Growing Impact

Cooling is energy-intensive, with air conditioning consuming a significant portion of electricity in homes and commercial buildings, while also contributing to greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. This creates a cycle of increasing energy demand for cooling. However, innovative materials that cool when strained offer a promising, sustainable solution for various applications.

Nitrous oxide is a potent greenhouse gas with nearly 300 times the warming potential of carbon dioxide, making even small emissions highly impactful. Agriculture, particularly soil management, is the largest source of nitrous oxide. To better understand and manage these emissions, researchers have developed a system for continuous monitoring on farms and other land management purposes.

PFAS, synthetic chemicals found in countless everyday products, have made their way into humans and animals around the globe. Although their health effects remain unclear, their widespread presence raises important questions. Scientists are now investigating whether these chemicals might disrupt the human gut microbiome, potentially impacting our health in unexpected ways.

The Earth can shift suddenly, with sinkholes and landslides posing serious risks to people and property. Scientists are now using existing fiber optic cables in cities to detect potential geohazards before they strike. This innovative approach is expanding to monitor flooding and even track human movement, unlocking new possibilities for data collection and understanding our world.

Cement, a major component of concrete, is a significant contributor to global carbon emissions. Researchers are exploring agricultural waste as a potential alternative to cement, aiming to reduce carbon footprint while also finding new uses for farm byproducts. However, the feasibility and effectiveness of this solution depend on the collaboration between researchers and farming communities.

Smallholder farmers are the unsung heroes of our food system. Tilling tiny plots, they produce a staggering one-third of the world's food and up to 80% of the food supply in regions like sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. But these vital contributors face immense challenges: such as climate change, pests, insufficient finances, and limited education and training. On this episode of Growing Impact, we're revisiting the story of PlantVillage, a project funded as a seed grant by IEE in 2016. Its aim was to empower smallholder farmers with knowledge through smartphones and machine learning. Since its creation, PlantVillage has gained strong support from organizations worldwide and has built a robust team of partners and collaborators. Looking ahead, PlantVillage plans to expand how it's helping farmers while simultaneously addressing climate change.

Flooding is the world's most devastating natural disaster, causing widespread destruction and loss of life. Millions of Americans live in high-risk flood zones, with the threat amplified by climate change and aging infrastructure. This episode explores how innovative computer modeling and visualizations can help communities plan for future flood risks and develop effective response strategies.

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is abundant and stable, making it difficult to convert into something useful without a lot of energy. Researchers are using advanced computational modeling to find a catalyst that can efficiently transform CO2 into valuable products. This could turn CO2 from a climate issue into a valuable resource.

Our planet is at a critical crossroads. In Season 5 of Growing Impact, we delve into groundbreaking research with the power to transform our world. This season offers a deep dive into the vast and varied research at Penn State, showcasing its pivotal role in advancing a healthier planet and improving the well-being of people everywhere. Growing Impact is a podcast by the Institute of Energy and the Environment at Penn State. Each episode explores cutting-edge projects of researchers and scientists who are solving some of the world's most challenging energy and environmental issues. For more information about this and other projects, along with transcripts and much more, please visit: https://iee.psu.edu/podcast

Wind power has come a long way from its humble beginnings as water pumps and windmills. Today, it's a major contributor to our electricity generation. While onshore wind farms are well-established, the U.S. has yet to tap into the full potential of offshore wind. With advancements like floating turbines and improved blade designs, wind energy is poised for another significant leap forward.

Before the early 20th century, light measurement lacked a standard, repeatable approach. At that time, scientists developed a spectral sensitivity curve, representing the "average human observer." This graph quantified light output and standardized lamp brightness calculations. Although experts recognized its imperfection and proposed alternatives, this graph, remarkably, remains the standard a century later. On this episode of Growing Impact, we discuss light sources, the measurement of those sources, and how updating this century-old standard could significantly improve energy efficiency.

Storing carbon dioxide underground could offset the record amounts of CO2 that humans emit each year. If this technology is successful, it could be an answer to climate change impacts, such as rising temperatures and acidification of the ocean. However, the process is complex and costly. A team of researchers is exploring one way liquid CO2 could be injected into rock formations, which may efficiently convert the molecule into a solid.

