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Results for “climate mitigation”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 217 records · Page 12
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

Contrasting biological production trends over land and ocean

Terrestrial and marine ecosystems constitute the primary components of the Earth’s biosphere, yet their photosynthetic productions are typically studied separately, which limits understanding of planetary carbon uptake and biosphere health. Here, in this study, using multiple satellite-derived products, we identify contrasting net primary production (NPP) trends between land and ocean, probably reflecting their differential sensitivity to climate warming, especially in tropical regions. Planetary NPP shows an overall increase of 0.11 ± 0.13 PgC yr −1 (P = 0.05) from 2003 to 2021, driven by a significant terrestrial enhancement of 0.20 ± 0.07 PgC yr −1 (P < 0.001) and partially offset by an oceanic decline of −0.12 ± 0.12 PgC yr −1 (P = 0.07). While land contributes to the strong upwards NPP trend, the interannual variability in global NPP is predominantly driven by the ocean, especially during strong El Niño–Southern Oscillation events. Our findings highlight the resilience and potential vulnerability of biosphere primary productivity in a warming climate, calling for integrated land–ocean monitoring and assessment to support climate mitigation initiatives.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

A US perspective on closing the carbon cycle to defossilize difficult-to-electrify segments of our economy

Electrification to reduce or eliminate greenhouse gas emissions is essential to mitigate climate change. However, a substantial portion of our manufacturing and transportation infrastructure will be difficult to electrify and/or will continue to use carbon as a key component, including areas in aviation, heavy-duty and marine transportation, and the chemical industry. In this Roadmap, we explore how multidisciplinary approaches will enable us to close the carbon cycle and create a circular economy by defossilizing these difficult-to-electrify areas and those that will continue to need carbon. Here, we discuss two approaches for this: developing carbon alternatives and improving our ability to reuse carbon, enabled by separations. Furthermore, we posit that co-design and use-driven fundamental science are essential to reach aggressive greenhouse gas reduction targets.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Evidence of human influence on Northern Hemisphere snow loss

Documenting the rate, magnitude and causes of snow loss is essential to benchmark the pace of climate change and to manage the differential water security risks of snowpack declines. So far, however, observational uncertainties in snow mass have made the detection and attribution of human-forced snow losses elusive, undermining societal preparedness. Here we show that human-caused warming has caused declines in Northern Hemisphere-scale March snowpack over the 1981–2020 period. Using an ensemble of snowpack reconstructions, we identify robust snow trends in 82 out of 169 major Northern Hemisphere river basins, 31 of which we can confidently attribute to human influence. Most crucially, we show a generalizable and highly nonlinear temperature sensitivity of snowpack, in which snow becomes marginally more sensitive to one degree Celsius of warming as climatological winter temperatures exceed minus eight degrees Celsius. Such nonlinearity explains the lack of widespread snow loss so far and augurs much sharper declines and water security risks in the most populous basins. Together, our results emphasize that human-forced snow losses and their water consequences are attributable—even absent their clear detection in individual snow products—and will accelerate and homogenize with near-term warming, posing risks to water resources in the absence of substantial climate mitigation.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Model uncertainty obscures major driver of soil carbon

Understanding the formation and stabilization mechanisms of soil organic carbon (SOC) is important for managing land carbon (C) and mitigating climate change. Tao et al. reported that microbial C use efficiency (CUE) is the primary determinant of global SOC storage and that the relative impact of plant C inputs on SOC is minor. Although soil microbes undoubtedly play an important role in SOC cycling, we are concerned about the robustness of the approach taken by Tao et al. In conclusion, the potential biases in their analyses may lead to misleading, model-dependent results.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Benefits of symbiotic ectomycorrhizal fungi to plant water relations depend on plant genotype in pinyon pine

Rhizosphere microbes, such as root-associated fungi, can improve plant access to soil resources, affecting plant health, productivity, and stress tolerance. While mycorrhizal associations are ubiquitous, plant–microbe interactions can be species specific. Here we show that the specificity of the effects of microbial symbionts on plant function can go beyond species level: colonization of roots by ectomycorrhizal fungi (EMF) of the genus Geopora has opposite effects on water uptake, and stomatal control of desiccation in drought tolerant and intolerant genotypes of pinyon pine (Pinus edulis Engelm.). These results demonstrate, for the first time, that microorganisms can have significant and opposite effects on important plant functional traits like stomatal control of desiccation that are associated with differential mortality and growth in nature. They also highlight that appropriate pairing of plant genotypes and microbial associates will be important for mitigating climate change impacts on vegetation.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

