• About
    • About Us
    • What We Cover
  • Advertise
    • Advertise
    • Our Advertisers
  • Contact
  • Donate
  • Send News
  • Subscribe

Oak Ridge Today

  • Home
  • Sign in
  • News
    • Business
    • Community
    • Education
    • Government
    • Health
    • Police and Fire
    • U.S. Department of Energy
    • Weather
  • Sports
    • High School
    • Middle School
    • Recreation
    • Rowing
    • Youth
  • Entertainment
    • Arts
    • Dancing
    • Movies
    • Music
    • Television
    • Theater
  • Premium Content
  • Obituaries
  • Classifieds

 

ORNL: High-resolution modeling assesses impact of cities on river ecosystems

Posted at 3:39 am August 24, 2017
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

A new study from Oak Ridge National Laboratory shows the far-reaching impacts of U.S. cities’ energy consumption on regional ecosystems. Urban areas cover only about 5 percent of the Southeast’s landscape, but cities’ water and energy infrastructures often extend well beyond urban areas as power plants (represented as black dots) are distributed throughout the entire region. (Credit: Ryan McManamay/Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy)

A new study from Oak Ridge National Laboratory shows the far-reaching impacts of U.S. cities’ energy consumption on regional ecosystems. Urban areas cover only about 5 percent of the Southeast’s landscape, but cities’ water and energy infrastructures often extend well beyond urban areas as power plants (represented as black dots) are distributed throughout the entire region. (Credit: Ryan McManamay/Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy)

 

New mapping methods developed by researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory can help urban planners minimize the environmental impacts of cities’ water and energy demands on surrounding stream ecologies, a press release said.

In an analysis published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, an ORNL-led team used high-resolution geospatial modeling to quantify the effects of land, energy, and water infrastructures on the nation’s rivers and streams.

Using streamflow data from the U.S. Geological Survey, the researchers mapped changes to natural hydrology to assess how infrastructure development and competition over water resources affects the environment at a national scale. Their data-driven approach sheds light on the extent to which water resources and aquatic species are affected by urban infrastructures and could help cities curb their burden on regional ecosystems, the press release said.

The results indicate that urban land transformation and electricity production together affect 7 percent of U.S. streams, which influence habitats for more than 60 percent of all North American freshwater fish, mussel, and crayfish species, the release said. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Front Page News, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, ORNL, Science, Slider, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: April Morton, Benjamin Ruddell, Budhendra Bhaduri, Christopher DeRolph, electricity production, energy consumption, environmental impacts, Environmental Sciences Division, Hyun Kim, Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program, Liem Tran, Matthew Troia, natural hydrology, Northern Arizona University, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, ORNL, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, regional ecosystems, Robert Stewart, Ryan McManamay, stream ecologies, streamflow data, Sujithkumar Surendran Nair, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Geological Survey, University of Tennessee, Urban Dynamics Institute, urban infrastructures, urban land transformation, US cities can manage national hydrology and biodiversity using local infrastructure policy

ORNL-led team demonstrates desalination with graphene membrane

Posted at 7:25 pm March 30, 2015
By Oak Ridge National Laboratory Leave a Comment

Nature Nanotech Pores

Researchers created nanopores in graphene (red, and enlarged in the circle to highlight its honeycomb structure) that are stabilized with silicon atoms (yellow) and showed their porous membrane could desalinate seawater. Orange represents a non-graphene residual polymer. (Source: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy)

 

By Dawn Levy

Less than 1 percent of Earth’s water is drinkable. Removing salt and other minerals from our biggest available source of water—seawater—may help satisfy a growing global population thirsty for fresh water for drinking, farming, transportation, heating, cooling, and industry. But desalination is an energy-intensive process, which concerns those wanting to expand its application.

Now, a team of experimentalists led by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory has demonstrated an energy-efficient desalination technology that uses a porous membrane made of strong, slim graphene—a carbon honeycomb one atom thick. The results are published in the March 23 advance online issue of Nature Nanotechnology.

“Our work is a proof of principle that demonstrates how you can desalinate saltwater using free-standing, porous graphene,” said Shannon Mark Mahurin of ORNL’s Chemical Sciences Division, who co-led the study with Ivan Vlassiouk in ORNL’s Energy and Transportation Science Division.

