Maskot / Maskot / Getty Images
By Alex Robinson
Youngstown, Ohio probably doesn't strike most people as a destination for foodies. But Mark Winne begs to differ.
Over the last decade, the food activist and writer has witnessed an explosion of farm-to-table restaurants, brewpubs and independent coffee shops in America. Many might think this food renaissance is only happening in large coastal cities. But through his travels, Winne has found something much more expansive is going on.
Winne's new book, Food Town, USA, follows his journey through seven unlikely food towns to show the presence of good food is becoming a new normal across the country.
"Good food was available increasingly around the country in all kinds of places, and people were paying much more attention to locally produced food," Winne said.
He met with farmers, local politicians and brew masters in places like Sitka, Alaska and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. What these places had in common was an unexpectedly thriving food scene. Many of these places didn't have farmers' markets a decade ago, let alone farm-to-table restaurants and brewpubs. But the shifting population and demographics of these areas during that ten years created a greater demand for good food.
"They didn't want to eat at Denny's. They wanted to have the real thing," Winne said.
In addition to caring more about where their food came from, Winne said, people were also starting to care about tackling problems like food insecurity. One of the overarching concerns he heard everywhere was whether there would be enough new farmers to meet the emerging demand for good food.
In many of the places he went, Winne found new establishments had been started by young people who had grown up in these towns, left to learn their craft in big cities and then returned home to start their own businesses. Winne said some of these people knew their hometowns didn't necessarily have the same opportunities as the larger cities, but they felt a draw or homing instinct.
Chefs from Portland, Oregon were also moving to places like Boise, Idaho, because the culinary scene in the former was oversaturated and crowded. It also didn't hurt that real estate was cheaper.
One of the big questions Winne has wrestled with is whether economic development has brought good restaurants to these places, or if food was playing a part in bringing new businesses to town.
"It's a little bit of the chicken and egg deal. I saw a little bit of both," he said. In some places, Winne said, food has been seen as an economic engine that can jumpstart development. If these places were going to try to attract new businesses, the employees they would bring would want a quality of life similar to where they came from. So these towns needed to have nice coffee shops, good local brewpubs and a farmers' market.
Winne said he also saw the emergence of an entrepreneurial class. "They were looking at the marketplace and wondering is this place ready for good food, or do I need to make them ready by opening up a place and hoping they will come?" he added.
For Winne, this has all illustrated a new national consciousness that has taken hold across the country, and it is apparent in these new food towns.
Reposted with permission from our media associate Modern Farmer.
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The study identified chinook salmon as among the species of high concern that are frequently ingesting plastic.
bpperry / Getty Images
bpperry / Getty Images
By Tara Lohan
Each year the amount of plastic swirling in ocean gyres and surfing the tide toward coastal beaches seems to increase. So too does the amount of plastic particles being consumed by fish — including species that help feed billions of people around the world.
<p>A new <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/gcb.15533" target="_blank">study</a> published in the journal <em>Global Change Biology</em> revealed that the rate of plastic consumption by marine fish has doubled in the last decade and is increasing by more than 2% a year.</p><p>The study also revealed new information about what species are most affected and where the risks are greatest.</p><p>The researchers did a global analysis of mounting studies of plastic pollution in the ocean and found data on plastic ingestion for 555 species of marine and estuarine fish. Their results showed that 386 fish species — two-thirds of all species — had ingested plastic. And of those, 210 were species that are commercially fished.</p><p>Not surprisingly, places with an abundance of plastic in surface waters, such as East Asia, led to a higher likelihood of plastic ingestion by fish.</p><p>But fish type and behavior, researchers found, also plays a role. Active predators — those at the top of the food chain, like members of the Sphyrnidae family, which includes hammerhead and bonnethead sharks — ingested the most plastic. Grazers and filter‐feeders consumed the least.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTc5NTg4OC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxNzQ1NjM3OX0.6wmtj00uieZfjuuejjslI_qHBsxGXswXTlmwxllwPrw/img.jpg?width=980" id="d750b" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="f706f6af320132b0d74bcb77d2cf69a5" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="799" data-height="533" />