Future material demand for automotive lithium-based batteries

The world is shifting to electric vehicles to mitigate climate change. Here, we quantify the future demand for key battery materials, considering potential electric vehicle fleet and battery chemistry developments as well as second-use and recycling of electric vehicle batteries. We find that in a lithium nickel cobalt manganese oxide dominated battery scenario, demand is estimated to increase by factors of 18–20 for lithium, 17–19 for cobalt, 28–31 for nickel, and 15–20 for most other materials from 2020 to 2050, requiring a drastic expansion of lithium, cobalt, and nickel supply chains and likely additional resource discovery. However, uncertainties are large. Key factors are the development of the electric vehicles fleet and battery capacity requirements per vehicle. If other battery chemistries were used at large scale, e.g. lithium iron phosphate or novel lithium-sulphur or lithium-air batteries, the demand for cobalt and nickel would be substantially smaller. Closed-loop recycling plays a minor, but increasingly important role for reducing primary material demand until 2050, however, advances in recycling are necessary to economically recover battery-grade materials from end-of-life batteries. Second-use of electric vehicles batteries further delays recycling potentials.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Direct air capture of CO 2 via crystal engineering

A perspective view of direct air capture (DAC) of CO 2 and its role in mitigating climate change is presented. The article focuses on a promising approach to DAC involving crystal engineering of metal–organic and hydrogen-bonded frameworks.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2024

We need a solid scientific basis for nature-based climate solutions in the United States

Nature-based climate solutions (NbCS) have courted both enthusiastic support and considerable controversy. Defined as deliberate human actions that manipulate ecosystems to improve the planet’s greenhouse gas balance, NbCS provoke disagreement, in large part because their implementation has so far outpaced a science-based understanding of their long-term climate mitigation potential.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Structures of methane and ammonia monooxygenases in native membranes

Methane- and ammonia-oxidizing bacteria play key roles in the global carbon and nitrogen cycles, respectively. These bacteria use homologous copper membrane monooxygenases to accomplish the defining chemical transformations of their metabolisms: the oxidations of methane to methanol by particulate methane monooxygenase (pMMO) and ammonia to hydroxylamine by ammonia monooxygenase (AMO), enzymes of prime interest for applications in mitigating climate change. However, investigations of these enzymes have been hindered by the need for disruptive detergent solubilization prior to structure determination, confounding studies of pMMO and precluding studies of AMO. Here, we overcome these challenges by using cryoEM to visualize pMMO and AMO directly in their native membrane arrays at 2.4 to 2.8 Å resolution. These structures reveal details of the copper centers, numerous bound lipids, and previously unobserved components, including identifiable and distinct supernumerary helices interacting with pMMO and AMO, suggesting a widespread role for these helices in copper membrane monooxygenases. Comparisons between these structures, their metallocofactors, and their unexpected protein–protein interactions highlight features that may govern activity or the formation of higher-order arrays in native membranes. The ability to obtain molecular insights within the native membrane will enable further understanding of these environmentally important enzymes.

Science & Technology - Other Topics↗
DOE OSTI2025

Simulating regional workforce impacts of decarbonizing integrated steelmaking

Global efforts to mitigate climate change are increasing pressure on heavy manufacturing industries to decarbonize production. The iron and steel industry is responsible for 7% of CO 2 emissions globally (2% in the United States) and is often a major employer in the regions where iron and steel is produced. Understanding the future prospects for workers in regions with high CO 2 emitting industries—including impacts of phasing out or evolving such industries—will be critical for informing regional economic and clean energy strategies. We simulate the impact of an “in-place” transition that replaces today’s integrated production with direct reduced iron (DRI) used in electric arc furnaces (EAFs), using Southwest Pennsylvania as an application of our generalizable approach. Our results suggest that the integrated steelmaking workforce today has the skills, knowledge, and abilities (SKAs) to fill over 95% of all jobs required by DRI/EAF facilities, but the number of jobs is only 25% of those at integrated plants. We also find that some occupational groups have greater general transferability into the broader job market, while other groups, such as production workers, are ill-equipped today based on current SKAs to transition out of the iron and steel industry. Our methodology further suggests factors that limit transitions: Around 85% of occupations are more limited by missing skills, while 15% are more limited by insufficient wages. These results may help to improve the design of social policy and the targeting of retraining programs, while the simulation approach can be readily adapted for other regions and industries.

decarbonization↗
DOE OSTI2025

Observed declines in leaf nitrogen explained by photosynthetic acclimation to CO 2

