Is carbon capture and utilization a lifeline for oil and gas? 

OF COURSE IT IS

The 2050 climate neutrality goals require the right technologies.

The current round of post-pandemic investment is decisive for a successful strategy. 

What role will carbon capture and utilization play in this, if any?


German utility RWE has been involved in research on how best to store CO2 underground

As the world gets serious about the 2050 climate neutrality target, technology deployment is speeding up. Amongst the emissions-reducing measures available today, the International Energy Agency (IEA) expects carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) to play critical roles.

This 50-year old technology involves capturing carbon dioxide (CO2), which can be used to create products (utilization) or reinjected into the ground (storage), normally in depleted oil and gas fields. FIFTY YEARS OF THEORY NOT PRACTICE

Opposition to this technology comes from environmental groups, which see CCUS as an instrument for the hydrocarbon industry to remain in business.

"Every chunk of money spent on artificially supporting the toxic technology of the past should instead be spent on an equitable transition to a brighter future," Philip Wheeler, Network Developer at Food & Water Europe, told DW. "Polluters want to keep us all addicted to their destructive fuels, and CCS [carbon capture and storage] is a mask they use to disguise the continuing destruction."

CCUS technologies are therefore a politically sensitive topic.

"The current German government and political parties seem to agree it is better to avoid a CCS debate, at least prior to the federal election. For example, the new Climate Protection Act certainly does imply the use of CCS in industrial sectors like the cement industry, but it is not explicitly mentioned," Oliver Geden, head of the EU/Europe Research Division at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), commented.

Watch video02:18 Explainer: How to store CO2

The state of affairs

Geden explained that there was currently no alternative to CCUS for near-zero cement production, adding that CCUS technologies could come in handy also in the steel and hydrogen sectors. Hydrogen from renewables could not be enough to create a market in the medium term, and hydrogen derived from gas (grey hydrogen) would need CCUS to be considered environmentally friendly.

Alongside the current focus on hydrogen, the CCUS momentum is now growing, after years of declining investments. "Currently, there are a total of 66 commercial CCS facilities in various stages of development globally. We expect that number to rise significantly in the next year," said Jeff Erikson, general manager of Client Engagement at the Global CCS Institute.

While Japan's showcase project on Hokkaido Island is a reference point, several other projects are about to start operations. Two pilot projects in the UK aim to create the world's first net-zero industrial cluster by 2040. The world's largest facility capturing CO2 directly from the air should start operating in 2024 in the United States while Northern Lights will offer European companies the opportunity to store their CO2 emissions under the Norwegian seabed from 2024.

Northern Lights, an independent joint venture owned by Equinor, Shell and TotalEnergies, is expected to cost €2.5 billion ($2.9 billion) over the next ten years. "The Norwegian State will cover two-thirds of the costs," Kim Bye Bruun, Northern Lights' Communications & Government Relations director, told DW.

Bruun said Northern Lights had signed 12 memoranda of understanding with industrial emitters. "We hope to be able to sign our first contract within the next year."

In Norway, public funding is not much of a red flag because of the country's long history of hydrocarbon production.

Similarly, the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Australia are currently pouring funds into stimulating CCUS development. Depleted fields could thus turn into assets.

Watch video26:06 Beneath the waves: Norway's carbon storage projects

Is carbon capture really needed?

Studies suggest that CCUS technologies are the most cost-effective solution under certain conditions.

"Replacing fossil fuels is the cheapest option for 75%-80% of fossil CO2 sources, and then the cost of replacement goes through the roof. For many of these ‘final 25%' uses, it will make much more sense to dispose CO2 than avoid generating it in the first place," said Myles Allen, head of the Climate Dynamics group at the University of Oxford's Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics Department.

To tackle the "reasonable opposition" from the environmental movement, Allen suggested shifting the financial burden of CCUS investments to the oil and gas industry.

The Oxford professor explained that postponing CCUS plans would be a mistake. "It is a great idea to sequester carbon in reforestation and ecosystem restoration, but by mid-century it is quite likely that we will need all the nature-based solutions capacity we have just to compensate for the impact of past emissions, with nothing left to compensate for ongoing fossil fuel use," he explained. "That's because, as the world warms, the biosphere releases the CO2 we have already stored in it."

David Reiner, senior lecturer in technology policy at Cambridge, wants a broader debate as soon as possible. "Decarbonization is going to be a slow and difficult process."

Any mistake made with these technologies might further strengthen public opposition.

"Given that CCS is fairly novel in many people's minds, the first projects could have an oversized impact on public perception," Reiner told DW, adding that tangible, well-planned CCS facilities in the right geological conditions (offshore) will help change public opinion.