Blue shark at Cape Point, South Africa, 2016. Steve Woods / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
<p>"Overall, the likelihood of plastic ingestion decreases with depth," the researchers found.</p><p>Although bioaccumulation of plastic and its associated chemicals can cause health problems, this isn't causing noticeable fish population problems — yet. The research revealed that the majority of the species they found to have ingested plastic remain abundant.</p><p>But at the same time, 35 species were listed as threatened or near threatened. Another 26 species are vulnerable to overfishing. The authors identified the blue shark, Atlantic bluefin tuna and chinook salmon as "species of high concern due to their threatened status, vulnerability to overfishing and frequent plastic ingestion."</p><p>Meanwhile the researchers found that three-quarters of commercially fished species ingested plastic, including ones common in recreational fisheries and aquaculture that "have the highest likelihood to be part of the supply chain." Common sole was found to be "most worrisome."</p>
<p>Even more troubling is that there's still a lot we don't know because some areas are better studied than others.</p><p>Some nearshore areas are among those where research is lacking. "Only four studies were conducted within the continental United States' Exclusive Economic Zone, despite more marine plastic originating from the United States than any other developed nation," the researchers wrote.</p><p>Oceanic gyres, those swirling eddies of plastic in the open ocean, are also a black hole when it comes to research. "We uncovered no studies from the Indian, South Atlantic or western North Pacific gyres though there is extensive knowledge of surface debris accumulation in these regions," they found. "Similarly, there was a paucity of data from high‐latitude seas and none from the Southern Ocean, even though the polar oceans are a sink for microplastic debris with new fisheries developing in these regions as ice retreats and climate changes."</p><p>By comparison, coastal waters — including estuaries — are well studied, as are the seas surrounding Europe. And they found a "recent flurry of studies" from East Asia.</p>
<p>Even with a growing amount of research, the scope and severity of the problem is likely still underestimated.</p><p>Filling in these knowledge gaps will be crucial to better understand the extent of the problem, but the researchers say we'll also need to study top predators more to learn how plastic bioaccumulates in the food chain and how these mobile predators may redistribute plastic across the ocean as they travel.</p><p>Little is known about how ingested plastic affects fish and marine ecosystems, and even less about how human health could be affected when plastic-eating fish end up on the dinner table.</p><p>"Current evidence for humans ingesting plastic directly from fish remains scant, but there is growing concern," the researchers wrote. "In particular, the continued aggregation and analysis of information on plastic ingestion by marine fish is vital as these data are inextricably linked to ecosystem and human health."</p>
<p><a href="https://therevelator.org/author/taralohan/" target="_blank"><em>Tara Lohan </em></a><em>is deputy editor of The Revelator and has worked for more than a decade as a digital editor and environmental journalist focused on the intersections of energy, water and climate. Her work has been published by The Nation, American Prospect, High Country News, Grist, Pacific Standard and others. She is the editor of two books on the global water crisis.</em></p><p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://therevelator.org/fish-eating-plastic" target="_blank">The Revelator</a>.</em></p>
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An Edith's Checkerspot butterfly in Los Padres National Forest in Southern California. Patricia Marroquin / Moment / Getty Images
Butterflies across the U.S. West are disappearing, and now researchers say the climate crisis is largely to blame.
