Pine Species Thrives When Burnt, so Southerners Rekindle 'Fire Culture' to Boost Its Range

Using new tools to revive an old communal tradition, they set fire to wiregrasses and forest debris with a drip torch, corralling embers with leaf blowers.
Wimberley, 65, gathers groups across eight North Carolina counties to starve future wildfires by lighting leaf litter ablaze. The burns clear space for longleaf pine, a tree species whose seeds won't sprout on undergrowth blocking bare soil. Since 2016, the fourth-generation burner has fueled a burgeoning movement to formalize these volunteer ranks.

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Argonne and Waubonsee Community College partner on sustainable aviation fuels case studies

Sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs) are making news as a way to potentially reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from the aviation industry. Now, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory has teamed up with DOE’s Idaho National Laboratory on a new project funded by DOE’s Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) called BRIDGES: the Bioenergy Research & Education Bridge. BRIDGES creates educational materials for college students to help them understand the potential impacts and uses of SAFs.

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Ireland Sets Renewable Record of 70% Energy from Wind

The Emerald Isle is greener than its reputation holds, as it turns out, since more than half of electricity on some days is generated by renewable energy.

Though it’s common to have all four seasons in a single day in Ireland, one can pretty much bet on the wind, which generated an all-time high for contribution to the Irish power grid with 4.62 gigawatts on Wednesday last week.

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