Once a frozen haven, climate-driven rising temperatures are rapidly thawing the Arctic permafrost, posing a major threat to communities and infrastructure. Researchers are investigating how these changes will transform rivers, with potential consequences for erosion, sediment transport, and the entire Arctic landscape. Additionally, their project incorporates art to communicate these critical findings in an engaging way.

The global push to involve youth in climate action is gaining momentum, harnessing their innovative spirit, deep investment in the future, and strong collective voice to combat climate change. Getting young people involved ensures that climate policies are forward-thinking and geared towards sustainable development, while their global solidarity and use of digital platforms amplify the call for urgent action. At the forefront of this movement, Penn State's Global Youth Storytelling and Research Lab aims to become a pivotal transnational research hub, empowering young leaders to shape the future of climate and environmental justice.

For decades, PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) have been a staple in products from detergents to cosmetics, making items more durable and resistant to water and stains. However, the creation and use of these "forever chemicals" is not without consequences. They persist in the environment and are now ubiquitous, even in our drinking water. Emerging evidence links PFAS exposure to significant health risks, prompting a team of researchers to evaluate affordable filtration technology. The team's project aims to safeguard drinking water, especially in communities reliant on well water, by effectively removing PFAS, thus mitigating their impact on public health.

Solar energy's surge, driven by cost efficiency and climate change urgency, is prompting a rapid transition to a renewable energy source with substantial land requirements. This trend parallels past land rushes, like the contentious Marcellus Shale gas movement, triggering reservations among farmers as well as rural citizens and landowners. To inform just and sustainable rural land use with solar, a research team is working in rural communities to determine the potential for harmonious coexistence between solar and agriculture.

The Colorado River passes through five states on its way to Mexico, supplying water to municipalities, farms, and industry. It supports more than a trillion dollars in economic activity and supplies water to an estimated 40 million people. The overuse of the Colorado River and an extensive climate change-driven drought have significantly decreased the volume of the fifth largest river in the U.S. A research team is exploring how climate change and agricultural adaptation will affect water availability in the Upper Colorado River Basin and what is important to communities that depend on the river.

Contrails, the cloud-like streaks left in the sky by jets, are artificial clouds that are similar in nature to natural cirrus clouds, the thin, high-altitude clouds that spread across the sky in wispy fingers. Contrails, like cirrus clouds and unlike thicker, lower-altitude clouds, can allow a considerable amount of solar radiation to penetrate to the Earth's surface, warming the planet. Contrails can also trap that energy in the Earth's atmosphere, increasing the warming effect. As aviation looks to grow in the coming years, there is concern about the increasing impact of contrails on climate change. A new interdisciplinary project will use expertise in aerodynamics, satellite imaging, and sustainability to identify opportunities to mitigate the climate impacts of contrails.

Malawi, like many countries in Africa, is facing environmental challenges including deforestation, soil erosion, and unsustainable farming practices. However, restoring the land is much more complex than planting additional trees. The degradation of the land is closely related to the socio-economic status of the people of Malawi, who are connected to the land through agriculture as well as social, cultural, and religious traditions. While Malawi has pledged to restore degraded lands, it is not clear if any efforts are accomplishing what they intended. A research group is using Malawi as a case study to better inform policies and practices in forest landscape restoration.

Wastewater treatment plants serve approximately 75% of Americans—more than 248 million people. However, many people do not recognize the energy burden these facilities create, which can be more than 30% of a municipality's energy bill. Most of this energy comes from fossil fuels. With rising energy costs and the worsening climate crisis, some wastewater treatment plants have started using solar energy. Because solar adoption at wastewater treatment plants is still relatively new, there is little known about these facilities, including where they are, what drove them to choose solar, and if solar has been a success. A team of researchers looks to fill in those gaps with a new project.

Plastic is part of virtually every aspect of our lives. However, our relationship with this hydrocarbon-based material is complex. As much as we use plastic, it often gets a bad rap. Images of plastic bottles and plastic bags clogging waterways and nightmarish tales of microplastics invading our food supply make it is easy to point the finger at plastic as the villain. Nonetheless, it seems that plastic will be a part of our lives for the foreseeable future. Thus, it is crucial to find better ways to handle plastic waste. That is what one research team is taking on, and their idea is to use one of nature's foremost degraders: fungi.

In season four, Growing Impact is expanding: more team members from different disciplines and deeper conversations around the challenges their project is addressing, the inspiration that turned an idea into a project, and the solutions that may arise from these interdisciplinary researchers.