Widespread evidence of decreasing leaf nutrients has raised concerns about ecosystem productivity under global change. Interpreting trends in leaf nutrients has important implications for the fate of ecosystem services, particularly the role of forests in mitigating climate change and sustaining quality food sources. Here, we challenge the common interpretation that decreasing leaf nitrogen concentration (LNC) is evidence of increasing nutrient limitations on ecosystem primary productivity. Instead, we show that declines in LNC (4% decrease per 50 ppm CO 2 increase), observed across 409 European forest plots over 22 y, can be explained by reduced photosynthetic nitrogen demand. This regional trend is consistent with leaf acclimation to increasing atmospheric CO 2 according to optimality theory. This finding suggests that enhanced photosynthetic nitrogen use efficiency due to CO 2 fertilization may lead to less nitrogen uptake and/or reallocation of nitrogen for plant growth and other functions. Our results have large implications for understanding and simulating interactions between ecosystem nitrogen and carbon cycles and suggest nitrogen requirements for terrestrial carbon uptake under elevated CO 2 may be lower than previously thought.

CO2 fertilization↗
DOE OSTI2022

Boosts in leaf-level photosynthetic capacity aid Pinus ponderosa recovery from wildfire

Forests mitigate climate change by sequestering massive amounts of carbon, but recent increases in wildfire activity are threatening carbon storage. Currently, our understanding of wildfire impacts on forest resilience and the mechanisms controlling post-fire recovery remains unresolved due to a lack of empirical data on mature trees in natural settings. Here, we quantify the physiological mechanisms controlling carbon uptake immediately following wildfire in mature individuals of ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa), a wide-spread and canopy-dominant tree species in fire-prone forests. While photosynthetic capacity was lower in burned than unburned trees due to an overall depletion of resources, we show that within the burned trees, photosynthetic capacity increases with the severity of damage. Our data reveal that boosts in the efficiency of carbon uptake at the leaf-level may compensate for whole-tree damage, including the loss of leaf area and roots. We further show that heightened photosynthetic capacity in remaining needles on burned trees may be linked with reduced water stress and leaf nitrogen content, providing pivotal information about post-fire physiological processes. Our results have implications for Earth system modeling efforts because measurements of species-level physiological parameters are used in models to predict ecosystem and landscape-level carbon trajectories. Finally, current land management practices do not account for physiological resilience and recovery of severely burned trees. Our results suggest premature harvest may remove individuals that may otherwise survive, irrevocably altering forest carbon balance.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

When energy doesn’t add up: use of an energyshed framework in assessing progress towards renewable energy transitions

Global progress in energy transitions to support climate mitigation goals has been slower than anticipated; this has prompted shifts away from traditional paradigms of regulated energy ownership towards a model of energy democratization by local communities and individuals. For example, in the United States, local communities in over 250 cities, counties, and states have made pledges to reach 100% renewable electrification by target dates ranging from 2020 to 2050. However, the availability of infrastructure and the competition for renewable energy resources, as well as lack of awareness of these limitations, present significant barriers to overcome. In this study, we explored a subset of 31 of these cities to assess their current electricity generation and how much further they have to go to meet their goals. Through an energyshed framework, we estimated powerplant electricity allocation to each city assuming competition for power from various renewable and non-renewable resource types, as well as look at the ‘best case scenario’ assuming 100% allocation of renewable-sourced electricity for a handful of cities in order to understand the existing and planned energy mixes for 2021 and the following 20 years. It is likely most cities will meet 10% of their energy demand with renewable energy, with best cases scenarios reaching between 35% and 65% renewable penetration, within the next 20–30 years. This highlights the need for infrastructural development in the energy sector, as well as intentional planning efforts in order to make these energy goals a reality.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Purple non-sulfur bacteria for biotechnological applications

Abstract In this review, we focus on how purple non-sulfur bacteria can be leveraged for sustainable bioproduction to support the circular economy. We discuss the state of the field with respect to the use of purple bacteria for energy production, their role in wastewater treatment, as a fertilizer, and as a chassis for bioplastic production. We explore their ability to serve as single-cell protein and production platforms for fine chemicals from waste materials. We also introduce more Avant-Garde technologies that leverage the unique metabolisms of purple bacteria, including microbial electrosynthesis and co-culture. These technologies will be pivotal in our efforts to mitigate climate change and circularize the economy in the next two decades. One-sentence summary Purple non-sulfur bacteria are utilized for a range of biotechnological applications, including the production of bio-energy, single cell protein, fertilizer, bioplastics, fine chemicals, in wastewater treatment and in novel applications like co-cultures and microbial electrosynthesis.