<p>A new study published in <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/371/6533/1042" target="_blank">Science</a> on Thursday looked at three different data sets that cover the last 40 years of butterfly populations across more than 70 locations in the Western U.S. They found that butterfly populations had fallen by 1.6 percent per year, and that this was linked to warmer weather during the fall.</p><p>"That so many of our butterflies are declining is very alarming," Dr. Tara Cornelisse, an entomologist and senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), said in <a href="https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/study-climate-change-contributing-to-widespread-butterfly-decline-across-western-united-states-2021-03-04/" target="_blank">response to the findings</a>. "These declines are a wake-up call that we need to dramatically reduce greenhouse gases to save these beautiful and beloved butterflies, as well as our very way of life."</p>
<p>In recent years, scientists have raised the alarm about a worldwide decline in <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/insects" target="_self">insects</a>. A <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/insect-land-decrease-study-2645822562.html" target="_self">study published last spring</a> found that the number of land-based insects was falling by about nine percent per decade. However, it has been difficult to tease out the causes of this decline, since factors like land-use change, pesticide use and climate shifts may all contribute, <a href="https://earther.gizmodo.com/climate-change-is-killing-butterflies-in-the-american-w-1846408143" target="_blank">Gizmodo's Earther pointed out</a>.</p><p>To investigate the role of climate change, the researchers chose to focus on the Western U.S. because it has seen general warming and drying trends covering a wide variety of ecosystems and land uses. They looked at 450 species in 11 states, from Washington to California to New Mexico to Montana, and compared population data with temperature trends.</p>
<p>They found that butterfly populations actually increased with summer temperatures, probably because the warmth meant more nectar and larval bugs as food for butterflies and caterpillars. However, the warmer autumns caused their populations to fall again, likely because plants cannot survive the extended warmth and the population of predators increases. Because the declines occurred in a variety of ecosystems, including protected areas that are less impacted by pesticides, the researchers thought climate change was to blame.</p><p>"Out there, removed from those factors, we see a shifting climate as the main driver of declining butterfly numbers," University of Texas in Reno biologist and lead study author Matthew Forister told Earther in an email.</p>
<p>University of Connecticut ecologist David Wagner, who was not involved with the study, said it was notable because it included protected areas.</p><p>"[T]his is one of the first global cases of declines occurring in wildlands, away from densely populated human-dominated landscapes, and the rate of 1.6 percent is calamitous," he told <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2021/03/04/climate-change-butterflies/" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a>.</p><p>Examples of species in decline include the iconic monarch butterfly, the common cabbage white butterfly and the vulnerable Edith's checkerspot. Forister told The Washington Post that both widespread and rare species were impacted.</p><p>The findings have important implications for <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/conservation" target="_self">conservation</a>, because they show that simply protecting one habitat is not sufficient in the context of climate change.</p><p>"We need a multi-prong approach to conserve insects. This new study adds to the evidence that in addition to habitat protections and pesticide reform, that approach must include swift and bold climate change policy," CBD's Cornelisse said.</p>
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A wildfire burns in the Hollywood hills on July 19, 2016 in Hollywood, California. AaronP / Bauer-Griffin / GC Images
California faces another "critically dry year" according to state officials, and a destructive wildfire season looms on its horizon. But in a state that welcomes innovation, water efficacy approaches and drought management could replenish California, increasingly threatened by the climate's new extremes.
<p>The Sierra Nevada snowpack supplies the state with 30 percent of its water supply. But on Tuesday, California's Department of Water Resources recorded a snow depth of 56 inches and water content of 21 inches at Phillips Station – 61 percent of the average for March 2 and 54 percent of the average for April 1, when it's at its maximum, the <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-03-02/california-snowpack-increases-a-drought-could-be-on-the-horizon" target="_blank">Los Angeles Times reported</a>.</p><p>The state's largest reservoirs – responsible for maintaining the state's water supply throughout the year – also experienced low levels this year, storing only about 38 percent and 68 percent of their capacity, according to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/mar/03/california-snowpack-water-supply-shortage-conservation" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>.</p>
<p>"With below-average precipitation across the state, California's reservoirs are starting to see the impacts of a second consecutive dry year," said Sean de Guzman, the department's chief of snow surveys and water supply forecasting, according to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/mar/03/california-snowpack-water-supply-shortage-conservation" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>.</p><p>These effects are being felt across the state. During the city's wettest months of December, January and February, L.A. received just 2.44 inches of the expected 3.12 inches of rain, the Los Angeles Times reported. At the same time Northern California remains in one of the worst two-year rain deficient since the Gold Rush of 1849 – its precipitation at only 30 percent to 70 percent of a normal year, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/feb/11/california-dry-weather-drought-wildfire-agriculture" target="_blank">The Guardian reported</a>.</p>