Pakistan: Why liberal Pashtuns are supporting the Afghan government

The Afghan Taliban enjoy significant support in Pakistan's northwestern region, but progressive Pashtuns are wary of their potential return to power in Afghanistan. They are now rooting for Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.

Pakistani authorities accuse liberal Pashtun groups of destabilizing the country at Afghanistan's behest

It is generally believed that most people in Pakistan's northwestern areas support the Taliban because of their own inclination toward Islamism, but the reality is somewhat different. It is true that the Islamist group is liked by many in the region, but the number of people who oppose the Taliban and the Pakistani state's alleged support to the outfit has also increased manifold in the past two decades.

Most of these ethnic Pashtuns are wary of a never-ending war in their region and blame both the Taliban and Islamabad for the devastation in their areas.

As the Taliban are gaining strength in Afghanistan, liberal Pashtuns fear it is just a matter of time before Islamists make a comeback in Pakistan's northwestern areas, too.

There are already reports of Pakistani citizens holding Taliban flags and chanting Islamist slogans at rallies in areas close to the Afghan border. Islamic clerics in various parts of the country are also soliciting support for the Afghan Taliban and calling for donations.

This comes amid rapid Taliban advances in Afghanistan ahead of the complete withdrawal of NATO troops by September.

 

Opposition to the Taliban

Progressive Pashtuns recently held a convention in Charsadda, a town in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, to discuss the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan.

They denounced the Taliban's assaults on Afghan forces.

They also condemned the United States' Doha deal with the Taliban , saying it practically legitimized the militant group.

The convention, which was composed of leading Pashtun nationalist parties, intellectuals, academics and left-leaning political workers, called for an immediate cease-fire across Afghanistan to pave the way for peace talks.

The Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), an anti-war group, has also held massive rallies in several parts of the province in the past few weeks. The PTM has condemned the Taliban and expressed its support for the Afghan government.
Support for Ashraf Ghani

Said Alam Mehsud, a PTM leader, believes that the Pashtuns in Afghanistan and Pakistan would suffer immensely if the Taliban managed to take over Kabul. "We support President Ashraf Ghani's government because it is legitimate. The Taliban are Pakistani mercenaries who want to topple an internationally recognized government," he told DW.

"The Taliban destroy schools, stop women from working, hand down inhuman punishments and kill innocent civilians. How can we support them?" he said.

On the contrary, Ghani's government, according to Mehsud, carried out several development projects in Afghanistan. The human rights situation has also improved under his administration, he added.

Bushra Gohar, a Pashtun politician and former lawmaker, agrees with Mehsud. "The PTM and other Pashtun groups are supporting Ghani because our people don't want to see the return of the Taliban's barbaric rule," she told DW.

PAKISTAN: HOW ISLAMIST MILITANCY WRECKED A TRIBAL WOMAN'S LIFE

A hard life

Life is hard for Pakistan's tribal women. For Baswaliha, a 55-year-old widow, life became even more painful after she lost her son in 2009, and her husband in 2010 — both in terrorist attacks. Baswaliha lives in Galanai, a town in the tribal Mohmand district that shares a border with Afghanistan. The area was hit hard by the Taliban insurgency following the 2001 US invasion of Afghanistan.   1234567

She said that, despite Taliban advances, Afghans are revolting against Islamists. "We see an uprising against the Taliban in Afghanistan. People are taking to the streets to show support to their government and the security forces."

Samina Afridi, a Peshawar-based political analyst, says Pashtuns on both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border want education, human rights and democracy, but the Taliban are against that.

The 'Taliban project'

Pakistani authorities have long accused liberal Pashtun groups, including the PTM, of destabilizing the country at Afghanistan's behest.

The PTM has gained considerable strength in the past four years, drawing tens of thousands of people to its protest rallies. Its supporters are critical of the war on terror, which they say has ravaged Pashtun areas in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Sarfraz Khan, the former head of the Area Study Center at the University of Peshawar, believes that if Ghani's government is toppled in Afghanistan, the PTM leadership in Pakistan will be targeted by both Islamists and Pakistani authorities.

Experts say the consequences of targeting progressive Pashtuns could be catastrophic for the northwestern region. Khan says these groups, which have so far been nonviolent, could take up arms.

Former lawmaker and activist Gohar says Islamabad needs to change its policy toward the Afghan conflict by ending its "proxy war" and the "Taliban project."

"The UN must make sure that the Taliban's Doha office and their sanctuaries in Pakistan and elsewhere be immediately closed and that it imposes sanctions on the Taliban leaders. They should also be tried for war crimes. Sanctions should also be imposed on countries that are aiding and abetting the Taliban," she said, adding that the "Afghan genocide" must stop now.

