It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Thursday, January 25, 2024
New publication describes findings on cat evolution, to aid in future disease studies
A FIGURE REPRESENTING THE FELINE GENOME WORK WAS ANALYZED BY DR. WILLIAM MURPHY, THE PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR OF THE STUDY, AND HIS TEAM AT TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY. THE STUDY WAS FUNDED BY THE MORRIS ANIMAL FOUNDATION.
DENVER/Jan. 23, 2024 – Morris Animal Foundation-funded researchers have delved into various cat species' entire DNA sequence (genome), uncovering novel perspectives on domestic and wild cat evolution. This new work highlights distinct genetic changes and will be a critical tool for researchers investigating feline diseases and characteristics.
This study, which led to the findings published inNature Genetics, used cutting-edge genome sequencing and assembly technologies to generate a more comprehensive and complete cat genome assembly, providing fundamental information on the feline blueprint and aiding in advancements in feline medicine.
"This is an ongoing effort because it's very difficult to fill in the missing gaps in the genome sequence, and those gaps aren't just junk," said Dr. William Murphy, the study's principal investigator and Professor of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences at Texas A&M University.
During the study, Murphy and his team identified fewer segmental duplications – duplicated blocks of genomic DNA – in cats compared to other mammal groups while also learning that numerous variances exist in feline DNA. These insights are crucial for those studying feline diseases, behavior and conservation, Murphy said.
"This initial study was just scratching the surface," Murphy said. "Now we're going to be able to use this to go in and start determining the function of parts of the domestic cat genome that were missing before."
The $202,938 grant from Morris Animal Foundation empowered Murphy and his team to leverage cutting-edge genome sequencing and assembly technologies, Murphy added.
"Without Morris Animal Foundation's funding and support for the feline genome project, we would not even be close to where we are now (to filling in the gaps)," Murphy said. "We wouldn't have had the funding to advance and use the latest technologies to get the cat genome on par with the human genome."
Murphy said that while the feline genome is not yet 100% gapless, ongoing refinements, backed by prior grants from Morris Animal Foundation, aim to achieve a comprehensive, telomere-to-telomere feline genome – essential to uncover crucial genetic information.
About Morris Animal Foundation Morris Animal Foundation's mission is to bridge science and resources to advance the health of animals. Founded in 1948 and headquartered in Denver, it is one of the largest nonprofit animal health research organizations in the world, funding nearly $160 million in more than 3,000 critical animal health studies to date across a broad range of species. Learn more at morrisanimalfoundation.org.
Single-haplotype comparative genomics provides insights into lineage-specific structural variation during cat evolution
Novel material facilitates measurement of concrete deterioration in buildings and other structures
The material is a compound similar to clay and enables inspectors to carry out in-situ assessment of structural conditions in buildings, bridges, dams and other structures without having to drill for samples and analyze them in a laboratory.
FUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO
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THE INNOVATIVE METHOD NOT ONLY CONTRIBUTES TO MAINTENANCE OF BUILDING SAFETY BUT ALSO OFFERS POTENTIAL BENEFITS IN TERMS OF TWO OTHER IMPORTANT ASPECTS OF PRESENT-DAY ECONOMIES: COSTS, AND CARBON REDUCTION
Concrete is an essential material in the construction industry, where it is fundamental to the foundations and structures of dwellings and office buildings, as well as roads, dams and bridges, among many other infrastructure projects. However, the service life of concrete is limited, and it must be monitored in order to guarantee the safety of these structures. To facilitate fast, low-cost, in-situ analysis that dispenses with the need to take samples to a laboratory, researchers at the University of São Paulo’s Physics Institute (IF-USP) in Brazil, in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Leuven in Belgium, have developed a luminescent material that reveals the presence of compounds indicating deterioration of concrete when exposed to ultraviolet light.
The results are reported in an article published in Chemical Communications and featured on the front cover of the journal.