<p>Three to five winter storms supply California's snowpack and reservoirs with water. But the state's dependency on these few winter storms makes it especially vulnerable when they occur less frequently, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/feb/11/california-dry-weather-drought-wildfire-agriculture" target="_blank">The Guardian reported</a>.</p><p>"In years where you miss out on one or two of those, you're probably going to struggle to get close to normal," John Abatzoglou, a climatology researcher at the University of California, Merced, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/feb/11/california-dry-weather-drought-wildfire-agriculture" target="_blank">told The Guardian</a>, who added that the state is increasingly living in extremes – either experiencing abnormally heavy rain or no rain at all. "We're banking on a miracle March or awesome April to dig out of this hole... In all likelihood, we're going to end the water year with another dry year."</p><p>The dry winter not only invites a destructive wildfire season but comes with a heavy price tag for the state's agricultural industry. Between 2012-2016, for example, the state experienced a drought that cost $2.7 billion in losses for the industry, and more than 18,000 lost jobs, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/mar/03/california-snowpack-water-supply-shortage-conservation" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Guardian reported</a>. This drought also killed about 102 million forest trees.</p>
<p>"Our state's water future remains uncertain due to the variability in precipitation and changing climate," Guzman said, according to the <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-03-02/california-snowpack-increases-a-drought-could-be-on-the-horizon" target="_blank">Los Angeles Times</a>. Now more than ever, new approaches to water efficacy are necessary. Fortunately, new ideas are plentiful in a state that is often celebrated for its sustainable policy.</p><p>One solution, for example, could include paying Californians to conserve water as a cost-effective way to reduce energy consumption, Sammy Roth, a staff writer for the Los Angeles Times wrote in the newsletter <a href="https://www.latimes.com/environment/newsletter/2021-03-04/want-to-save-energy-and-fight-climate-change-try-using-less-water-boiling-point" target="_blank">Boiling Point</a>.</p><p>Water and electricity go hand-in-hand in California. "Nearly one-fifth of electricity use in California goes to transporting and treating water. And nearly one-third of non-power plant natural gas use is water-related, primarily water heating," <a href="https://www.latimes.com/environment/newsletter/2021-03-04/want-to-save-energy-and-fight-climate-change-try-using-less-water-boiling-point" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Roth wrote</a>, mentioning the state's complex <a href="https://water.ca.gov/Programs/State-Water-Project" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">water projects</a> that include systems "of reservoirs, aqueducts, power plants and pumping plants extending more than 700 miles."</p>
<p>Based on <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/abb9de/meta" target="_blank">research</a> that looked at what happened if the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power paid people to use less electricity rather than less water, the researchers concluded "that paying for water conservation can actually be a more cost-effective way to slash energy consumption than paying for energy conservation," Roth added.</p><p>In a drier, hotter and rapidly changing climate, that brings new <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/extreme-weather">weather extremes</a> to the state each year, water conservation is imperative for California and the nearly 40 million that call it home. "It's more critical than ever that Californians adopt sustainability, embrace new approaches and emerging technologies and work together to save water for a secure future," Guzman added, according to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/mar/03/california-snowpack-water-supply-shortage-conservation" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>.</p>
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Wisdom is seen with her chick in Feb. 2021 at the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge. Jon Brack / Friends of Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge / Flickr / CC 2.0
Wisdom the mōlī, or Laysan albatross, is the oldest wild bird known to science at the age of at least 70. She is also, as of February 1, a new mother.
<p>Wisdom hatched her latest chick on Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge and Battle of Midway National Memorial, home to the world's largest albatross colony where millions of birds return each year to nest in the same place and, usually, with the same partner.</p><p>"Each year that Wisdom returns, we learn more about how long seabirds can live and raise chicks," Dr. Beth Flint, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) biologist, said in a <a href="https://medium.com/usfwspacificislands/worlds-oldest-known-banded-wild-bird-hatches-chick-at-midway-atoll-2708a0b3f2c0" target="_blank">USFWS Pacific Islands post announcing the birth</a>. "Her return not only inspires bird lovers everywhere, but helps us better understand how we can protect these graceful seabirds and the habitat they need to survive into the future."</p>