OSIRIS-REx helps scientists model the orbit of hazardous asteroid Bennu

NASA researchers say data from OSIRIS-REx, pictured in an artist's rendering of the spacecraft preparing to touch down on the asteroid Bennu, has allowed the agency to improve its knowledge the asteroid's trajectory. File photo by NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona

Aug. 11 (UPI) -- The half-a-kilometer-wide asteroid Bennu is already one of the most well-studied asteroids prior to the OSIRIS-REx mission.

By ysing positional data collected over the course of the two-year sample return mission, however, scientists were able to improve their knowledge of Bennu's trajectory by a factor of 20, NASA scientists said at a press briefing.

"The OSIRIS-REx mission collected positional data for Bennu to a level never captured before on any asteroid," Lindley Johnson, planetary defense officer at NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office at NASA Headquarters, said during the briefing on Wednesday.

The OSIRIS-REx mission's primary scientific objective was to collect and return rock samples from the surface of Bennu.

But because asteroids conducive to sample-return missions tend to have Earth-like orbits -- making them potentially hazardous objects -- scientists used the OSIRIS-REx mission as an opportunity to collect vital information about the asteroid's trajectory.

Before, during and after OSIRIS-REx's trip around Bennu, NASA continuously pinged the spacecraft with radio signals.

By measuring the time those signals took to reach the spacecraft and then bounce back, scientists were able to precisely measure the its position in relation to Earth.

RELATED  OSIRIS-REx successfully stows sample of asteroid Bennu

In addition, OSIRIS-REx used its many instruments to map and measure the asteroid from a multitude of vantages as it bobbed and weaved its way around Bennu, swooping down for closeups of various nooks and crannies and ascending for wide-angle views of the entire rubble pile.

"The trajectory of the spacecraft was really amazing, I like to compare it to a hummingbird," said Dante Lauretta, study co-author and OSIRIS-REx principal investigator at the University of Arizona.

The plethora of data collected over the course of two years allowed scientists to constrain the position of Bennu in relationship to the spacecraft.

RELATED  Iron 'whiskers' found covering Itokawa asteroid samples

In addition to acquiring loads of positional data, researchers were also able to more precisely characterize the impacts of solar radiation on Bennu.

"After a lot of fancy modeling, we have a much, much better model for the trajectory of Bennu," Davide Farnocchia, scientist with the Center for Near Earth Object Studies at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.

Farnocchia is the lead author of a new paper on the trajectory of Bennu and the risk it poses to planet Earth.

Currently, scientists peg the odds of Bennu striking Earth between now and 2300 at about 1 in 1,750, or 0.057%.

According to Johnson, If Bennu were to strike the Eastern Seaboard, the devastation would stretch up and down the coast.

"But we should remember that the risk carried by Bennu is smaller than the risk coming from undiscovered objects of a similar size," Farnocchia said

There is still uncertainty about Bennu's future orbit. That's because an asteroid's trajectory can be altered by what are called gravitational keyholes.

If Bennu passes by another planetary object at just the right moment, a gravitational push or pull might alter the asteroid's trajectory enough to put it on a collision course with Earth.

By constraining Bennu's trajectory, researchers were able to rule out dozens of potential gravitational keyholes, but several still pose a small but real threat.

It may be decades before scientists can be certain whether Bennu will hit one of those keyholes or not, the scientists caution.

In total, Farnocchia and his colleagues accounted for 343 solar system objects that could potentially perturb the trajectory of Bennu in their model.

"Right now the greatest source of uncertainty is related to the mass of all the other asteroids that we've including in the model," he said.

As NASA and the scientists at the Planetary Defense Coordination Office continue to search for new and potentially hazardous objects, the space agency can have confidence that sample return missions provide vital information for gauging the collision risk posed by a target asteroid.

"OSIRIS-REx has been a pathfinder mission and it can be used to inform future missions to newly discovered hazardous asteroids," Johnson said.

The hydrogen economy needs a 10-year plan, researchers argue




Researchers suggest in a new commentary that a clean hydrogen economy is doable, which could include hydrogen-powered vehicles like the one former U.S. Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham is pictured checking out, but a game plan is needed to make it happen. File Photo by Roger L. Wollenberg/UPI | License Photo

Aug. 11 (UPI) -- Energy researchers insist the green economy needs hydrogen, and according to a paper published Wednesday in the journal Joule, the hydrogen economy needs a 10-year plan.

The paper, a scientific commentary, lays out the necessities for a sustainable hydrogen economy, including development details related to infrastructure, transport, storage and use, as well as production goals and benchmarks for economic viability.

"An H2 economy already exists, but it involves lots of greenhouse gas emissions," commentary lead author Arun Majumdar said in a press release.

