Cell Reports Sustainability

Cell Reports Sustainability published its first issue in January and to celebrate the first 6 issues we have compiled our editorials thus far. Our editorials have covered a wide variety of topics from our first editorial outlining the scope of the journal through to resilient food systems, ocean sustainability, a sustainable urban future, the lesser-known species and managing fire risks. We look forward to sharing more of our thoughts on sustainability in future issues. https://lnkd.in/eq4PDSx3

Join the Cell Press Forum on Sustainability tomorrow to hear leading experts, including Branda Nowell, talk about living with increased fire risk. Registration is still open, and is free to join! https://hubs.li/Q02G2XKq0

Cell Reports Sustainability June issue is out and in this curated issue, we focus on wildfire risk and hazard management with commentaries and a perspective discussing these issues. The cover image is a bushfire in Proserpine, Queensland, Australia. Cover credit: Holger Leue/The Image Bank via Getty Images. Also in this issue: 📣 Utilizing basic income to create a sustainable poverty-free tomorrow 📣 Climate and air quality benefits of wind and solar generation in the United States from 2019 to 2022 📣 Power sector effects of alternative options for de-fossilizing heavy-duty vehicles—Go electric, and charge smartly 📣 Toward zero-waste resource recovery from municipal solid waste incineration ash by electrochemical and chemical mining https://lnkd.in/egu7hbCu

New paper out on the 'The role of negative emissions technologies in the UK’s net-zero strategy' https://lnkd.in/es3GaE9B

Gabrielle Wong-Parodi and colleagues recently found that embracing the challenges in implementing an RCT can influence the actionability of the results. We asked her a few questions below. Read the full paper, Leveraging the Humanity of Randomized Controlled Trials for Actionability, here: https://hubs.li/Q02F5CM10

Read why we think global fire models should be aiming to model fires, not ignitions in our recent commentary in Cell Reports Sustainability, led by Matt Kasoar and Oliver Perkins with Jay Mistry and Cathy Smith. https://lnkd.in/gPty8s-X "Fire regimes are intrinsically shaped by humans, but current global fire models do not reflect the diverse objectives humans have for managing fire. With new data sources and collaboration across disciplines, an improved understanding of human influences on fire regimes is increasingly possible and essential to represent." With thanks to funding from the Leverhulme Centre for Wildfires, Environment and Society.

🚚🔌🔋⚡💧⛽ How to de-fossilize #trucks: with #batteries, overhead lines, #hydrogen, or #efuels? We just published a new paper, focusing on how these alternative options would interact with a future electricity sector with a high share of variable renewables. #Openaccess article in in Cell Reports Sustainability, co-authored by my fantastic colleagues Carlos Gaete Morales DIW Berlin - German Institute for Economic Research and Julius Jöhrens & Florian Heining ifeu - Institut für Energie- und Umweltforschung Heidelberg gGmbH . Full text: https://lnkd.in/dypTe7De Our paper in a nutshell: We investigate the power sector implications of alternative options for de-fossilizing heavy-duty trucks in future scenarios of Germany, using an open-source capacity expansion model (with the cool German name DIETER) and route-based truck traffic data. Power sector costs are the lowest for flexibly charged battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) that also carry out vehicle-to-grid operations and the highest for e-fuels. If BEVs or catenary BEVs are not optimally charged, power sector costs increase - but are still substantially lower than in scenarios with hydrogen or e-fuels. This is because indirect electrification is less energy efficient, which outweighs potential flexibility benefits. That is, the flexibility potential of hydrogen storage does not outweigh the energy efficiency challenges of green hydrogen supply chains in terms of electricity sector costs. An important assumption for this: hydrogen (or H2-based e-fuel) is produced domestically, and not somehow imported from somewhere else - just like the electricity for BEV trucks. That is, we compare apples with apples. 🍎 Why do flexibly operated BEV trucks lead to the lowest power sector costs? They are able to charge their batteries in hours of low residual load, which generally go along with low wholesale market prices. This enables flexible BEV to utilize renewable surplus energy (negative residual load) to a substantial extent. If vehicle-to-grid is possible, trucks further feed renewable surplus energy back into the grid, whenever the battery capacity is not needed for driving. Another result: in a long-run equilibrium, BEVs and catenary BEVs favor solar photovoltaic energy, while hydrogen and e-fuels in addition require substantial wind power investments, and also increase fossil electricity generation. Results remain qualitatively robust in numerous sensitivity analyses where we investigate the (beneficial) effects of the European interconnection, constrained wind power expansion, or alternative assumptions on charging availability. If you are interested in these aspects, you will have fun with the Supplemental Information 🤓 We conclude: from a power sector perspective, direct electrification of trucks and flexible charging is clearly preferable. Or as we write in the title: "Go electric, and charge smartly!"

New paper published in Cell Reports Sustainability reported on in the Guardian - Climate and air quality benefits of wind and solar generation in the United States from 2019 to 2022. https://lnkd.in/eA6XqHtA

We are excited to be partnering on the Cell Symposia: A circular economy for the chemical sector with the UKRI Centre for Circular Chemical Economy, in Cardiff, Wales, next month. There is still time to register for this exciting symposium. Registration discounts are still available; check the site to see if you’re eligible. Alongside the outstanding speakers, the Cell Press editors from Chem, One Earth, iScience, Cell Reports Physical Science, and Trends in Chemistry will be attending, with plenty of time in the program to network during lunch, refreshment breaks, and poster sessions. The optional “Meet the Speakers” dinner and walking tour offers delegates time to relax with friends and colleagues and explore the historic city of Cardiff. https://hubs.li/Q02CB2My0

"On the chances of staying below the 1.5 °C warming target" https://lnkd.in/eNKFVY77 Thomas Bossy, Thomas Gasser, Katsumasa Tanaka, & Philippe Ciais