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Mark Whaling and a crew raced up and down a hill in a tanker truck as they battled a wildfire in Los Angeles County, scrambling to get water from a street hydrant in time to stay ahead of flames moving up a ridge. A helicopter flew in to drop water, but it had to fly a long distance to refilland a fire that might have been stopped went on to destroy homes. As they fought that early 2000s blaze, Whaling says, he spotted a sealed, million-gallon water tank nearby that firefighters had no way of accessing. He thought that was ridiculous. We dont tell fire engines, Protect the city and go find your own water. We put fire hydrants every 600 feet all around cities, said Whaling, who has since retired from the county fire department. But when it comes to the helicopters, we werent supporting them as robustly as we should. His frustration sparked an idea: the Heli-Hydrant, a relatively small, open tank that can be rapidly filled with water, enabling helicopters to fill up faster for urban fires rather than flying to sometimes distant lakes or ponds. As wildfires become more frequent, Whaling’s invention is getting the attention of officials eager to boost preparedness. First used for the 2020 Blue Ridge Fire in Yorba Linda, 10 Heli-Hydrants have been built across Southern California and 16 more are in progress, according to Whaling. Helicopters are essential for firefighting. They can drop 1,000 gallons (about 3,785 liters) of water at oncesome much more. That is far more than hoses can get on a fire all at once, and can be the best way to attack fires that are difficult for ground crews to reach. But pilots sometimes have to fly a long way to scoop up water. And in drought-prone areas, natural sources can sometimes dry up or diminish, so they’re hard to draw from. In Southern California’s Riverside County, helicopters have had to fly up to 10 miles (about 16 kilometers) to find water, eating critical time from battling fires. An innovative solution On a remote plot in the Southern California town of Cabazon, contractor Glenn Chavez stood on a ladder and peered into an empty Heli-Hydrant. A radio in hand, he clicked a button to activate the system and watched as water roared into the tank. In about six minutes, it filled with 8,500 gallons (32,176 liters). Chavez, a general contractor, was testing the Cabazon Water Districts latest investmenta second Heli-Hydrant that local officials are counting on to help protect the town. At $300,000, it cost slightly less than the average price of a single home in Cabazon. Living in a beautiful desert community, you’re going to have risks of fire,” said Michael Pollack, the district’s general manager. “And to have these Heli-Hydrants is a major advantage. People will have a little bit of comfort knowing that they have another tool for fighting fires in their community.” Pilots can remotely activate the tanks from half a mile away, with the tank typically filling quickly from a city’s water system. Helicopters can fill up in less than a minute. Once it’s activated, solar panels and backup batteries ensure the system can still be used during power outages. And at night, lights from the tank and a tower nearby guide pilots toward it. In November, fire responders in San Diego put the product to the test when the 48-acre Garden Fire in Fallbrook, a community known for its avocado groves, prompted evacuation orders and warnings. Helicopters tapped the tank nearly 40 times. Pilot Ben Brown said its proximity to the fire saved not just time but fuel. Theyre great for when you dont have other water sources, he said. “The more dip sites, especially in some of the more arid environments in the county, the better. But they don’t always help Heli-Hydrants have raised some concerns about their placement in urban areas where houses, buildings, and power lines can be obstacles to flight and they might have to squeeze into tighter spaces. In those cases, firefighters may choose to fly farther to a natural source that gives the helicopter more room, said Warren Voth, a deputy pilot with the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department. A pilot’s goal is to always to face the wind while entering and exiting an area, for safety, and they need room to accomplish that. In some cases, the municipal systems needed to fill Heli-Hydrants could go empty during major fires. As the Palisades Fire in Los Angeles burned, three 1-million gallon tanks that helped pressurize city hydrants in the Pacific Palisades ran dry as demand soared and burning pipes leaked water. Other times, helicopters just can’t access them. When winds are fierce, flying is nearly impossible; hurricane-force winds that supercharged the Los Angeles infernos initially grounded firefighting aircraft. When multiple helicopters respond to large blazes, they can’t all use the Heli-Hydrant. And smoke can make it hard to see it. Portable water tanks can accomplish some of the things that Heli-Hydrants do, but can require time, people, and equipment to set up. A Heli-Hydrant gives one community hope Areas where wildland vegetation intersects with human development have always been vulnerable to fires, but more people are living in them today, and climate change is creating conditions that can make these regions drier and more flammable. Jake Wiley has seen intensifying wildfires devastate his community. Two blazesin 2007 and 2017collectively scorched more than 400 structures in San Diego. The last one forced Wiley, now general manager for the Rainbow Municipal Water District, to evacuate. That fire also prompted local agencies to install a Heli-Hydrantand when the Garden Fire erupted in November, it played a big role helping firefighters protect homes. It seems like when you’ve seen the worst, you haven’t yet, Wiley said. Anything we can do helps. The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of APs environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment. By Dorany Pineda and Brittany Peterson, Associated Press