Roughly 70 million metric tons of hydrogen are produced globally each year, but U.S. producers only account for about one-seventh of that total.

RELATED Instant water disinfectant 'millions of times more effective' than commercial purification

The vast majority of that hydrogen is used to make fertilizer and petrochemicals, and almost all of it is accompanied by significant CO2 emissions. This is called "gray" H2.

"Almost all of it is based on H2 from methane. A clean H2 economy does not exist today," Majumdar, co-director of the Precourt Institute for Energy at Stanford University.

Efforts to end the economy's reliance on fossil fuels have mostly focused on the adoption of solar and wind energy.

RELATED Seaweed could reduce levels of methane cows belch into the atmosphere

But even after the planet's electrical grids are entirely supplied by green power, energy experts insist an eco-friendly fuel will be needed for industrial heat, long-haul heavy transportation and long-duration energy storage.

Many energy researchers and policy makers are confident that hydrogen can be that fuel.

Some researchers contend the best way to jumpstart a hydrogen economy is to invest in "blue H2," which involves the capture and use of CO2 emissions to synthesize H2. Unfortunately, blue H2 production costs 50 percent more than gray H2.

RELATED Cornell to extract energy from cow manure to meet heating demands

"To make blue H2 a viable option, research and development is needed to reduce CO2 capture costs and further improve capture completeness," researchers write in the commentary.

The cleanest form of H2 is "green H2," which involves the use of electricity and electrolyzers to split water.

Green H2 production doesn't yield greenhouse gas emissions, but it costs $4 to $6 per kilogram. The researchers suggest production costs could be halved as the price of green energy drops.

"Turquoise H2" is produced via methane pyrolysis, or methane cracking, which involves the separation of solid carbon from natural gas.

The economic value of solid carbon can help offset production costs, but the demand for solid carbon is currently insufficient to make turquoise H2 economically viable.

To make turquoise H2 a reality, policy makers will need to spearhead efforts to develop new markets for its use.

Regardless of how H2 is produced, makers will need to approach $1 per kilogram in order to build an economically viable hydrogen economy. An economically viable hydrogen economy will also require pipelines, as well as storage and distribution facilities.

"Developing and siting new pipeline infrastructure is generally expensive and involves challenges of social acceptance," researchers write.

"Therefore, it is important to explore alternative approaches for a hydrogen economy that does not require a new H2 pipeline infrastructure," they write.

According to the commentary's authors, the U.S. Geological Survey should be called upon to conduct a national survey of suitable underground hydrogen storage locations.

Portland could hit 104 amid scorching heat wave

HEAT DOME SPREADS OVER CANADA TOO

Mary Gilbert, AccuWeather, Accuweather.com

Aug. 11 (UPI) -- In what has become the summer of high-temperature woes, another harsh heat wave is on its way to the Northwest and states are doing all they can to prepare.

On Tuesday, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown declared a state of emergency ahead of the impending heat, urging residents to take proactive steps and make a game plan to keep cool. Such measures include preparing hydration, visiting one of the dozens of cooling centers across the state and checking in on friends and family.

The northwestern United States has undergone a record-shattering, deadly heat wave and season of destructive fire activity this summer. While many residents are looking for extended relief, AccuWeather forecasters warn that more bad news is on the way for the region.

A change in the overall weather pattern will allow temperatures to skyrocket across the northwestern U.S. and largely cut off chances for much-needed rainfall

"Yet another stretch of record-challenging high temperatures is in store for some across the Northwest this week as an expansive dome of high pressure settles over the region," AccuWeather meteorologist Brandon Buckingham said.

Excessive heat watches and warnings went into effect across parts of Oregon and Washington on Tuesday, set to last into Wednesday. Seattle is expected to be under an excessive heat warning from 12 p.m. PDT Wednesday to 7 p.m. PDT Saturday, while an excessive heat warning has been issued for Portland, Ore., from 12 p.m. Wednesday until 10 p.m. Saturday.

Temperatures are forecast to peak at 104 on Thursday in Portland, which would tie the previous daily record of last set in 1994. In Seattle, while highs are forecast to fall just short of the century mark, a temperature of 98 is predicted on Friday, which would top the previous daily record of 92 from 2002.

RELATEDFEMA to send test alerts over emergency system, via phones Wednesday

Throughout the Northwest, temperatures are forecast to reach 15-25 degrees Fahrenheit above average into this weekend, worsening the already intense drought across the region, according to AccuWeather meteorologist Jessica Storm.

As of early August, about 63% of the West as a whole is in the midst of extreme to exceptional drought. Exceptional drought is the most extreme category of drought set forth by the U.S. Drought Monitor.

