the northern Gulf of Maine in 2016.

16 Feb 2016

Cloud Droplets Play Key Role in Atmospheric Transformation of Volatile Organic Pollutants

In addition to precipitation, clouds influence the climate in various ways: they cover 70% of the Earth's surface and represent nearly 15% of the volume of the atmosphere. Scientists need to understand their underlying chemical and physical mechanisms in order to better integrate them into climate change models.

16 Feb 2016

Improved Agricultural Water Management Could Reduce Global Food Gap by 2050

Improved agricultural water management could halve the global food gap by 2050 and buffer some of the harmful climate change effects on crop yields. For the first time, scientists investigated systematically the worldwide potential to produce more food with the same amount of water by optimizing rain use and irrigation. They found the potential has previously been underestimated. Investing in crop water management could substantially reduce hunger while at the same time making up for population growth. However, putting the findings into practice would require specific local solutions, which remains a challenge.

16 Feb 2016

AAAS: Stanford University Professor Highlights Effects of Fossil-Fuel Extraction on Drinking Water

“The answer to that question is 'yes,' but not usually,” said Rob Jackson, a professor of Earth system science at Stanford University.

16 Feb 2016

Scientists Highlight Importance of Asynchrony in Stability of Ecosystems

Whether an animal or plant community remains stable despite external impacts does not depend on biological diversity alone: asynchrony across the species is also a crucial factor. The more the species in an ecosystem fluctuate in their evolution over time, the less they are likely to falter. As a result, diversity takes second place in terms of the factors to be considered in the context of ecosystem stability. A team of scientists spearheaded by the TU Munich and TU Darmstadt have published these findings in the journal “Nature Communications”.

15 Feb 2016

Researchers Discover Characteristic Traits of Trees for Survival in a Location

Life is not easy for the trees in a forest: To avoid being edged out by other trees, they must prevail in the struggle for resources. Ultimately, the successful trees are those whose traits are best suited to their location. An international team, which included researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry in Jena, has now discovered how three characteristic traits – wood density, maximum height and specific leaf area – decide which trees will emerge victorious in the competition between neighbouring individuals.

15 Feb 2016

New Yeast Strain Helps Reduce Cost of Biofuels Produced with Ionic Liquids

An assistant research specialist at the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC) has designed a new strain of yeast that could improve the efficiency of making fuel from cellulosic biomass such as switchgrass.

15 Feb 2016

Study Highlights Urgent Need for More Aggressive Strategies to Reduce Air Pollution

New research shows that more than 5.5 million people die prematurely every year due to household and outdoor air pollution. More than half of deaths occur in two of the world’s fastest growing economies, China and India.

15 Feb 2016