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What if there were a battery that could release energy while trapping carbon dioxide? This isnt science fiction; its the promise of lithium-carbon dioxide (Li-CO) batteries, which are currently a hot research topic. Li-CO batteries could be a two-in-one solution to the current problems of storing renewable energy and taking carbon emissions out of the air. They absorb carbon dioxide and convert it into a white powder called lithium carbonate while discharging energy. These batteries could have profound implications for cutting emissions from vehicles and industryand might even enable long-duration missions on Mars, where the atmosphere is 95% CO. To make these batteries commercially viable, researchers have mainly been wrestling with problems related to recharging them. Now, our team at the University of Surrey has come up with a promising way forward. So how close are these CO-breathing batteries to becoming a practical reality? Like many great scientific breakthroughs, Li-CO batteries were a happy accident. Slightly over a decade ago, a U.S.-French team of researchers were trying to address problems with lithium air batteries, another frontier energy-storage technology. Whereas todays lithium-ion batteries generate power by moving and storing lithium ions within electrodes, lithium air batteries work by creating a chemical reaction between lithium and oxygen. The problem has been the air part, since even the tiny (0.04%) volume of CO that’s found in air is enough to disrupt this careful chemistry, producing unwanted lithium carbonate (LiCO). As many battery scientists will tell you, the presence of LiCO can also be a real pain in regular lithium-ion batteries, causing unhelpful side reactions and electrical resistance. Nonetheless the scientists noticed something interesting about this CO contamination: It improved the batterys amount of charge. From this point on, work began on intentionally adding CO gas to batteries to take advantage of this, and the lithium-CO battery was born. How it works Their great potential relates to the chemical reaction at the positive side of the battery, where small holes are cut in the casing to allow CO gas in. There it dissolves in the liquid electrolyte (which allows the charge to move between the two electrodes) and reacts with lithium that has already been dissolved there. During this reaction, its believed that four electrons are exchanged between lithium ions and carbon dioxide. This electron transfer determines the theoretical charge that can be stored in the battery. In a normal lithium-ion battery, the positive electrode exchanges just one electron per reaction. (In lithium air batteries, its two to four electrons.) The greater exchange of electrons in the lithium-carbon dioxide battery, combined with the high voltage of the reaction, explains their potential to greatly outperform todays lithium-ion batteries. However, the technology has a few issues. The batteries dont last very long. Commercial lithium-ion packs routinely survive 1,000 to 10,000 charging cycles; most LiCO prototypes fade after fewer than 100. Theyre also difficult to recharge. This requires breaking down the lithium carbonate to release lithium and CO, which can be energy intensive. This energy requirement is a little like a hill that must be cycled up before the reaction can coast, and is known as overpotential. You can reduce this requirement by printing the right catalyst material on the porous positive electrode. Yet these catalysts are typically expensive and rare noble metals, such as ruthenium and platinum, making for a significant barrier to commercial viability. Our team has found an alternative catalyst, caesium phosphomolybdate, which is far cheaper and easy to manufacture at room temperature. This material made the batteries stable for 107 cycles, while also storing 2.5 times as much charge as a lithium ion. And we significantly reduced the energy cost involved in breaking down lithium carbonate, for an overpotential of 0.67 volts, which is only about double what would be necessary in a commercial product. Our research team is now working to further reduce the cost of this technology by developing a catalyst that replaces caesium, since its the phosphomolybdate that is key. This could make the system more economically viable and scalable for widespread deployment. We also plan to study how the battery charges and discharges in real time. This will provide a clearer understanding of the internal mechanisms at work, helping to optimize performance and durability. A major focus of upcoming tests will be to evaluate how the battery performs under different CO pressures. So far, the system has only been tested under idealized conditions (1 bar). If it can work at 0.1 bar of pressure, it will be feasible for car exhausts and gas boiler flues, meaning you could capture CO while you drive or heat your home. Demonstrating that this works will be an important confirmation of commercial viability, albeit we would expect the batterys charge capacity to reduce at this pressure. By our rough calculations, 1kg of catalyst could absorb around 18.5kg of CO. Since a car driving 100 miles emits around 18kg to 20kg of CO, that means such a battery could potentially offset a days drive. If the batteries work at 0.006 bar, the pressure on the Martian atmosphere, they could power anything from an exploration rover to a colony. At 0.0004 bar, Earths ambient air pressure, they could capture CO from our atmosphere and store power anywhere. In all cases, the key question will be how it affects the batterys charge capacity. Meanwhile, to improve the batterys number of recharge cycles, we need to address the fact that the electrolyte dries out. Were currently investigating solutions, which probably involve developing casings that only CO can move into. As for reducing the energy required for the catalyst to work, its likely to require optimizing the batterys geometry to maximize the reaction rateand to introduce a flow of CO, comparable to how fuel cells work (typically by feeding in hydrogen and oxygen). If this continued work can push the batterys cycle life above 1,000 cycles, cut overpotential below 0.3 V, and replace scarce elements entirely, commercial Li-CO packs could become reality. Our experiments will determine just how versatile and far-reaching the batterys applications might be, from carbon capture on Earth to powering missions on Mars. Daniel Commandeur is a Surrey Future Fellow at theSchool of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering at the University of Surrey. Mahsa Masoudi is a PhD researcher of chemical engineering at the University of Surrey. Siddharth Gadkari is a lecturer in chemical process engineering at the University of Surrey. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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A year ago, I started reading again. I say again because, like the countless friends and colleagues I’ve spoken to who have also found themselves swept up in the reading renaissance thats currently reshaping the book industrythe U.S. market is projected to grow from $40.5 billion in 2024 to $51.5 billion by 2030, with audiobooks and ebooks seeing explosive growthId lost the habit somewhere between the demands of a growing career and the chaos of early parenthood. For too long, reading was relegated to vacationsand even then, I’d be lucky to get through a full book. {"blockType":"creator-network-promo","data":{"mediaUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2015\/08\/Two-Truths-single.png","headline":"Subscribe to Two Truths...","description":"a newsletter that explores the many truths of motherhood through news round-ups, trend reports, and expert-backed deep dives on topics that matter to moms. To learn more visit twotruths.substack.com","substackDomain":"https:\/\/twotruths.substack.com","colorTheme":"salmon","redirectUrl":""}} But last year, something shifted. Twelve months later, Ive read over 100 books and listened to countless more on audio. I sleep better, stress less, have a better work/life balance, andfor the first time in yearshave an actual hobby thats purely for my personal enjoyment. Small but strategic changes Howd I do it? Call it a perfect storm: I stumbled into the world of BookTok, finally succumbed to the siren call of the Kindle, and I made a few small but strategic lifestyle changes that opened up a whole new world of reading. Below, Ive included five of the tactics that helped me make reading a priority (read the other ten on my Substack, Two Truths). My method wont apply to every person or be conducive to every career: Im primarily a stay-at-home parent of two young kids who works part-time in the margins of my free time as a writer. But its my hope that some of what worked for me will help you find more free time, toowhether its to read one book, 100 books, or do something else entirely. 1. I typically read three different books at once. This might sound chaotic, but hear me out. Heres how I break down my three-book method . . . One book is on my Kindle, which travels with me everywhere so I can fill any spare moments (waiting at the doctors office, sitting in the school pick-up lot, or standing in line at the grocery store) by sneaking in a few pages. This is also what I read at nighttime when my kids bedtime books are done and Im waiting for them to doze offthe tablets screen has a dark mode that doesnt disturb them, and its a nice way to wind down my day. One is a hard copy, either something from the library, or something I want to annotate (I appreciate the aesthetic nostalgia of highlighters and sticky tabs). This is how I read most of my nonfiction, which I prefer to hold in my hand. Since these books are often for work, research, or self-improvement, I often read them in the morning (more on that below), during naptime, or while both kids are playing independently. One is an audiobook, which I listen to while Im driving or doing work around my home. I regularly find myself cleaning out closets or reorganizing the pantry just so I have an excuse to keep listening to a book. I typically reserve my audiobooks for easier-to-follow, lighthearted reads.That way, if I get distracted and miss something, I wont be completely lost. 2. I stopped watching unintentional TV. There was a time when Id end the day by crashing on the couch and searching for something to watch before inevitably ending up on The Office (. . . again). Now, I only watch TV when I truly want to invest my time into a series, and I really cannot stress enough how much time this opened up for me in the evening. 3. I wake up early and read before the kids wake. I never thought Id say this (Ive never been a morning person), but having young kids trained my body to wake up at 5 a.m. These days, they usually sleep until 6but if the house is still quiet when I wake, I take the chance to read a few pages of my book before the day begins. Its a peaceful ritual that keeps me off my phoneand away from notifications and mindless scrollinguntil Im ready to address whatevers waiting. 4. I keep a running list in my Notes app with every book Ive read, plus a few emojis or keywords to represent how I felt about it. This helps me remember what I loved or didnt love about a book, which is crucial when someone asks me for a reading recommendation. I also like the sense of accomplishment that comes from scrolling through my list. 5. I chose to prioritize reading, and then built boundaries around it. Bottom line: I could certainly be doing a host of other things during the extra time Ive dug out of my days and nights; the unpacked boxes that have been sitting in my basement since our move two years ago would probably like a word. Maybe I’m missing out on some great series or films that I would have stumbled upon, and I could always tackle my overflowing inbox in that open hour at 5 a.m. But for me, reading offers a pretty effortless and accessible escape from the news, noise, and inevitable dilemmas that pop up dailyand those moments of peace are priceless. {"blockType":"creator-network-promo","data":{"mediaUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2015\/08\/Two-Truths-single.png","headline":"Subscribe to Two Truths...","description":"a newsletter that explores the many truths of motherhood through news round-ups, trend reports, and expert-backed deep dives on topics that matter to moms. To learn more visit twotruths.substack.com","substackDomain":"https:\/\/twotruths.substack.com","colorTheme":"salmon","redirectUrl":""}}
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