When the soil is bone-dry, as it is in much of the region, all of the sun's energy goes into heating the ground. This in turn often leads to temperatures topping out at levels that are higher than normal

Typical high temperatures for early to mid-August in the Northwest range from the upper 70s to low 80s for places like Seattle and Portland, to middle 80s to low 90s for inland areas.

Thursday and Friday will likely be the hottest days of the heat wave for much of the region. It's the late week period where temperatures in the 100s will be most prevalent for parts of the Northwest.

"Although temperatures will not approach all-time record-high temperatures like what was observed during the June heat wave, daily record-high temperatures are expected to fall in places like Seattle and Portland mid- to late week," said Buckingham.

On Monday, the official reporting station in Portland recorded its 64th day this year with a high temperature of 80 or above. For the entirety of 2020, Portland experienced 63 days with high temperatures at or above 80 degrees. With plenty more warm days ahead, the city may have a shot at challenging the all-time record for days at or above 80 degrees in a calendar year, 88 days set in 2015.

Seattle already has had three days with high temperatures of 100 or higher this summer, which is a new yearly record for the city, according to the NWS. If Seattle records another day of 95 degrees or higher, it will tie the record of four from 1977.

In Portland, the city has also recorded three days of 100 or higher this summer. The current record for most 100-degree days in a year for the city is five from 1977.

As if abnormally high air temperatures weren't enough bad news, AccuWeather forecasters say AccuWeather RealFeel® Temperatures will be able to climb even higher than the actual mercury.

From midweek into the upcoming weekend, some across the Northwest will have to deal with AccuWeather RealFeel® Temperatures that run 3-5 degrees above the actual air temperature. Meaning places like Portland could feel more like the mid-100s than the upper 90s or low 100s.

AccuWeather forecasters urge residents to plan ahead for the coming heat in order to remain safe.

"Staying hydrated, wearing light-colored clothing and sunscreen, checking vehicles before locking them, staying out of the sun in an air-conditioned room and checking in on relatives and neighbors are all ways to safely deal with the upcoming heat wave," Storm said.

In addition to concerns about heat-related illnesses, the dry and hot weather will likely work to exacerbate wildfire and smoke issues.

"Drought conditions, worsened by heat, can allow wildfires to spark easier than if the ground was cool and saturated. Additionally, there will be no assistance to firefighters in the form of rain in the near future," Storm said.

As of Wednesday morning, about 105 large wildfires were burning in the continental U.S., and 76 were blazing in the Northwest alone, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

AccuWeather forecasters say some relief from the heat across the Northwest can arrive as early as the start of next week, when the heat dome is forecast to shift out of the area

UN report: Global warming is likely to blow past Paris limit

ate is getting so hot that temperatures in about a decade will probably blow past a level of warming that world leaders have sought to prevent, according to a report released Monday that the United Nations calls a “code red for humanity.” IPCC Vice Chair and Senior Advisor for Climate Ko Barrett explains.

Algeria sentences journalist to 8 months in jail

A demonstration outside the newspaper Liberte in Algiers on April 25, 2021 calling for the Kareche's release - AFP


Issued on: 12/08/2021 - 

Algiers (AFP)

Algerian journalist Rabah Kareche, who reported on a protest movement by the Tuareg minority, was sentenced Thursday to serve eight months behind bars, his newspaper Liberte said.

It said a court in the southern town of Tamanrasset handed Kareche, who was arrested in April, a one-year term with four months suspended. Taking into account time served, he has four months left in prison.

He had been charged with "spreading false information liable to damage public order" and was accused of posting reports that could trigger "segregation and hatred within society".

Rights group Amnesty International denounced the sentence as a new blow to freedom of the press in Algeria, and called for Kareche's release.

Kareche was arrested after reporting that the Tuareg, a Berber minority who have long complained of economic and social marginalisation, had protested over "expropriation" of their historical lands.

His detention triggered protests from fellow journalists, especially after President Abdelmadjid Tebboune described Kareche as an "arsonist" in an interview before his sentencing.

To the dismay of rights and media freedom groups, the government last year criminalised the dissemination of "false news" that "harms national unity".

Human Rights Watch has repeatedly accused Algerian authorities of resorting to criminal prosecutions against journalists and others using vaguely worded offences in the penal code.

Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) ranked Algeria 146th out of 180 countries and territories in its 2021 World Press Freedom Index.

© 2021 AFP

'Airpocalypse' smoke reaches North Pole for the first time ever

By Mark Puleo, Accuweather.com

Satellite imagery from NASA shows smoke from wildfires in the Siberian region of Russia have reached the North Pole in what the agency is calling "a first in recorded history." Image courtesy NASA

Aug. 12 -- Santa Claus isn't supposed to see smoke. For the first time in recorded history, hazy smoke from raging wildfires in the Arctic has reached the North Pole, and NASA satellites have the images to prove it.