Concrete structures last about 50 years on average. Constant absorption of water, salts and gases from the atmosphere causes acidification, leading to corrosion of the steel reinforcing bars (rebars) in slabs, columns and other structural elements, and drastically reducing their weight-bearing capacity.
The lifetime of concrete can be extended through preventive measures such as the addition of protective layers that hinder penetration of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the exposed surfaces of structures. If this intervention is to be timely, the ability to verify and characterize the degree of deterioration is vital.
The main challenge facing engineers who inspect the state of the concrete in buildings and other structures is that drilling to remove samples and their analysis in a laboratory is labor-intensive and costly, as well as being complex in places that are hard to access. It can also be hazardous, since the drilling can cause alterations in the structure and further weaken the concrete if it is already degraded, especially if the procedure is not carried out correctly.
In this study, which was funded by FAPESP (projects 15/19210-0, 18/13837-0, 19/25665-1 and 22/01314-8), researchers at IF-USP’s Nanomaterials and Applications Laboratory (LNA) developed a catalyst based on layered double hydroxide (LDH), also known as anionic clay, to measure the degree of deterioration in concrete. They added trivalent europium (Eu3+) to produce orange-to-red luminescence.
Laboratory tests showed that when the material was exposed to ultraviolet light (UV), its luminescence changed color according to the amount of carbonate it had absorbed. This effect can be used to detect deterioration in concrete: the greater the redshift, the larger the amount of carbonate and the more degraded the concrete.
“The main advance is that the material can help determine in real time how the concrete present in a structure is deteriorating and when the structure will require maintenance, without any need for drilling or waiting for laboratory analysis. This contributes to more agile decision-making, facilitates preventive maintenance, and helps avoid accidents that can cost lives and cause considerable economic damage,” said Alysson Ferreira Morais, first author of the article. He was supported by FAPESP via a postdoctoral fellowship at the time of the study.
According to the scientists, the next step will entail developing a sensor that detects the luminescent material and testing it under real-world conditions to verify specific factors such as weatherability and stability inside concrete.
Safety, cost and carbon footprint
In addition to its contribution to building safety, the new method offers potential benefits in terms of two other highly important aspects of present-day economies: costs, and carbon reduction.
“The longer buildings last, the less need to invest in new structures, and the more the construction industry contributes to the effort to cut greenhouse gas emissions, 8% of which come from the industry globally, owing to production of concrete and construction itself,” said Danilo Mustafa, last author of the article and a professor at IF-USP.
Researchers at the University of Kiel in Germany also took part in the study, which besides FAPESP was supported by the following: CAPES, the Brazilian Ministry of Education’s Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel; the European Research Council; and the European Union’s Horizon Europe Program.
About São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP)
The São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) is a public institution with the mission of supporting scientific research in all fields of knowledge by awarding scholarships, fellowships and grants to investigators linked with higher education and research institutions in the State of São Paulo, Brazil. FAPESP is aware that the very best research can only be done by working with the best researchers internationally. Therefore, it has established partnerships with funding agencies, higher education, private companies, and research organizations in other countries known for the quality of their research and has been encouraging scientists funded by its grants to further develop their international collaboration. You can learn more about FAPESP at www.fapesp.br/en and visit FAPESP news agency at www.agencia.fapesp.br/en to keep updated with the latest scientific breakthroughs FAPESP helps achieve through its many programs, awards and research centers. You may also subscribe to FAPESP news agency at http://agencia.fapesp.br/subscribe.
THIS VIEW OF THE INSIDE OF LTX-Β SHOWS WHAT THE DONUT-SHAPED PLASMA CONTAINMENT DEVICE LOOKS LIKE AFTER THE LITHIUM HAS BEEN CLEANED OFF THE SHELL WALLS AND SEVERAL PORTS WERE OPENED. PPPL STAFF RESEARCH PHYSICIST DENNIS BOYLE PEEKS IN FROM CENTER-RIGHT.
