Energy Department Announces Solar Desalination Competition

ECompetition Prize Seeks Systems that Purify Wastewater Produced from Oil and Gas Extraction 
Washington, D.C. – Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced $5 million in new funding for the second round of the Solar Desalination Prize, a competition designed to accelerate the development of systems that use solar-thermal energy to purify water with very high salt content. DOE also announced that eight semifinalists will advance in the first round of prize.  

“Solar-powered desalination systems can help decontaminate water produced by oil and gas extraction—which totals several hundred billion gallons of wastewater annually—creating clean water for all kinds of everyday and industrial uses,” said Kelly Speakes-Backman, Acting Assistant Secretary for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.

As more communities face water shortages due to climate change, these new systems could expand the use of nontraditional water sources and ease the burden. Water desalination requires a lot of energy, which is a major part of its cost. Solar-thermal energy is a potential low-cost option for cleaning high-salinity water that conventional desalination technologies have difficulty treating cost-effectively. 

DOE’s Solar Desalination Prize seeds new ideas for desalination systems that can be used in diverse settings, especially small, modular technologies that can be deployed quickly. For Round 2, DOE is especially interested in new concepts for the collection and storage of solar-thermal energy, enabling desalination processes to run around the clock, and which can be widely used to provide heat for a variety of industrial processes.

Individuals or groups can apply to compete but must eventually form a team. Register to learn more at the informational webinar on May 6, at 2 p.m. ET. The eight semifinalists in the first round are cross-functional teams that will receive $250,000 in cash and $100,000 in support vouchers to turn their innovative desalination concept into a fully operational prototype. 

In the next stage of the competition, they will complete a detailed, ready-to-build design of their solar-thermal desalination facility prototype for a chance to win $750,000 in cash and $100,000 in vouchers. 

Learn about the semifinalists.

  All competitors have access to technical assistance and support via the American-Made Network, a group of DOE National Labs, incubators, investors, and industry experts who can facilitate connections with venture capital firms, industry representatives, and others. 

This prize is part of the Water Security Grand Challenge, a DOE-led effort started in 2018 to advance transformational technology and innovation to meet the global need for safe, secure, and affordable water. The prize is also part of DOE’s American-Made Challenges, a series of prizes that incentivize the nation’s entrepreneurs to strengthen U.S. leadership in energy innovation and domestic manufacturing.

DOE’s Solar Energy Technologies Office partners with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory to administer the Solar Desalination Prize.  

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These environmental reporters told you so

Florida’s Piney Point is the latest predicted disaster. Maybe we should start listening to these folks?

By Peter Dykstra, Environmental Health News

I’ve been a member of a worthy non-profit, The Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ), since one year after its 1991 founding.

Every once in a while, I pester its 1,200 members to consider a special award for I-told-you-so reporting—honoring an environment reporter who shouts into the winds of political clout or simple indifference to a looming disaster.

Arguably, the best-known American example of this is Mark Schleifstein, the veteran New Orleans scribe who said his Times-Picayune boss dismissed his hurricane warnings as “disaster porn” until Hurricane Katrina nearly took New Orleans off the map.

I wrote about Schleifstein and several more exemplars in a 2017 piece for Ensia, “Forewarned.”

This month, a new entry came in—one with a roughly 18 year lead time.

In 2003, St. Petersburg Times reporters Craig Pittman, Julie Hauserman, and Candace Rondeaux filed a story about gypsum “stacks,” the benign-sounding name for highly acidic waste heaps from phosphate mining operations. The reporters followed a twisted tale of bankruptcies, lax government oversight, and a potentially major threat to ecologically sensitive areas of Tampa Bay. Their focus was the waste area called Piney Point.

In March, the warnings about Piney Point became reality. About one-third of the nearly half-billion gallons of highly contaminated water had leaked from the site.

When Pittman followed up on the site this year, he did so from a decidedly different platform. His 30-year career at the paper (it’s the Tampa Bay Times now) ended with a staff reduction last year. He’s now a columnist for the nonprofit startup Florida Phoenix.

So since no Pulitzer Prize yet exists for I-told-you-so, let’s award our first mythical prize to Pittman, Hauserman, and Rondeaux. It’s no comfort to journalists to be vindicated in this way, but it’s a useful reminder that we often ignore their warnings.

Hall of fame

Or maybe what’s needed is a Hall of Fame for environmental reporters. Environmental pursuits, whether by journalists, scientists, or activists, have enough of a history and track record that someone ought to be keeping score.

Here are some, in no particular order:

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We’re always looking for information that might benefit our readers. If you come across something that cries out to be shared, please send it to editor@enviropolitics.com  If we agree, you’ll see it here soon.

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Cicadas And Copperheads: Yes, It’s A Thing In New Jersey

When billions of Brood X 17-year cicadas emerge this spring in New Jersey, copperhead snakes may be waiting to gobble them up.