A week ago, the space agency's MODIS, an imaging sensor on the Aqua satellite, captured true-color images of what NASA called a "vast, thick, and acrid blanket of smoke" that clouded the North Pole.

The smoke is coming from enormous fires that are burning in the Siberian region of northern Russia.

According to China's Xinhua news agency, the Mongolian capital city of Ulaanbaatar was blanketed in "white smoke." The republic of Yakutia, home to Oymyakon, the coldest inhabited place on Earth, has also been shrouded in smoke, as captured by MODIS images last Friday.

RELATED Climate change is behind forest fires in Yakutia, Siberia, official says

The thick smoke in Yakutia sent air quality measurements in recent weeks plummeting to an extreme category dubbed "airpocalypse," a category described by officials to have "immediate and heavy effects on everybody."

Smoke from the Siberian wildfires can be seen stretching across the Arctic Circle, shrouding the North Pole and impacting areas of Greenland and Canada. Image courtesy NOAA/CIRA

The "airpocalypse" inducing smoke was shown to have traveled almost 1,900 miles from Yakutia to the North Pole, according to NASA

"The smoke, which was so thick that most of the land below was obscured from view, stretches about 2,000 miles from east to west and 2,500 miles from south to north," the agency wrote. "But it captures only a small part of the smoke from the Russian fires."

RELATED Dixie Fire surpasses 500,000 acres; California professor accused of sparking fires

To reach Ulaanbaatar, NASA added that the smoke needed to have traveled more than 1,200 miles. From there, it appeared to waft over nearly the entire Arctic Circle, impacting Nunavut, Canada and areas of western Greenland.

Wildfires have been burning in Siberia more frequently than ever before. While the total size is difficult to determine in the remote area, Russian weather monitoring institute Rosgidromet said this week that more than 8 million acres were burning and more than 34 million have been destroyed so far this season, the second-worst mark on record.

For comparison, during the California wildfire season last year, which was the worst on record, just under 4.4 million acres were burned.

RELATED Portland could hit 104 amid scorching heat wave

In the United States, Americans have seen firsthand this year how wildfire smoke can travel thousands of miles.

Fires in California and Montana have drastically impacted air quality levels in cities like Denver, which is more than 1,000 miles away from the Dixie Fire in Northern California.

Americans have also been on the receiving end of Siberian wildfire smoke. In 2019, wind currents carried smoke across the Pacific Ocean and into Alaska and northwestern Canada.



The moon appears orange due to smoke from wildfires on the West Coast as it sets behind the Manhattan skyline in New York City on July 21, 2021. The fires are leaving smoke all the way across the country to the Eastern Seaboard causing hazy skies. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

Census data reveals growth in racial, ethnic diversity in U.S.

WHAT ROSS, SESSIONS, AND TRUMP FEARED

The U.S. Capitol is seen in Washington, D.C., on Monday. Thursday's data drop from the 2020 Census will begin a frenzied race to redraw congressional districts that will impact the results of House races during the 2020s, and possibly which party controls the lower chamber for the next decade. Photo by Sarah Silbiger/UPI | License Photo

Aug. 12 (UPI) -- Census data released Thursday indicates that the United States is growing more racially diverse and that the number of people who identify as White in the country has decreased for the first time in more than two centuries.

According to the detailed data from the 2020 census, 204.3 million people identified as White, down from 223.6 million in 2010, an 8.6% decrease. The Census Bureau warned that comparisons between the past two censuses should be "made with caution" because the bureau retooled how questions about race and ethnicity are asked

"As the country has grown, we have continued to evolve in how we measure the race and ethnicity of the people who live here," said Nicholas Jones, director and senior adviser for race and ethnicity research and outreach at the Census Bureau.

"Today's release of 2020 census redistricting data provides a new snapshot of the racial and ethnic composition and diversity of the country. The improvements we made to the 2020 Census yield a more accurate portrait of how people self-identify in response to two separate questions on Hispanic origin and race, revealing that the U.S. population is much more multiracial and more diverse than what we measured in the past."

In addition to a reduction in the absolute number of people who identify as White, the portion of the overall population also dropped from 63.7% in 2010 to 57.8% in 2020.

For the first time, the Hispanic or Latino population became the most prevalent ethnic group in California. The non-Hispanic White population remained the majority in all other states and territories except Hawaii, New Mexico, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

The detailed data from the 2020 census is likely to have an impact on federal elections for the rest of the decade, beginning with next year's midterms.

The key population data also will begin a political redistricting process -- redrawing congressional districts -- that occurs once every decade.