CREDIT: ELLE STARKMAN/PPPL OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS
Emerging research suggests it may be easier to use fusion as a power source if liquid lithium is applied to the internal walls of the device housing the fusion plasma.
Plasma, the fourth state of matter, is a hot gas made of electrically charged particles. Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) are working on solutions to efficiently harness the power of fusion to offer a cleaner alternative to fossil fuels, often using devices called tokamaks, which confine plasma using magnetic fields.
“The purpose of these devices is to confine the energy,” said Dennis Boyle, a staff research physicist at PPPL. “If you had much better energy confinement, you could make the machines smaller and less expensive. That would make the whole thing a lot more practical, and cost-effective so that governments and industry want to invest more in it.”
The new findings, which were highlighted in a recent invited presentation by Boyle at an American Physical Society Division of Plasma Physics meeting, are part of the Lab’s Lithium Tokamak Experiment-Beta (LTX-β). In recent experiments, a coating of liquid lithium added to the inside of the tokamak wall helped the plasma stay hot at its edge. Maintaining a hot edge is key to their unique approach, which the scientists hope will one day contribute to designs for a fusion power plant. Past LTX-β experiments studied solid lithium coatings and found they could enhance a plasma. The researchers were pleased they could yield similar results with liquid lithium, as it’s better suited for use in a large-scale tokamak.
Richard Majeski, a managing principal research physicist at PPPL and head of LTX-β, noted that one of the greatest challenges in developing fusion energy is to build a viable wall for the device confining the plasma. PPPL is dedicated to finding solutions to this and other challenges to help bridge the gaps in bringing fusion energy to the power grid. “Although LTX-β is a very modest-sized spherical tokamak, it is the first and still the only plasma confinement device in the world with a core plasma completely contained by a liquid lithium wall,” said Majeski. “The results from LTX-β have been very promising — liquid lithium not only provides a wall that can withstand contact with a 2-million-degree plasma, it actually improves the performance of the plasma."
The liquid lithium could reduce the need for repairs, acting as a shield to the inner walls of the device as they are exposed to the extreme heat of the plasma.
The liquid lithium absorbed around 40% of hydrogen ions escaping from the plasma so that fewer of these particles were recycled back into the plasma as a relatively cold neutral gas. Scientists refer to this as a low-recycling environment because much of the hydrogen ions expelled from the plasma aren’t recycled back into it in a way that would cool the plasma edge.
Ultimately, this low-recycling environment meant the temperature at the edge of the plasma was closer to the temperature at the core of the plasma. That uniformity of temperature should allow the plasma to confine heat better than it likely would have without the liquid lithium by avoiding a variety of instabilities.
Dennis Boyle, a staff research physicist at PPPL, stands in front of LTX-β. The plasma containment device requires a complex web of cables and hoses to operate. The beam system is to the right of Boyle's head. In the foreground on the right sits a photograph of the inside of LTX-β, with an image inset showing a small pool of lithium.
CREDIT
Elle Starkman/PPPL Office of Communications
The liquid lithium also allowed for an increase in the density of the plasma when a beam of high-energy neutral particles was injected to heat and fuel the plasma. With solid lithium, only a small density increase was demonstrated. When the neutral beam was used, the added hydrogen ions pushed out hydrogen ions already in the plasma in a process known as charge exchange.
The researchers believe the key difference is due to a small amount of lithium that evaporated off the liquid walls of the reactor and entered the plasma. This lithium impurity in the plasma changed the dynamics of the charge exchange and allowed the plasma to retain hydrogen ions added by the neutral beam without booting out other hydrogen ions, resulting in an overall increase in plasma density.
“Implementing liquid lithium walls in a much larger tokamak will be difficult and expensive. In order to move confidently ahead with liquid lithium walls in a future phase of NSTX-U, exploratory experiments at a smaller scale are essential. LTX-β is just that experiment,” Majeski said.
The research was funded with grants from the U.S. Department of Energy contract DE-AC02-09CH11466.
