New papers on Energy & sustainability
16 new papers on energy & sustainability in the last 7 days, within Earth & climate. These are the 16 Pipette rates most worth reading, with the main result in the authors' own words.
The best of the week
Agricultural liming is a carbon sink in the Mississippi River Basin
Here we show, using century-scale records of agricultural liming and anthropogenic acidity inputs for the Mississippi River Basin, that agricultural liming has acted as a net carbon sink over the past century.
Peer-reviewed journalReal-world useSocial structural factors outperform economic assumptions in explaining global municipal waste generation
These results show that waste generation reflects a country’s overall social development and institutions, not just its wealth or degree of urbanization, pointing to targeted levers for waste-reduction policy.
Peer-reviewed journalBroad interestReal-world useEasy to readNationwide recycled steel slag pavements can stimulate sustainable urban transportation
Across assessment horizons accounting for phased deployment and two subsequent 15-year service cycles, replacing 25–100% of urban pavements is estimated to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 19% (431–1741 million tonnes), cut fine particulate matter emissions by 13% (303–1229 million kilograms), avert approximately 31,802–128,980 premature deaths, and generate net economic benefits of 3.48–15.01 trillion Chinese Yuan.
Peer-reviewed journalReal-world useReal-world mileage and survival of electric vehicles in Britain and implications for lifecycle emissions
Training a transformer neural network on this data, we estimate that current BEVs have projected attributional lifecycle emissions of 88 g CO 2e per kilometre, less than half the 254-270 g for conventional vehicles and 190 g for hybrid vehicles, based on real-world usage.
Peer-reviewed journalReal-world useStand-density optimization could substantially increase aboveground biomass in China’s planted forests without land expansion
Optimizing stand density through targeted planting and thinning could increase aboveground biomass in China’s planted forests by approximately 8.8 Pg without additional land, according to analyses of paired UAV and satellite LiDAR observations, tree density maps, and multiple biomass datasets.
Peer-reviewed journalReal-world useChina’s changing diets improve human health but increase environmental pressures
China’s dietary transitions improve health outcomes but increase environmental pressures, with faster health gains but rising environmental impacts in urban areas and slower health gains yet higher environmental burdens in rural areas, according to analysis combining environmental and health indicators and scenario modeling
Peer-reviewed journalReal-world useFar-right political support and clean technology adoption in Germany
Supporters of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) show significantly lower willingness to adopt EVs and, to a lesser degree, PV systems compared with supporters of the pro-environmental Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen (GRÜNE) party.
Peer-reviewed journalReal-world useOn-package claims are imperfect signals of overall nutritional quality
These findings indicate that attribute-based claims are imperfect signals of overall nutritional quality, with important implications for food labelling policy and consumer decision-making.
Peer-reviewed journalReal-world useEasy to readAn early shift from wetland-adjacent to upland farming in the Maya lowlands
We generated multiproxy isotopic, microbotanical, and paleoecological evidence that demonstrate a shift from extensive wetland-adjacent C4 plant cultivation by 6000 BP to upland C4 plant cultivation away from wetlands by 3500 BP when early maize is being intensively cultivated.
Peer-reviewed journalElectromethanogenesis underpins the methane production in a Tibetan wetland
Direct interspecies electron transfer drives methane production in Tibetan wetlands and is more efficient than H2-dependent methanogenesis, shown using CO-inhibited microcosms, isotope tracing, electrochemistry, and electron-shuttle amendments.
Peer-reviewed journalReal-world useFood emissions taxes can deliver health and environmental benefits with limited leakage
Our findings support an ambitious GHG tax for improving mitigation and health, provided it does not substantially reduce purchasing power.
Peer-reviewed journalReal-world useThe impact of financing cost differences on global energy and industry decarbonization
Compared with assuming a uniform low-risk CoC, accounting for developing countries’ investment risks increases global mitigation costs through 2100 for staying well below +2 °C by around 9% and shifts cost-effective mitigation efforts to lower-risk regions.
Peer-reviewed journalReal-world useLand constraints shape China’s wind power potential and improve development efficiency
China’s land-constrained wind power potential is 7.62−14.06 terawatts, and stricter land policies can reduce energy-land conflicts while protecting farmland and ecosystems, according to turbine-level land-use data integrated with wind resource and assessment modeling.
Peer-reviewed journalReal-world usePower sector decarbonization increases construction phase embodied emissions in China
Stricter climate constraints increase construction-phase embodied emissions.
Peer-reviewed journalReal-world useLand use sequestration potential and uncertainties in India’s net-zero pathway
Here we show that scientific and policy uncertainties strongly influence India’s projected land-use sequestration.
Peer-reviewed journalReal-world useIncorporating landscape context into species distribution models improves predictions for migratory shorebirds
Here we show that incorporating neighborhood variables describing habitat composition and configuration (area proportions, patch densities, and land cover diversity) improves predictive performance for most species.
Peer-reviewed journalReal-world use