<div id="dadb2" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="aa2ad8cb566c9b4b6d2df2693669f6f9"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1357796504740761602" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">🚨Cute baby alert! Wisdom's chick has hatched!!! 🐣😍 Wisdom, a mōlī (Laysan albatross) and world’s oldest known, ban… https://t.co/Nco050ztBA</div> — USFWS Pacific Region (@USFWS Pacific Region)<a href="https://twitter.com/USFWSPacific/statuses/1357796504740761602">1612558888.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Laysan albatrosses typically live 12 to 40 years, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56281983" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">BBC News reported</a>. Wisdom, however, was first banded in 1956 by biologist Chandler Robbins, according to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/mar/05/wisdom-the-albatross-the-worlds-oldest-known-wild-bird-has-another-chick-at-age-70" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>. She has gone on to outlive him and likely her first mate. In that time, she has also hatched 30 to 36 chicks, according to USFWS. Since at least 2012, her mate has been a male albatross named Akeakamai.</p><p>"At least 70 years old, we believe Wisdom has had other mates," Flint said. "Though albatross mate for life, they may find new partners if necessary — for example if they outlive their first mate."</p><p>Wisdom is among the 70 precent of mōlī that nest on Midway Atoll, one of the oldest atoll-type islands in the world, located at the northern end of the Hawaiian island chain. In addition to mōlī, nearly 40 percent of kaʻupu (black-footed albatross) and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species" target="_self">endangered</a> makalena (short-tailed albatross) breed there, along with more than 20 other bird species.</p><p>Albatrosses arrive on the atoll beginning in October. Their eggs hatch around January or February following a 65-day incubation period, and the baby birds begin to fly in June or July. Wisdom laid this year's egg in late November. The Midway gathering can be a family reunion of sorts. In 2018, she nested a few feet away from a chick she had in 2011.</p>
<p>Albatrosses hatch one egg at a time, but don't lay eggs every year.</p><p>"Because she only nests every two years, the international bird community looks forward to see if she's been able to come back and nest," Sean Dooley, BirdLife Australia's national public affairs manager, told The Guardian. "The odds are stacked against them so much, whenever it happens it's always a cause for celebration."<br></p><p>Albatrosses face several threats, Dooley said, including <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fishing" target="_self">fishing</a> practices that accidentally harm birds, such as using long lines. The <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a> poses another danger.</p><p>"The changes in water temperate and the changes in currents in water and winds means... the extent they have to fly to find food increases as their prey species seek out colder water — it's a big looming threat that sea birds are facing, albatross in particular," Dooley explained.</p>
<p>Feeding their chicks can also be dangerous. Male and female albatrosses share incubation and feeding duties, USFWS noted. To feed their young, the birds catch squid and fish eggs that are rich in fatty acids and regurgitate them into their chicks' mouths. However, sometimes the parents bring home <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/plastics" target="_self">plastic</a> instead, the <a href="https://ocean.si.edu/ocean-life/seabirds/laysan-albatrosses-plastic-problem" target="_blank">Smithsonian reported</a>:</p><blockquote>Many birds accidentally eat plastic and other <a href="https://ocean.si.edu/ocean-news/ocean-trash-plaguing-our-sea" target="_blank">marine debris</a> floating in the ocean, mistaking it for food. But the problem is intensified in Laysan albatrosses because of the way they catch fish, squid and other seafood: by skimming the surface of the water with their beak. Along the way, they accidentally pick up a lot of floating plastic, which they then feed to their chicks. Adults can regurgitate plastic they've swallowed, but chicks are unable to, so it fills up their stomachs.</blockquote><p>Photographer Chris Jordan took <a href="http://www.chrisjordan.com/gallery/midway/#CF000313%2018x24" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">shocking photographs</a> of albatross chicks whose stomachs were full of plastic, and went on to make a <a href="https://www.albatrossthefilm.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">film about the birds</a>.</p><p>"There's something so archetypal about these legendary birds and seeing bright colors of ocean plastic against dead sterility is a powerful symbol for our human culture right now. We're in a state of emotional bankruptcy," Jordan told <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/mar/12/albatross-film-dead-chicks-plastic-saving-birds" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Guardian in 2018</a>.</p><p>It is hard to know exactly how much plastic impacts the birds. Lead poisoning poses another threat to Laysan albatross chicks on Midway, the Smithsonian reported, so it can be difficult to determine their cause of death. However, more than 97 percent of dead albatross chicks found on Midway in recent years had plastic in their stomachs, according to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/mar/12/albatross-film-dead-chicks-plastic-saving-birds" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>.</p>
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The Science Behind Frozen Wind Turbines – and How to Keep Them Spinning Through the Winter
05 March
Renewable Energy
Wind turbines in Norway. piola66 / E+ / Getty Images
By Hui Hu
Winter is supposed to be the best season for wind power – the winds are stronger, and since air density increases as the temperature drops, more force is pushing on the blades. But winter also comes with a problem: freezing weather.