“It’s a huge advance,” said Vlassiouk, pointing out a wealth of water travels through the porous graphene membrane. “The flux through the current graphene membranes was at least an order of magnitude higher than (that through) state-of-the-art reverse osmosis polymeric membranes.” [Read more…]

Filed Under: Front Page News, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, Chemical Sciences Division, CNMS, Dai and Sergei Smirnov, desalination, distillation, Energy and Transportation Science Division, fresh water, Gabriel Veith, graphene, graphene membrane, Ivan Vlassiouk, Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program, Nature Nanotechnology, New Mexico State University, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, ORNL, osmosis, porous membrance, Raymond Unocic, reverse osmosis, reverse osmosis filters, salt ions, scanning transmission electron microscopy, seawater, Shannon Mark Mahurin, Sheng Dai, Sumedh Surwade, U.S. Department of Energy, University of Tennessee, water, Water Desalination Using Nanoporous Single-Layer Graphene, water molecules

ORNL devises recipe to fine-tune silica rod diameters

Posted at 7:31 pm December 20, 2013
By Oak Ridge National Laboratory Leave a Comment

By controlling the temperature of silica rods as they grow, researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory could be setting the stage for advances in anti-reflective solar cells, computer monitors, TV screens, eye glasses, and more.

The goal of fabricating fixed-size one-dimensional silica structures and being able to precisely control the diameter during growth has long eluded scientists. Now, Panos Datskos and Jaswinder Sharma have demonstrated what they describe as the addressable local control of diameter of each segment of the silica rod.

“In nature, many intricate structures develop and grow in response to their environments,” said Sharma, a Wigner Fellow and corresponding author of the Angewandte Chemie International Edition paper that outlines the process. “For example, in addition to genotype, shell shape is also controlled by the local environment in many oysters and scallops.” [Read more…]

Filed Under: Front Page News, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Science Tagged With: Angewandte Chemie International Edition, Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, diameter, incubation times, Jaswinder Sharma, Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program, Nanoscale Science Research Centers, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Office of Science, Panos Datskos, silica, silica rods, Synthesis of Segmented Silica Rods by Regulation of the Growth Temperature, temperatures, U.S. Department of Energy

Search Oak Ridge Today

Classifieds

Public Notice: NNSA announces no significant impact of Y-12 Development Organization operations at Horizon Center

AVAILABILITY OF THE FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FOR THE OFFSITE HOUSING OF THE Y-12 DEVELOPMENT … [Read More...]

ADFAC seeks contractors for five homes

Aid to Distressed Families of Appalachian Counties (ADFAC) is a non-profit community based agency, … [Read More...]

Public notice: Draft environmental assessment for Y-12 Development Organization at Horizon Center

AVAILABILITY OF THE DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FOR THE OFFSITE HOUSING OF THE Y-12 DEVELOPMENT … [Read More...]

Recent Posts

  • Basketball: Wildcats beat West in rematch
  • Basketball: Lady Wildcats undefeated in district
  • Obituaries: Jan. 23-27, 2023
  • Speakers mostly support TRISO-X fuel facility at meeting
  • UPF construction could cost more, take longer
  • Y-12 celebrates new fire station, emergency operations center
  • One person seriously injured in Wednesday crash
  • Oak Ridge EM prepared for cold weather to prevent failures
  • Covenant Health donating land for Roane State health science center
  • School board approves aviation career path
A Twitter List by OakRidgeToday

Recent Comments

  • John Huotari on Power to TRISO at Horizon could cost $13 million
  • John Huotari on Lawsuit seeks 2020 election audit, voting machine restriction
  • Peter Scheffler on Lawsuit seeks 2020 election audit, voting machine restriction
  • Peter Scheffler on Power to TRISO at Horizon could cost $13 million
  • Matt Bailey on Dodson also wants to serve as mayor pro tem
  • Mark Caldwell on Dodson also wants to serve as mayor pro tem
  • Matt Bailey on Dodson also wants to serve as mayor pro tem
  • Mark Caldwell on Dodson also wants to serve as mayor pro tem
  • Matt Bailey on Dodson also wants to serve as mayor pro tem
  • Tracy Powers on Planning Commission to consider Main Street apartments, plan revisions

About Us

About Oak Ridge Today
What We Cover

How To

Advertise
Subscribe

Contact Us

Contact Oak Ridge Today

Copyright © 2023 Oak Ridge Today