Substance use is similar to extreme weather due to climate change in multiple ways. Both have had impacts in rural towns and big cities. Both can impact any socio-economic class. Both are here to stay for the foreseeable future, and both can damage lives. Another connection is the impact of one on the other, specifically, how extreme weather, like flooding, can impact a community's ability to support those afflicted with substance use disorder.

Every material that makes up a building, be it steel, concrete, wood, or plastic, has a greenhouse gas emission associated with it. This is called embodied carbon, and calculating the amount of GHG for one building is achievable. However, calculating that number for an entire city is still a challenge. To assist policymakers to better manage their city's carbon emissions, a team of researchers is developing a methodology to calculate embodied carbon for an entire city.

As cities are built, a lot of vegetation is replaced with building materials such as concrete and brick. These materials absorb the sun's heat and then radiate it back into the atmosphere. This leads to urban heat islands where cities are much hotter than the surrounding areas. But trees offer shade and cooling, reducing the temperature in cities. So, what is stopping cities from planting more trees? That is what one research team is investigating.

Creating laws and policies informed by science and facts was not always the primary method used by legislators and policymakers. Until around 2000, policies were often based on a policymaker's intuition. Today, there are concerted efforts to get vetted, fact-based scientific research on numerous topics into the hands of policymakers. One of those topics is climate change and its impacts on human health. Climate change presents a huge array of health problems, and helping policymakers know how to address them as climate change accelerates will continue to be a very important scientific and practical problem.

Waste heat has been a challenge that scientists and engineers have been pondering for decades. What can be done with this lost energy and can it be harnessed in a useful way? As combustion and technology improved, the percentage of waste heat has decreased, but it is estimated that up to 50% of all industrial energy is lost through waste heat. If that heat could captured or used in a meaningful way, society would move closer to a circular economy. While Derek Hall and his team explored how different battery chemistries might change a battery's power and energy output, they discovered new opportunities for turning waste heat into stored electrical energy.

Combustible fuels have been around ever since humans realized that they could burn wood. Over time, we discovered new energy sources—fossil fuels, which still dominate the world's energy portfolio. But what if we could find another fuel source, one that was abundant, easy to procure, and people were happy to give it away? Something like municipal or agricultural waste? One fuel, called hydrochar, which is a proposed replacement for coal, can be made in a laboratory from waste using water and some low-cost catalysts. It might be the answer to a burning energy question.

A lot of our lives is impacted by the air we breathe, both inside and outside. And where we live is an important factor in this equation. For those living in the Pittsburgh area, it is likely that they could be impacted by poor air quality related to large industrial sites that dot the western Pennsylvania landscape. To better understand the air quality concerns of this region and how it's impacted by complex terrain, a team of interdisciplinary researchers is working closely with communities and organizations in the region to explore what concerns exist and how they might be addressed.

As Mihyun Kang sees it, if renewable energy is the future, then it should be engaging and appealing. She combined that idea with her passion for nature and sustainability to develop art installation concepts that she hopes to bring to life throughout Pennsylvania, in an effort to bring rationally sound and emotionally compelling solutions to climate change.

What does it take to get a piece of steak or chicken to someone's table? The amount of time, energy, water, land, and the resulting carbon footprint may be surprising. Today, scientists are exploring the farms of the future, including the generation of meat products through cellular agriculture. These animal-based proteins have plenty of pros, including sustainable production, and groups, ranging from U.S. government to the meat industry, are investigating the future of cellular agriculture.

Wetlands are some of the richest ecosystems in the world. They support an extensive variety of plants and animals, from the smallest of microbes to the largest of mammals. Wetlands also filter and protect water, improving its quality. However, as climate change intensifies, wetlands are threatened by changes in precipitation, both too much and too little. They also may provide early signals of climate change. 

The groundwater level in India is consistently dropping year to year. In fact, India uses more groundwater than any country in the world. However, it is also a nation that lacks water availability, and its population continues to grow. A team of researchers is analyzing how an Indian government policy aimed at installing and using solar irrigation pumps in agriculture may further lower groundwater levels, impact energy use, and help or hinder food production in India.

Cleveland, like many cities, aims to become greener in the coming decades by decarbonizing infrastructure and using renewable energy. However, implementing solutions has its challenges, from technological to financial. Add to this the challenges of ensuring equity, and the problem gets even more complex.