Don’t be surprised if you see copperhead snakes when the 17-year periodical cicadas emerge this spring in New Jersey. Experts say they’re an easy snack for the pit vipers.
Don’t be surprised if you see copperhead snakes when the 17-year periodical cicadas emerge this spring in New Jersey. Experts say they’re an easy snack for the pit vipers. (Charlton McDaniel)
Tom Davis's profile pictureBy Tom Davis, Patch Staff

NEW JERSEY — Humans might have mixed opinions about the 17-year periodical cicadas that will be emerging this spring. But copperheads will be happy to see them because the insects will provide an easy snack.

You read that correctly: copperheads, the venomous snakes found in many of the same states, including New Jersey, where billions of cicadas will emerge later this spring. So if you plan an outing to listen to the cacophony set up by these creatures, be careful no copperheads are slithering nearby.

Billions of the 17-year periodical cicadas — Brood X, or the Great Eastern Brood this year — are due to emerge in 15 U.S. states in May, give or take a few weeks.

The synchronized emergence of periodical cicadas, which have the longest life cycle of any known insect, still baffles scientists. But one evolutionary hypothesis is that the forced developmental delay was an adaptation to climate cooling during the ice ages.

There are two species of periodical cicadas — the 17-year cicadas, found in Northern states, and the 13-year cicadas, found in the South.

Related:
You Can Eat 17-Year Cicadas Emerging In New Jersey
Billions, Yes Billions, Of 17-Year Cicadas Will Emerge In 2021

Copperheads, a close relative of the cottonmouth or water moccasin, are found in Hunterdon, Mercer and Somerset Counties in the south to the New Jersey/New York border in the north and within the Palisades in Bergen County, according to the Conserve Wildlife.

The cicadas, meanwhile, are expected in the following New Jersey counties: Burlington, Hunterdon, Mercer, Salem.

Shy and reclusive copperheads come out of their figurative shells when the cicadas emerge. The snakes exploit the insect emergence as a smorgasbord requiring no more effort than simply showing up.

Cicadas are a “pretty easy snack” for the copperheads, Stephen Richter, an Eastern Kentucky University biology professor, told Tulsa World in 2019.

He and his students were working with the U.S. Forest Service in Daniel Boone National Forest at the time, looking at what the federal agency saw as a potential conflict and threat to campers: the convergence of copperheads and emerging cicadas.

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Duke Farms offering 2021 internships in a variety of fields

Duke Farms is piloting an internship program in 2021 for students, new or emerging professionals interested in pursuing careers in conservation, natural resources, parks management, environmental education, historic site management, and trades. Internships are open to adults over 18 years of age, including recent graduates, experienced individuals, and those looking to obtain new skills.  

Internship positions are full-time from June 1 to September 1 with paid compensation of $15 per hour. Housing may be offered on a case-by-case basis. Credit coordination with college/university is available where applicable. 

Internships with Duke Farms provide education, training, and practical work experience to prepare interns for a career in their respective fields, while also gaining valuable skills such as communication, working with a team or cohort, problem-solving, and experience working in a nonprofit setting. Additionally, Duke Farms will provide several professional development opportunities where interns will be able to choose options that best fit their needs such as resume and cover letter building, public speaking, professional and personal branding, an overview on nonprofits, and networking opportunities in their related fields.  

As part of the first-year cohort, interns will collaborate on team-building exercises and projects through the duration of their internship. 

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EPA To Host Brownfields Stakeholder Session

NEW YORK (April 9, 2021) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it will host an online discussion on April 23, with nonprofits and community foundations across the country to learn about nonprofit leadership in brownfields assessment, cleanup, and redevelopment projects. 

“Nonprofit organizations are often embedded within local communities, working tirelessly to improve quality of life for nearby residents. Many nonprofits serve low-income and disadvantaged communities experiencing current and historical environmental injustices, including the public health and economic problems caused by brownfields and contaminated properties,” said Carlton Waterhouse, EPA Deputy Administrator for the Office of Land and Emergency Management. “The goal of this discussion is to provide EPA with a better understanding of how to support nonprofit efforts to assess, cleanup and redevelop brownfields sites in the communities they serve.”

The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to advancing economic opportunities and addressing environmental justice issues in underserved communities. During this discussion, EPA wants to hear and learn from representatives from various types of nonprofits who encounter – or could encounter – brownfields within their communities, especially those nonprofits who work to address the disproportionate health, environmental, economic, and climate impacts on disadvantaged communities.

EPA will be using the following questions to guide the discussion:

  • How does your nonprofit organization view its role in brownfields cleanup and redevelopment?
  • What benefits and barriers exist to nonprofits leading brownfield cleanup and redevelopment projects?
  • How often does your nonprofit organization find itself leading brownfields cleanup and redevelopment activities?

Registration Information

This virtual event will be held on Friday, April 23, 2021 from 1-3 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. Registration is required; information is available at http://www.epa.gov/brownfields (direct link to registration is here). Due to the limit of 250 participants, attendance will be on a first-come, first served basis.

After registering, confirmed participants will receive an email from Eventbrite with a link to join the event. Alternatively, stakeholders may share relevant comments via email to BUILDAct@epa.gov through April 23.

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