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<p>Even light icing can produce enough surface roughness on wind turbine blades to reduce their aerodynamic efficiency, which reduces the amount of power they can produce, as Texas experienced in February.</p><p>Frequent severe icing can cut a wind farm's annual energy production by <a href="https://community.ieawind.org/HigherLogic/System/DownloadDocumentFile.ashx?DocumentFileKey=04b5c3d8-9a6f-7d9a-c1d6-aa848027ca1d" target="_blank">over 20%</a>, costing the industry hundreds of millions of dollars. Power loss isn't the only problem from icing, either. The uneven way ice forms on blades can create imbalances, causing a turbine's parts to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/wene.170" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">wear out more quickly</a>. It can also induce vibrations that cause the turbines to shut down. In the case of extreme icing, restarting turbines <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2007.11.009" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">may not be possible for hours and potentially days</a>.</p>
<p>The solution is obvious: de-ice the blades, or find a way to keep ice from forming in the first place. So far, however, most of the <a href="https://www.windpowerengineering.com/the-cold-hard-truth-about-ice-on-turbine-blades/" target="_blank">strategies</a> <a href="https://www.skekraft.se/english_pages/wind-power/#box-no-8" target="_blank">for keeping ice off</a> wind turbines blades come from aviation. And airplane wings and wind turbines are built differently and operate under very different conditions.</p><p>I am an <a href="https://www.aere.iastate.edu/~huhui/resume.html" target="_blank">aerospace and mechanical engineer</a>, and my colleagues and I have been studying <a href="https://www.aere.iastate.edu/~huhui/WT-icing.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">wind turbine icing physics</a> over the past 10 years and exploring <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2019.03.112" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">better solutions for turbine icing protection</a>.</p>
<h3>Not All Ice Is the Same</h3><p>Ice isn't the same everywhere. It may come from precipitation, clouds or frost. It also freezes in different ways in different climates.</p><p>For example, <a href="https://www.mprnews.org/story/2018/12/10/winter-magic-the-beauty-of-freezing-fog-rime-ice-and-hoar-frost" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">rime icing</a>, formed when tiny, supercooled water droplets hit the surface, usually occurs in regions with relative dry air and colder temperatures, under 20°F. That's what we typically see in Iowa and other Midwest states in the winter.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTc0Njc4My9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzNzc5NzcyMn0.XRlFjF9QP6cUIN4g2OKUAlAr4k-cA65QNeFs-_3jrks/img.png?width=980" id="e137d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="ad12febe93cfaa27a59f784b50ac0b1d" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="1200" data-height="566" />
Comparing rime ice and glaze ice shows how each changes the texture of the blade. Gao, Liu and Hu, 2021, CC BY-ND
<p><a href="https://glossary.ametsoc.org/wiki/Glaze" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Glaze icing</a> is associated with much wetter air and warmer temperatures and is commonly seen on the Northeast coast. This is the worst type of ice for wind turbine blades. It forms complicated ice shapes because of its wet nature, which results in more power loss. It's also likely what formed in Texas in February 2021 when the cold air from the north collided with the moist air from the Gulf Coast. While the majority of the power shut down by the storm was from <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-texas-wind-turbines-explain/fact-check-the-causes-for-texas-blackout-go-well-beyond-wind-turbines-idUSKBN2AJ2EI" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">natural gas, coal or nuclear</a>, wind turbines also struggled.</p>
<h3>Tempests in a Wind Tunnel</h3><p>Building a wind power operation that can thrive in icy conditions requires a keen understanding of the underlying physics, both of how ice forms and the performance degradation that results from ice building up on turbine blades.</p><p>To explore those forces, we use a special wind tunnel that can demonstrate how ice forms on samples of turbine blades, and fly camera-equipped drones.</p><p>Using the <a href="https://www.aere.iastate.edu/facilities/icing-wind-tunnel/" target="_blank">Icing Research Tunnel</a> at Iowa State University, my team has been replicating the complex 3D shapes of ice forming on turbine blade models in different environments to study how they affect the wind and the blades. Ice can create massive <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2018.10.032" target="_blank">airflow separation</a>. In airplanes, that's a dangerous situation that can cause them to stall. In wind turbines, it reduces their <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2020.12.014" target="_blank">rotation speed and the amount of power</a> they can produce.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTc0Njc4NS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY3MDk2NjcxNH0.vUPGiFyUz1ranua9stJmt4l_Ydw9RVhr39btf_1Yu1s/img.png?width=980" id="98372" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="edd9337fc7178dac5b64da1b6419d630" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="1200" data-height="2052" />