Commercial advanced nuclear fuel arrives in Idaho for testing
For the first time in two decades, Idaho National Laboratory, the nation’s nuclear energy laboratory, has received a shipment of used next-generation light water reactor fuel from a commercial nuclear power plant to support research and testing.
In December, INL received 25 experimental fuel rods irradiated in the reactor core of a commercial reactor. The fuel rods were developed and manufactured by Westinghouse Electric Company with technical assistance from several national laboratories, including INL.
These experimental fuels, designed for extended use and robust safety features, could deliver significant cost savings for consumers while increasing a nuclear power plant’s resilience under potential accident conditions.
But first, researchers must examine and analyze the fuel to evaluate how this advanced technology performed during normal usage. Researchers will conduct additional experiments to understand how the fuel performs under postulated accident conditions. Lastly, researchers will perform experiments to demonstrate behavior during storage and recycling.
The data generated from these experiments and analyses are essential to establishing the safety bases required by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to allow the fuel’s use at more nuclear power plants throughout the U.S.
“Continuous innovation is key to improving the nuclear sector’s reliability, especially at a time when energy demand is increasing and nuclear’s role is more vital than ever,” said Tarik Choho, Westinghouse president of Nuclear Fuel. “Westinghouse is proud to join efforts with INL and other partners in the production and testing of these advanced nuclear fuels.”
Each fuel rod is 12 feet long, and the total shipment of 25 rods contains about 100 pounds of heavy metal, mostly uranium.
The fuel rod shipment contains both accident tolerant fuel (ATF) and high burnup fuel. Industry and DOE have collaborated over the last decade to design accident tolerant fuels that offer enhanced safety performance during normal operations, mild operational transients and accident scenarios. High burnup fuels take advantage of unrealized performance capacity available in advanced materials that can allow for extended operating cycles and/or increasing the licensed power generation at existing power plants while significantly reducing spent fuel generation.
Researchers say the new fuel rods, when licensed for commercial use, could extend the amount of time a plant can operate between refueling from 18 to 24 months.
“Increased burnup, when combined with potential ATF-related uprates, could be a huge economic benefit to those plants and the fleet,” said Daniel Wachs, national technical director of DOE’s Advanced Fuels Campaign. “The increased electrical output in the U.S. could be the equivalent of adding new reactors to the fleet.”
Westinghouse and other nuclear fuel developers, in concert with national laboratories, have spent years developing new fuels for the existing nuclear reactor fleet. INL’s experiments and examinations of the fuel after time spent in a commercial nuclear reactor is one step in the qualification process.
“We wouldn’t be able to get across the finish line with these technologies if we couldn’t examine the rods,” said David Kamerman, a nuclear fuel research and development engineer at INL. “It’s a really big deal. There are not many places in the world that can do the work, and none of them match the capability of Idaho National Laboratory.”
Experts will analyze and test the fuel at INL’s Materials and Fuels Complex. There, experts will use remote manipulators in the nation’s largest inert-atmosphere hot cell to perform analyses and tests. Researchers will also subject the fuels to safety tests — simulations of power excursions or loss-of-cooling events in a controlled environment that are designed to push the fuel to its breaking points and beyond.
“Safety testing for fuels is like crash testing for your car,” said Fabiola Cappia, the post irradiation examination department manager at INL. “You push it to the limit and beyond.”
INL is also preparing the Advanced Test Reactor to accommodate fuels for endurance tests that mimic the wear and tear incurred over a decade of service in a commercial reactor in a fraction of the time. This step can support pursuing even higher burnup than that achieved in the commercial plant testing.
Experts will also use the material to explore used fuel management approaches. The material will be examined to measure thermal and mechanical properties, data that is essential for understanding transportation and dry storage behavior. This work also includes demonstrating electrochemical recycling technologies as an option to recover and recycle valuable uranium and other fissile isotopes.