What happens to a community or a livelihood when a key resource disappears? In Southwest Madagascar, the farafatse tree, a tree of great importance in that region, appears to be vanishing, and where it is traditionally found seems to be shifting. A team of researchers are investigating this phenomenon in concert with Malagasy communities to identify causes and potential risks for plant life more broadly. 

Plastic of all shapes and sizes is showing up in bodies of water around the world, including microplastics, which are 5mm or less in size. But how these tiny pieces of plastic move through water and what impacts that movement is still a bit of a mystery. This includes biofilms, the thin layers of organisms that build up on material found in water.

A team of researchers seeks to better understand the social effects associated with flooding, such as whether racial and ethnic minorities, children, and those with low income suffer the most.

Melissa Bopp and her colleagues examine the role of the built and natural environments and their influence on physical activity, healthy eating, and air quality in the Mon Valley, an area that has seen steady economic decline since the departure of the steel industry in the late 20th century.

A transdisciplinary team of Penn State researchers is exploring how One Health, an approach that recognizes the interconnectedness among human health, ecosystem health, and animal health, may be able to tackle complex health problems facing Pennsylvania.

As sea-levels rise due to climate change, historical monuments and landscapes near bodies of water are at risk. A new research project will provide decision makers with information on what that could look like for their site. Specifically, the project is focused monuments and landscapes that are significant to African American, Indigenous, and other minority communities.

The latest episode of the Growing Impact podcast features a research team that is designing and building a biofiltration system that can reduce greenhouse gas emissions, specifically methane and carbon dioxide.

This episode of Growing Impact features Emily Pakhtigian, assistant professor of public policy and the Jeffrey L. and Sharon D. Hyde-McCourtney Career Development Professor. On the podcast, she discusses her seed grant project, titled “Assessing Distributional Effects of Coal-Fired Power Plant Operations on Pollution and Health,” through which she and her colleagues are investigating how the transition away from coal-fired power plants is impacting the environment and health of communities in Pennsylvania.

Lisa Emili, an associate professor of physical geography and environmental studies at Penn State Altoona, discusses her project titled “Coastal Carbon Dynamics in a Riparian Buffer Ecosystem, Lake Erie Basin,” which is investigating carbon accumulation in freshwater wetlands around the Great Lakes area. She and her team are interested in better understanding how these wetlands fit into the carbon cycle and how these areas can help impact climate change.

Penn State researchers, Julian Wang and Anne-Marie Chang, discuss their seed grant project that investigates how indoor lighting can be adjusted to save energy and positively impact human health.

According to reports, the building industry is responsible for a lot of the carbon emissions in the world, about 37% in the U.S. This includes the production of materials, construction, operation, and even deconstruction. Additionally, the world will need alternative building materials to keep up with the demand of the construction industry. In this episode of Growing Impact, we explore a seed grant project that looks to use mycelium, the root structure of fungi, as a renewable, biodegradable building material with a small carbon footprint.

Splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen requires a lot of energy. By introducing catalysts into the process, these renewable energy sources can be created more efficiently. The challenge is that these catalysts use precious metals and are expensive. Mauricio Terrones and Lauren Zarzar are working on a novel method to develop inexpensive and efficient catalysts to split water.

In order for the world to meet the challenge of climate change, decarbonization and negative emissions must be part of the discussion. Wei Peng looks to provide policy and tech leadership with information on what decarbonization technology might be effective in the future and how to strategically employ it.

Some countries in Africa and Asia have been locked into contracts that prevent improvements to existing electricity systems. Mohamed Badissy and his team are examining these contracts to find ways that could make these systems more efficient, sustainable, and cleaner.

Steve Chmely and Chris Costello discuss how wind energy has a dirty secret surrounding the wind turbine blades and their disposal. The research team is exploring materials to reduce the waste associated with the blades.

Green storm water infrastructure uses the power of plants and soils to improve water quality. More than that, Lauren McPhillips discusses how making stormwater infrastructure green is saving cities money, impacting environmental justice, and cooling urban heat islands with aesthetically pleasing gardens.

Kirk French talks about his newest project, "Climate Change on the Hudson: A Century After Nanook." In the discussion, Kirk talks about the importance of documenting climate change through film and how revisiting "Nanook of the North" empowered the Inuit to tell their story, even in the face of COVID.