Morrison, Hailee M. (ORCID:0000000225121824)↗
DOE OSTI2022

Patterns and controls on island‐wide aboveground biomass accumulation in second‐growth forests of Puerto Rico

Abstract Understanding the heterogeneity of biomass accumulation in second‐growth tropical forests following land use abandonment is important for informing ecosystem carbon models and forest restoration efforts. There is an urgent need for a broad sample of second‐growth forests to enhance our knowledge of carbon accumulation in human‐dominated landscapes, especially for older forests. Puerto Rico has predominantly second‐growth forests, ranging in age from approximately 25 to more than 80 years. We used an island‐wide sample of airborne lidar from the NASA Goddard Lidar, Hyperspectral, and Thermal (G‐LiHT) Airborne Imager collected on March 2017, forest inventory data, and data on forest age, precipitation, soils, and land use to estimate aboveground biomass stocks in moist and wet, second‐growth tropical forests. Biomass accumulation rates in Puerto Rico were lower, on average, than in other Neotropical forests. Median biomass across >16,700 ha of older second‐growth forests was 105 Mg ha −1 , and sampled biomass rarely surpassed 250 Mg ha −1 . Differences in biomass by age were large and persistent across different substrates and land uses, with a plateau in the pattern of island‐wide biomass accumulation after about 33 years. A spatial regression model showed that multiple factors were related to biomass accumulation, including time since abandonment, geologic substrate, past land use as coffee or pasture, precipitation, topographic wetness index, and slope. Our findings have important consequences for the total carbon storage and expected climate mitigation benefits of large‐scale reforestation efforts, and highlight the value of airborne lidar for quantifying biomass variability in complex tropical landscapes. Abstract in Spanish is available with online material.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

In silico assessment of the potential of basalt amendments to reduce N 2 O emissions from bioenergy crops

Abstract The potential of large‐scale deployment of basalt to reduce N 2 O emissions from cultivated soils may contribute to climate stabilization beyond the CO 2 ‐removal effect from enhanced weathering. We used 3 years of field observations from maize ( Zea mays ) and miscanthus ( Miscanthus × giganteus ) to improve the nitrogen (N) module of the DayCent model and evaluate the potential of basalt amendments to reduce N losses and increase yields from two bioenergy crops. We found 20%–60% improvement in our N 2 O flux estimates over previous model descriptions. Model results predict that the application of basalt would reduce N 2 O emissions by 16% in maize and 9% in miscanthus. Lower N 2 O emissions responded to increases in the N 2 :N 2 O ratio of denitrification with basalt‐induced increases in soil pH, with minor contributions from the impact of P additions (a minor component of some basalts) on N immobilization. The larger reduction of N 2 O emissions in maize than in miscanthus was likely explained by a synergistic effect between soil pH and N content, leading to a higher sensitivity of the N 2 :N 2 O ratio to changes in pH in heavily fertilized maize. Basalt amendments led to modest increases in modeled yields and the nitrogen use efficiency (i.e., fertilizer‐N recover in crop production) of maize but did not affect the productivity of miscanthus. However, enhanced soil P availability maintained the long‐term productivity of crops with high nutrient requirements. The alleviation of plant P limitation led to enhanced plant N uptake, thereby contributing to lower microbial N availability and N 2 O emissions from crops with high nutrient requirements. Our results from the improved model suggest that the large‐scale deployment of basalt, by reducing N 2 O fluxes of cropping systems, could contribute to the sustainable intensification of agriculture and enhance the climate mitigation potential of bioenergy with carbon capture and storage strategies.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Accelerating the development of a sustainable bioenergy portfolio through stable isotopes

Bioenergy could help limit global warming to 2°C above pre-industrial levels while supplying almost a fourth of the world's renewable energy needs by 2050. However, the deployment of bioenergy raises concerns that adoption at meaningful scales may lead to unintended negative environmental consequences. Meanwhile, the full consolidation of a bioenergy industry is currently challenged by a sufficient, resilient, and resource-efficient biomass supply and an effective conversion process. Here, we provide a comprehensive analysis of how stable isotope approaches have accelerated the development of a robust bioeconomy by advancing knowledge about environmental sustainability, feedstock development, and biological conversion. We show that advances in stable isotope research have generated crucial information to (1) gain mechanistic insight into the potential of bioenergy crops to mitigate climate change as well as their impact on water and nutrient cycling; (2) develop high-yielding, resilient feedstocks that produce high-value bioproducts in planta; and (3) engineer microbes to enhance feedstock conversion to bioenergy products. Further, we highlight knowledge gaps that could benefit from future research facilitated by stable isotope approaches. We conclude that advances in mechanistic knowledge and innovations within the field of stable isotopes in cross-disciplinary research actions will greatly contribute to breaking down the barriers to establishing a robust bioeconomy.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