The research will provide valuable data for not only the NRC and INL’s domestic sponsors including the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy, the National Nuclear Security Administration and private entities, but also international partners including regulatory bodies in other parts of the World.
The commercial fuel shipment underscores INL’s leadership in a broad array of nuclear energy research, development and demonstration programs, said John Wagner, INL director.
“Receiving these fuel rods is a significant milestone for INL and the nuclear energy industry. As the nation’s nuclear energy research and development center, we possess the unique facilities, capabilities and expertise to perform this vital research,” Wagner said. “Completion of this shipment, along with the state of Idaho’s reinstatement of the Department of Energy’s ability to receive up to 400 kilograms of commercial spent nuclear fuel per year at INL for research and development purposes, send a strong message that we are once again open for business. This has been a long time coming and I genuinely appreciate the state’s ongoing engagement with DOE to enable this critical work.”
African smallholder farmers benefit from reduced crop losses and higher incomes from a novel pest alert service
A review of the CABI-led Pest Risk Information Service shows that smallholder farmers in four African countries benefited from reduced crop losses and higher incomes after pest alerts received using earth observation data
A newly published review of the CABI-led Pest Risk Information Service (PRISE) project shows that smallholder farmers in four African countries who received pest alerts created using earth observation data benefitted from reduced crop losses and higher incomes compared to farmers who did not.
Crop pests are the major cause of loss of smallholder productivity resulting in negative impacts on livelihoods – the estimated the economic impact of invasive alien pests alone on Africa’s agricultural sector is USD $65.58 billion a year (CABI, 2021, CABI Agriculture and Bioscience).
This review is a keystone paper that brings together six years of work on PRISE. The highlight of the review, published in the Journal of Integrated Pest Management, shows that smallholder farmers in four African countries really benefit from the service.
For instance, in respect of 2,000 smallholder maize farmers in Kenya surveyed in 2021 who received pest alerts for fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda), a harvest of 2,089 kg/ha was achieved with an income of 18,020 Ksh/ha. This is compared to smallholder farmers who did not receive these alerts where only a harvest of 1,988 kg/ha was gained with a lower income of 15,733 Ksh/ha.
In recent decades, significant progress has been made that allows farmers to access important information to improve crop health, including how to manage crop pests.
PRISE alerts augment the advice (the what) already being serviced to farmers withtheir bespoke optimum ‘time to action window’ (the when) allowing farmers to prepare for pest threats in advance so increasing the efficiency and efficacy of interventions.
This in turn reduces the reliance on ‘in case’ action, which is time-consuming, costly, and often ineffective, the scientists say.
PRISE, which began in 2017, was carried out by a team of scientists from Africa and Europe for farmers in sub-Sharan Africa. In Europe, the partners include CABI and Assimila Ltd, who work with four in-country lead partners from government agencies in Africa.
PRISE works by gathering data from a variety of sources including satellite observation, weather data, geographic data, and details about the seasonal occurrence, abundance and biology of pests that include the tomato leafminer (Phthorimaea absoluta).
This information is then combined in a ‘data cube’ to run algorithms, which ultimately produce pest time to act information. The information generated is used to give farmers timely alerts and advice to help manage local pest outbreaks as part of their Integrated Pest Management (IPM) plans.
Forecast time to act
Using downscaled and processed Earth Observation data to drive the models, PRISE partnered with African national agencies to communicate pre and in-season pest alerts that forecast the time to act against key insect pests.
Alerts were designed to be integrated into country-specific Good Agricultural Practice (GAP) recommendations to provide a complementary package to agricultural stakeholders.
For example, by converting time-to-act information into maps coupled with PlantwisePlus GAP information, bulletins (PDF documents) were developed twice a month, combining the PRISE action alert with relevant diagnostic and management advice from Pest Management Decision Guides.
