Solar power could electrify sub-Saharan Africa
Solar energy could be the key to providing low-cost, highly reliable energy to the roughly 600 million people in sub-Saharan Africa who currently live without power.
Energy, Climate & Environment News
Clean Water Act dramatically cut pollution in U.S. waterways
The 1972 Clean Water Act has driven significant improvements in U.S. water quality, according to the first comprehensive study of water pollution over the past several decades, by researchers at UC Berkeley and Iowa State University.
Harvesting solar fuels through a bacterium’s unusual appetite for gold
When fed gold nanoclusters, the bacterium Moorella thermoacetica is transformed into a hybrid artificial photosynthesis system that converts sunlight and carbon dioxide into useful chemicals for solar fuels.
National parks bear the brunt of climate change
Human-caused climate change has exposed U.S. national parks to conditions hotter and drier than the rest of the nation, says a study that quantifies for the first time the magnitude of climate change on all 417 parks in the system.
Engineered sand zaps storm water pollutants
UC Berkeley engineers have created a new way to remove contaminants from storm water, potentially addressing the needs of water-stressed communities that are searching for ways to tap the abundant and yet underused source of fresh drinking water.
Improving soil quality can slow global warming
Low-tech ways of improving soil quality on farms and rangelands worldwide could pull significant amounts of carbon out of the atmosphere and slow the pace of climate change.
UC Berkeley Leads New Assessment of Bay Area Climate Impacts
California today issued its latest assessment of the many challenges the state faces from climate change — including wildfires like those still raging throughout the state – and highlighted for the first time the regional impacts with nine deep-dive reports spearheaded by University of California scientists.
Climate change has the Arctic seeing green
As temperatures in the Arctic rise in response to climate change, vegetation has invaded areas once too frigid to support plant life.
Mojave birds crashed over last century due to climate change
Bird communities in the Mojave Desert straddling the California/Nevada border have collapsed over the past 100 years, most likely because of lower rainfall due to climate change.
Warming climate will likely boost suicide rates worldwide
Suicide rates likely to increase as global temperatures rise
California’s cap-and-trade air quality benefits go mostly out of state
California residents not benefiting from improved air quality during first 3 years of cap-and-trade program, while other states show reductions in greenhouse gas.
Mammals going nocturnal to avoid humans
Human disturbance is creating a more nocturnal natural world.
In desert trials, next-generation water harvester delivers fresh water from air
UC Berkeley scientist demonstrated that their device can collect drinkable water from the air each day/night cycle.
Closing coal, oil power plants leads to healthier babies
Shuttering coal- and oil-fired power plants lowers the rate of preterm births in neighboring communities and improves fertility, according to two new University of California, Berkeley, studies.
Hippo poop a growing problem in African rivers
Hippopotamus are a major tourist draw to African watering holes, but their bountiful poop is increasingly fouling African rivers and lakes during the dry season, killing off fish and other aquatic life. And human activity is making it worse.
Drought treatment restructures plants’ microbiomes
New research demonstrates that exposing sorghum plants to drought conditions can shift the balance between specific types of microorganisms found within their root systems.