Results of the 2020 Census have been weighed down by concerns that the process was rushed under the Trump administration due to delays related to the COVID-19 pandemic and its efforts to add a citizenship question. File Photo by Mike Theiler/UPI | License Photo

The data released Thursday is used to re-evaluate congressional districts, which are based on population sizes and makeup. Because the next census won't come until 2030, the changes will last for the remainder of the decade, if they withstand legal challenges.

The redistricting is expected to impact the 2022 midterms in 15 months, an election when Democrats will be looking to maintain and expand their majority in the House of Representatives and expand their narrow control of the Senate. Republicans, on the other hand, are looking to retake control of both chambers.

Democratic and Republican strategists predict that some states will finalize their new maps as soon as September. About half of states will set their new districts by the end of 2021 and the rest will follow in the first few months of 2022, Politico reported.

According to census reapportionment data released in April, the influential states of Texas, Florida and North Carolina gained a total of four House seats for 2022. All three states voted to re-elect former President Donald Trump last November.

Colorado, Montana and Oregon are the only other states to gain seats in the House, according to reapportionment data.

The data revealed that cities (8.7%) have grown faster than the overall population (7.35%).

Results from the 2020 Census have been weighed down by concerns that the process was rushed under Trump's administration due to delays related to the COVID-19 pandemic and the former administration's failed efforts to add a citizenship question.

Thursday's data was originally scheduled to be released in April but was pushed back because of the delays. The bureau committed to release the information this month after Alabama filed a lawsuit calling for its prompt release.

An external task force from the American Statistical Association has been observing and assessing the bureau's process and the organization said last week it will release a report on state-level apportionment numbers following the release of the redistricting files.

In January, Census Bureau Director Steve Dillingham announced his resignation almost a year before he was supposed to retire.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee last week approved President Joe Biden's selection to lead the bureau, Robert Santos, and placed him on track for full Senate confirmation.

Thursday's data will be released in a raw "legacy" format that can take weeks for states to disseminate. The information will be distributed more broadly in an "easier-to-use" format by the end of next month, the Census Bureau said.

"It's like Ikea furniture instead of Pottery Barn," Kelly Ward Burton, president of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, said of the raw data coming Thursday, according to Politico.

"When you buy from Pottery Barn, it all comes assembled. It's like, 'Here's your desk.' But when you get it from Ikea, it's like, 'Build it yourself.'"

DO NOT DROP IT ON OUR HEADS

NASA mulls how to dispose of International Space Station

The International Space Station is seen from a departing spacecraft. Photo courtesy of NASA

ORLANDO, Fla., Aug. 12 (UPI) -- A plan to use a Russian spacecraft to deorbit the International Space Station as early as 2028 remains in question because the United States does not know Russia's intentions for using the orbiting laboratory, NASA and other parties involved in the decision say.

A NASA safety panel approved a plan in 2019 that relies on Russia to modify and launch a Progress spacecraft to guide the structure into the atmosphere, where most of it would melt and the rest break up over the Pacific Ocean.

But Russia's agreement with space station partners -- including Europe, Japan and Canada -- ends in 2024, and Russian state media reported in April that the nation's deputy prime minister, Yuri Borisov, said it might abandon it by 2025.

Uncertainty over future Russian participation -- and developing its own space station -- has led to a non-committal stance by NASA, pending more clarity about the deorbit plan and whether Russia still will carry out the job.

RELATEDSpacesuit delays threaten moon landing plans, NASA watchdog says

"NASA is continuing to work with its international partners to ensure a safe deorbit plan of the station and is considering a number of options," spokeswoman Leah Cheshier said in an email. She would not elaborate on those options.

Chester said the deorbiting mission would be "shared by the ISS partnership and is negotiation-sensitive at this time."

In the meantime, NASA's cost to run the space station has grown to $3 billion to $4 billion annually.

RELATEDNASA moves ahead with plan to support private space stations

Those familiar with previous negotiations said Russia most likely is posturing to have NASA bear more of the costs for deorbiting the space laboratory.

The space station was projected to have a lifespan of 30 years when Russia and the United States began to launch it in sections in 1998. NASA's Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, a group of space and engineering professionals, pushed NASA to finalize the deorbit plan by 2019.

"The details of the decommissioning plan are still under discussion with international partners and contain predecisional and non-NASA technical details and are therefore not releasable at this time," the agency said in an email.

RELATEDAstronauts install new solar array on 6.5-hour spacewalk

An early draft of the deorbit plan dating to 2010 said Russia was to modify a Progress service module, which would use its thrusters to guide the massive platform into the atmosphere starting at its normal speed of about 17,000 mph. That much of the plan is still on the table, NASA confirmed.