Benefits more pronounced for male-headed households
Dr Bryony Taylor, Digital Development Coordinator, Modelling and Data Science at CABI and an author of the review, said, “Results varied across countries and crops, as was expected. Nevertheless, overall positive impact was noted for some but not all farmers who had received the PRISE forecasts – either with or without other GAP information, especially in relation to a reduction in crop losses.
“The differences were more pronounced for male-headed households as compared to those headed by women, with significant reductions in crop losses for men for all crops and all countries apart from bean and tomato crops in Malawi.
“However, for women, the only significant reduction in crop losses were observed in Kenya for all crops, and in Zambia for maize. No significant changes in levels of crop losses were seen for any crops in female-headed households in Malawi.”
The scientists stress that time for monitoring pests is limited as smallholder farmers, especially women who frequently do most of the work, are already heavily burdened by agriculture and household workloads.
Further work needed to target female farmers
They add that further work will be needed with dissemination partners to target women to sign up to extension messaging services to ensure they receive the time to act upon messages directly.
Furthermore, to enable women farmers to benefit from the messaging, it will be necessary to work with partners to address the social norms that constrain women’s access to land, credit, and farming inputs, so that they are able to respond to the time to act on the messaging in full.
Additional information
Main image: A farmer uses the Pest Risk Information Service to access information on how to mitigate fall armyworm on maize in Malawi (Credit: CABI).
Full paper reference
Charlotte Day, Sean T Murphy, Jon Styles, Bryony Taylor, Tim Beale, William Holland, Frances Williams, Andy Shaw, Cambria Finegold, MaryLucy Oronje, Birgitta Oppong-Mensah, Noah Phiri, Alyssa Lowry, Elizabeth A. Finch, Josephine Mahony, Suzy Wood, Léna Durocher-Granger, Duncan Chacha, Norbert Maczey, Pablo Gonzalez-Moreno, Sarah E. Thomas, Joe Beeken, Jane Lewis, Gerado Lopez Saldana, Solomon Duah, Mary Bundi, Lusike Wasilwa, Ruth Amata, Ruth Musila, Daniel Mutisya (the late),Christine Kaari, Patrick Kalama, Johnson O. Nyasani, Matthews Matimelo, Henry Mgomba, Christopher Gaitu, Christopher Ocloo, Isaac Adjei, Mensah, Godfried Ohene-Mensah, Jerry Asalma Nboyine, Blessings Susuwele, ‘Forecasting the population development of within-season insect crop pests in sub-Saharan Africa: The Pest Risk Information Service,’ Journal of Integrated Pest Management, Volume 15, Issue 1, 2024, DOI: 10.1093/jipm/pmad026
INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR APPLIED SYSTEMS ANALYSIS
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“HIGH WITH LOW” (HWL) SCENARIOS—HIGH WELLBEING AND SERVICE LEVELS WITH LOW ENERGY AND MATERIAL DEMAND (LEMD)—OFFER MULTIPLE BENEFITS AT LOW COSTS AND RISKS.
A new commentary, published by members of the Energy Demand Changes Induced by Technological and Social Innovations (EDITS) network, coordinated by IIASA, highlights that switching the focus from how energy is supplied to how energy is consumedcan be a more effective approach to reducing carbon emissions with the added benefit of improving wellbeing for all.
Worsening effects of climate change, high market volatility in energy and materials, geopolitical tensions — all of these factors make it extremely difficult for policymakers to ensure the supply of secure, clean, and affordable energy. However, public support for changing the way energy is used has been growing, opening up new opportunities. Reducing energy demand could help save money for households and businesses, create employment, reduce emissions, and improve air quality.
The authors of the commentary argue that improving the ways in which we consume energy to fulfil human needs could lead to a substantial reduction in total energy demand in 2050, and consequently make it easier to decarbonize energy supply. Their paper refers to a global ‘High-with-Low’ scenario that delivers high wellbeing with low energy and material resource consumption, while limiting global warming in line with Paris Agreement targets.
