A study in Nature Sustainability by AirUCI faculty Steve Davis and his team (in collaboration with the Colorado School of Mines and the International Renewable Energy Agency in Germany) discusses the challenges of moving the airline industry toward more sustainability. AirUCI grad student Candelaria Bergero is the main author on the study and notes that, "Flying will be particularly hard to decarbonize because of its appeal and popularity as a mode of transportation and its reliance on energy-dense liquid fuels.” However, steps toward this goal are available and Steve says, "We are optimistic that through targeted innovation, good public policy and corporate climate action, our society can make progress toward achieving net-zero commercial aviation.” Read the UCI article and the Scientific American article
News
Here's the latest news from AirUCI — our events, our people, our science.
2023
In a February 6th article in Wired, AirUCI faculty Jim Randerson is quoted on the effects of El Nino on the Amazon rain forest. In general, there is less precipitation in the Amazon basin in El Nino years due to its influence on atmospheric circulation. "The rain falls more on the ocean,” says Jim. “It just doesn’t rain as much on global land. The continents lose water, especially South America.” Although every El Nino is different, typically more drought in the Amazon is expected. Read the article
Amid the escalating transition to green energy, recent research has shown that the amount of minerals required for the shift to renewables is significant, but falls well within the amount of reserves available. AirUCI faculty Steve Davis is co-author on a recent study which found that current reserves of minerals like aluminum, copper, manganese, silver and more should support building enough wind and solar power to meet climate targets. What’s more, the mining from those operations would not have an outsized impact on global warming, but much still must be done to ensure that mining is safe for ecosystems. Read the article
AirUCI faculty Jim Randerson is quoted in an article published in the High Country News describing the loss of forested land in California — over 7% of our forests since 1985. It's worse in Southern California, where the forests in our southwestern mountains lost 14% of tree cover. Rising temperatures and aridification mean that forests once considered fairly fire-resistant, such as old-growth coastal redwoods, can no longer rely on wet weather conditions for fire protection. Read the article
KABC-TV has interviewed AirUCI faculty Jim Randerson about the effect the current series of severe storms is having on California's forests. While flooding and mudslides wreak havoc in populated areas, the heavy rain and snow are providing the trees with some relief from the decades-long drought. Jim says this additional precipitation may stave off a mass die-off of trees in the Western U.S. Read the article
2022
An article in Forbes highlights Solutions That Scale, a partner program with AirUCI which was founded by a number of AirUCI faculty among others. AirUCI is listed among the campus centers working to solve environmental issues, and the article details the many ways that UCI leads the world in green technology. James Randerson, Jack Brouwer, and other AirUCI faculty and collaborators are featured, as are descriptions of our projects in Engineering, ESS, and other areas of AirUCI research. Read the article
In a December 18th article in the Orange County Register, AirUCI faculty Jack Brouwer commented on a project to inject hydrogen into natural gas supplies to limit carbon emissions. This venture on the UCI campus is one of three pilot projects in California to reduce the use of natural gas in favor of cleaner hydrogen to power buildings, but there is controversy about the proposals and some outright opposition. Read the article
AirUCI grad student Cindy Yanez (Czimczik group) is the subject of an article in UCI News that details her air sampling project measuring air pollution changes during the pandemic. Cindy and her team drove a mobile lab around Southern California freeways during pandemic months to measure how CO2 concentrations were changing. They also collected plant samples with assistance from a network of community scientist helpers across the state. Related article Such region-specific emissions data can help cities design policies to address their specific emissions situations. Read the article
From December 9-16, AirUCI faculty Celia Faiola is hosting a visit from two atmospheric chemistry researchers from Switzerland: Dr. Ugo Molteni and Dr. Simone Pieber.. Both are postdoctoral fellows with the Swiss National Science Foundation and they have been collaborating with the Faiola research group on a project related to chemistry of plant stress emissions. The will be meeting with additional AirUCI faculty and researchers to discuss their research and explore potential collaborative projects, and will be giving a presentation, time and title TBD.
AirUCI is pleased to welcome Prof. Jane W. Baldwin of ESS as the latest addition to our faculty. Jane studies large-scale atmospheric dynamics and how they influence regional climate and climatic extremes, applying her findings to climate change and policy applications. To learn more, visit her AirUCI faculty page. Welcome aboard, Jane!
