Berkeley Lab
Berkeley Lab is a university that is part of the pulse of the water sector. Here we bring together everything it publishes on Smart Water Magazine: its news, its blogs and the events it takes part in.
Research shows how air pollution has offset expected increases in rainfall
In a new study, researchers broke down how human-induced greenhouse gas and aerosol emissions influence rainfall in the United States. Greenhouse gas emissions increase rainfall, while aerosols have a long-term drying effect as well as short-term impacts that vary with the seasons.
Methane emissions from wetlands increase significantly over high latitudes
Berkeley Lab scientists show decadal increases in wetland methane emissions in Arctic and Boreal ecosystems.
Mountains vulnerable to extreme rain from climate change
During extreme weather events, mountains will see more water fall as rain instead of as snow – making them vulnerable to floods, landslides, and soil erosion. For every 1 degree Celsius of global warming, researchers expect an average of 15% more rain at high elevations. The North American Pacific mountain ranges (Cascades, Sierra Nevada, and coastal ranges), Himalayas, and high-latitude regions are most at risk.
Underground water could be the solution to green heating and cooling
Decarbonizing the grid means storing energy from renewables. Aquifers can do that.
Limiting global warming now can preserve valuable freshwater resource
Berkeley Lab researchers highlight the need to implement wide-scale carbon mitigation strategies to maintain snowpack throughout the Americas.
Managing water resources in a low-to-no-snow future
With mountain snowpacks shrinking in the western U.S., new Berkeley Lab study analyzes when a low-to-no-snow future might arrive and implications for water management.
New material ‘mines’ copper from toxic wastewater
We rely on water to quench our thirst and to irrigate bountiful farmland. But what do you do when that once pristine water is polluted with wastewater from abandoned copper mines? A promising solution relies on materials that capture heavy metal atoms, such as copper ions, from wastewater through a separation process called adsorption. But […]
Global methane emissions soaring, but how much was due to wetlands?
A Q&A with Berkeley Lab scientist William Riley on the challenges in estimating methane emissions from wetlands and how nuanced computer models may help.
A closer look at water-splitting’s solar fuel potential
Scientists at Berkeley Lab and the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis zero in on bismuth vanadate’s role in renewable energy at the nanoscale.