“There are numerous ways for us to dramatically reduce the energy we consume while improving our standards of living, the quality of our cities, and our social wellbeing. Our analysis shows this should be the ‘first best’ strategy for tackling climate change,” says senior IIASA researcher Charlie Wilson, who is one of the authors.
The commentary highlights the need for societal and technological transformations that could form the basis for new lifestyles to create a modern, more just, net-zero world through innovation.
“Placing individual level transformations at the center of solutions to drastically reduce energy consumption globally does not mean shifting the responsibility of climate mitigation to people,” says IIASA researcher and coauthor of the commentary Benigna Boza-Kiss. “On the contrary, it is about empowering people by providing access to the right infrastructure, technology, and incentives. Many new cities will be built in the developing world so there is a huge opportunity to foster inclusive growth by staying clear of unsustainable practices.”
Policymakers often focus on the supply-side, with an emphasis on how to supply energy that is affordable, clean, and secure. The EDITS network members argue that analysis and tailoring of the demand for energy resources can and should play a complementary role in achieving this aim, especially given the risks brought by market volatility and geopolitics.
The authors define demand-side solutions as policies, interventions, and measures that modify demand for goods and services to reduce material and energy requirements, as well as associated GHG emissions, while also contributing to other policy objectives, including improved wellbeing and living standards. For example, measures might promote lifestyle changes and the adoption of certain behaviors, while also aiming to improve the efficiency of supply chains and infrastructure, thereby increasing people’s wellbeing.
The potential benefits of demand-side solutions are promising. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report, demand-side solutions could reduce GHG emissions from end-use sectors like buildings, transport, retail, and industry by 40–70% by 2050, with multi-faceted increases in wellbeing and no corresponding reduction in service levels.
“Research on ‘High-with-Low’ demand-side scenarios is challenging because scenarios have to deal with various demand-side technologies as well as a wide range of cultures and social practices. However, now that the IPCC is entering its new phase, the time is ripe to kick-start a new frontier of climate change mitigation modeling and scenario research,” notes Masahiro Sugiyama, the lead author of the commentary and professor at the University of Tokyo.
The authors point out that some local, national, and international bodies are already encouraging demand-side solutions, such as the local governments of Paris or Barcelona. However, much of the current emphasis in scientific research and modeling focuses on supply-side solutions and removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This includes bioenergy production with carbon capture and storage (CCS), which involves serious trade-offs and risks due to intensive land-use requirements. The fear is that scaling it up could create major competition for land with food producers.
In contrast, low energy and material demand scenarios are under-explored in research. The authors point out that there should be a much greater focus on modeling these scenarios to inform policy and innovation because they minimize the trade-offs we face in tackling climate change. This will require better data on demand, services, wellbeing, business models, and technological innovation, with an accompanying careful selection of indicators key to producing useful models.
The EDITS network is working actively to address these data and modeling needs by bringing together researchers from many different fields as part of a collective effort from researchers, governments, funders, and other stakeholders to help us move towards a sustainable future.
Reference: Sugiyama, M., Wilson, C., Wiedenhofer, D., Boza-Kiss, B., et al. (2024). High with low: Harnessing the power of demand-side solutions for high wellbeing with low energy and material demand. Joule, 8(1), 1-6. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joule.2023.12.014
About IIASA: The International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) is an international scientific institute that conducts research into the critical issues of global environmental, economic, technological, and social change that we face in the twenty-first century. Our findings provide valuable options to policymakers to shape the future of our changing world. IIASA is independent and funded by prestigious research funding agencies in Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe. www.iiasa.ac.at
High with low: Harnessing the power of demand-side solutions for high wellbeing with low energy and material demand
"COP28 demonstrated the inability of international diplomacy and governance to prevent the worsening climate crisis and to help adequately those most harmed by it", states climate researcher Prof. Paul G. Harris
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"COP28 demonstrated the inability of international diplomacy and governance to prevent the worsening climate crisis and to help adequately those most harmed by it", states climate researcher Prof. Paul G. Harris.
