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U. of Iowa researchers find smoke impacts on severity of tornados

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University of Iowa researchers have found that smoke resulting from spring agricultural land-clearing fires in Central America and transported across the Gulf of Mexico intensified tornado conditions already in process in the United States. In fact, the simulation including the smoke resulted in a lowered cloud base and greater wind shear.

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Iowa State/Ames Lab researcher receives $3M from ARPA-E for solid-state sodium battery

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When we look at ways to efficiently store energy from wind and solar sources, lithium-based batteries are expensive and world-wide geological resources of lithium are actually quite limited. A sodium-based battery, on the other hand, has the potential to store larger amounts of electrical energy at a significantly lower cost.

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DOE awards $19M to 13 initiatives in fossil-fuel areas to produce rare earth elements and critical minerals

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San Juan River-Raton-Black Mesa Basin (Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico): New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology plans to determine the rare earth elements and critical minerals resource potential in coal and related stratigraphic units in the San Juan and Raton basins in New Mexico. DOE Funding: $1,499,999. DOE Funding: $1,483,787.

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Study finds air pollution caused by corn production increases mortality rate in US

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The paper, published in Nature Sustainability , presents how researchers have estimated for the first time the health damages caused by corn production using detailed information on pollution emissions, pollution transport by wind, and human exposure to increased air pollution levels. a, Absolute mortality.

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Argonne and University of Illinois to form Midwest Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Coalition

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The states of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, North and South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas are home to a quarter of the US population and consume 30% of electric power generated in the US. Hydrogen can be used as an effective storage medium to increase utilization of these renewable energy resources.

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President Obama announces two new public-private manufacturing innovation institutes; new manufacturing innovation institute competition

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In the wind energy industry, doubling the length of a turbine blade can quadruple the amount of electricity generated. In the wind energy industry, doubling the length of a turbine blade can quadruple the amount of electricity generated. Rockwell Collins; Rolls-Royce; Siemens; System Insights; The Dow Chemical Company; UPS.

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Trestle Energy and Larksen partner to reduce CO2 from ethanol and coal power

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Trestle and Larksen’s integrated approach furthers ethanol producers’ ability to scale up production of low carbon biofuels and allows existing power plants to generate electricity with the cost and reliability of coal and with carbon emissions similar to wind.

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