Ice buildup changes air flow around the turbine blade, which can slow it down. The top photos show ice forming after 10 minutes at different temperatures in the Wind Research Tunnel. The lower measurements show airflow separation as ice accumulates. Icing Research Tunnel of Iowa State University, CC BY-ND
<p>We also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2020.12.014" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">study wind turbines in operation around the country</a> as they face some of their toughest conditions.</p><p>Using drones equipped with high-resolution digital cameras, we can hover in front of 80-meter-high wind turbines and take photos of the ice right after it forms on the blades. Pairing that with the turbine's production data shows us how the ice influences power production.</p><p>While ice can form over the entire span of the blade, much more ice is found near the tips. After one 30-hour icing event, we found ice as much as a foot thick. Despite the high wind, the ice-heavy turbines rotated much slower and even shut down. The turbines produced <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2020.12.014" target="_blank">only 20% of their normal power</a> over that period.</p>
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How ice builds up on the tips of turbine blades. Gao, Liu and Hu, 2021, CC BY-ND
<h3>Keeping Ice Off Blades</h3><p>There are a few reasons the strategies that effectively keep ice off aircraft wings aren't as effective for wind turbine blades.</p><p>One is the materials they are made of. While aircraft wings are typically made of metals like aluminum alloy, utility-scale wind turbines are made of polymer-based composites. Metal conducts heat more effectively, so thermal-based systems that circulate heat are more effective in airplane wings. Polymer-based turbine blades are also more likely to get covered by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/35083698" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">dust and insect collisions</a>, which can change the smoothness of the blade surface and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmultiphaseflow.2020.103254" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">slow water running off the blade, promoting ice formation</a>.</p><p>Wind turbines are also more prone to encounters with freezing rain and other low-altitude, high-water-content environments, such as ocean spray for offshore wind turbines.</p><p>Most current wind turbine anti-icing and de-icing methods remove ice buildup through <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8heUjOsUoBI" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">electric heating</a> or blowing hot air inside. Heating these massive areas, which are many times larger than airplane wings, adds to the cost of the turbine and is inefficient and energy-consuming. Composite-based turbine blades can also be easily damaged by overheating. And there's another problem: Water from melting ice may simply run back and refreeze elsewhere.</p><p>Another strategy in cold-weather regions is to use <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2020.10.013" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">surface coatings</a> that repel water or prevent ice from sticking. However, none of the coatings has been able to eliminate ice completely, especially in critical regions near the blades' leading edges.</p>
<h3>A Better Solution</h3><p>My team has been developing a novel method that uses elements of both technologies. By heating just the critical regions – particularly the blades' leading edges — and using water- and ice-repelling coatings, we were able to reduce the amount of heat needed and the risk of running back water to refreeze over the blade surfaces. The result effectively prevents ice from forming on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2019.03.112" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the entire surfaces</a> of turbine blades.</p><p>In comparison to the conventional brute-force surface-heating methods, our hybrid strategy also used much less power, resulting in up to 80% energy savings. Without ice to slow it down, the turbines can produce more power through the winter.</p><p>Worldwide, <a href="https://www.climateaction.org/news/global-wind-power-capacity-to-surpass-800-gw-by-2021" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">nearly 800 gigawatts</a> of wind power have been installed so far, including <a href="https://cleantechnica.com/2021/03/03/the-united-states-installed-more-wind-turbine-capacity-in-2020-than-in-any-other-year/amp/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">over 110 gigawatts in the U.S. alone</a>. As the market quickly grows and wind power supplants higher-polluting energy sources, de-icing and ice-proofing strategies are becoming essential.</p>
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<em>Hui Hu is a professor of aerospace engineering at Iowa State University.<br/>
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<em>Disclosure statement: </em><em>Hui Hu receives funding from National Science Foundation (NSF) and Iowa Energy Center (IEC) to study wind turbine icing physics and anti-/de-icing.</em>
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<em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-science-behind-frozen-wind-turbines-and-how-to-keep-them-spinning-through-the-winter-156520" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>.</em>
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