The space station would succumb gradually to Earth's gravity and the increased drag from the atmosphere. Friction from the air would heat the 450-ton structure so fast that parts of it would melt quickly. Solar panels would disappear first, while remnants of engines, laboratories and living quarters would fall into the sea.

If a Russian spacecraft isn't used, other spacecraft that could be modified include the SpaceX Dragon, Japanese H-2A or Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo capsule, according to a study of the decommissioning process by European scientists.

NASA is focused on Northrop Grumman's Cygnus as a possible alternative, Dan Huot, a space agency public affairs officer, said in an interview.

"Cygnus ... is the only other vehicle that we're looking at potentially being used besides the Russian Progress," Huot said.

Having Russia act as the demolition leader would be a matter of trust. Most officials familiar with the plan believe Russia is capable of performing the maneuver, but the uncertainly lies in whether it will -- and do so without a hitch.

One reason for doubt is that Russia's recent activity at the space station was marked by a hair-raising accident when its new science and living module, the Nauka, fired thrusters accidentally July 29.

That knocked the orbiting laboratory out of its normal position and caused it to spin 1 1/2 times before engineers regained control.

To prepare for the space station's ultimate demise, NASA is checking off a list of events that need to occur before it can leave orbit, Patricia Sanders, chairwoman of the safety panel, said in an interview.

"They are doing, step by step, the work that needs to be done. Software has already been updated to optimize ... control during deorbit burns," Sanders said.

"The Russians have agreed in principle to provide the Progress capsule, but there is work that they would have to do, also," she said. "Planning like this is never easy with the space station because we have an international community, so you can't unilaterally decide what to do there."

NASA updates the safety panel at each of its quarterly meetings and will continue until the space station no longer exists, she said.

The last update came on July 15, when Sanders said the arrival of Russia's Nauka "indicates continued commitment of that partner to the station."

At the end of its life, space station parts that survive re-entry would fall into an area of the Pacific known as Point Nemo because it is the oceanic region farthest from land, according to NASA. Warnings would be posted internationally for boats and aircraft to avoid the area at that time.

Astronauts and cosmonauts would prepare the space station for its final flight, trying to ensure it will stay together until the heat of re-entering the Earth's atmosphere can burn up all except the biggest, most massive parts.

"Must drop as deep as possible into the atmosphere in one orbit," the early draft of the plan reads.

US Army successfully tests high-energy laser weapon



The U.S. Army in July tested laser-equipped Stryker vehicles in Fort Sill, Okla., which could be fielded as soon as next year. Photo by Jim Kendall/U.S. Army.


Aug. 12 (UPI) -- The U.S. Army says it's developed a combat-capable prototype of a high-energy laser weapon.

The laser, which has been 24 months in the making, can be mounted on a Stryker military vehicle and used to defend troops against drones as well as rockets, artillery and mortars, according to an Army press release this week.


Over the summer, the new weapon was successfully tested in Fort Sill, Okla., in a "combat shoot-off" against a series of possible combat scenarios.

The Army Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office said it expects to deliver a platoon of four laser-equipped Strykers in fiscal year 2022.

RELATED Second test of Air Force's drone-killing laser may start later this year

"This is the first combat application of lasers for a maneuver element in the Army," said Lieutenant General L. Neil Thurgood said in the release.

"The technology we have today is ready. This is a gateway to the future," said Thurgood, director for hypersonics, directed energy, space and rapid acquisition.

The shoot-off was a competition between defense contractors Northrop Grumman and Raytheon, which had both developed two 50-kilowatt laser weapons, Task & Purpose reported.

RELATED Army testing new air defense system, laser weapons

The Directed Energy-Maneuver Short-Range Air Defense laser prototype was built with a soldier-centered design, which the Army said was proven as soldiers were operating the system proficiently within days.

Other branches of the military are developing similar technology.

Last year, the Navy broke ground on a facility to test, fire and evaluate complete laser weapons systems in maritime settings.

RELATED L3 technologies receives $37.5M for precision aiming lasers

Earlier this year, the Air Force said it would continue tests of its High Energy Laser Weapon System 2, made by Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems, that would also be used against drones.

The military had originally hoped to use laser-equipped Strykers in Iraq and Syria against explosive-laden drones but now plans to use the technology in Europe where military planners short-range air defense gap.

The Army is also working on a larger 300 kilowatt truck-mounted laser to defend against cruise missiles that it hopes to have ready by 2024.

RELATED First anti-drone laser delivered to Air Force for year-long test deployment

Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (1940) ep04 - The Destroying Ray

Classic Movies

Chapter Four of the classic 1940 Flash Gordon Serial.

This is the third serial, the first being 'Flash Gordon', and the second 'Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars'.