Environment

Argonne And Los Alamos National Laboratories Team Up To Develop More Affordable Fuel Cell Components

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ElectroCat Team: Inside LANL’s fuel cell test lab, graduate students and a post-doctoral researcher work on ElectroCat technology–at rear, Joseph Dumont, Ulises Martinez, Ling Lin. Courtesy/LANL

ElectroCat equipment: An X-ray computed microtomograph (MicroXCT) for non-destructive 3D-imaging of fuel cell components is among the tools that will be of use in the ElectroCat fuel cell project. Courtesy/LANL

LANL News:

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne and Los Alamos national laboratories have teamed up to support a DOE initiative through the creation Read More

DOE Announces $80 Million In Funding To Increase SuperTruck Efficiency

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DOE News:
 
WASHINGTON D.C. ― Building on the notable successes of the SuperTruck initiative, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Transportation Reuben Sarkar today announced SuperTruck II, an $80 million funding opportunity, subject to congressional appropriations, for research, development and demonstration of long-haul tractor-trailer truck technology. Sarkar made the announcement at the GreenTruck Summit in Indianapolis, Indiana.
 
Sarkar also announced more than $12 million in selections for three new cost-shared projects focused on the research,
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Tauck Grant Helps Preserve Iconic Mormon Row Structures In Grand Teton National Park

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GTNPF News:
 
WILTON, CT ― Grand Teton National Park Foundation has announced a major grant provided by Tauck, a leader in premium quality guided tours and cruises, that will help preserve the historic buildings and landscapes at the park’s Mormon Row.
 
A homesteaders’ settlement inside Grand Teton National Park dating back to 1890, Mormon Row is home to a number of structures including the iconic T.A. Moulton barn, an unofficial symbol of the park that attracts photographers from around the world.
 
The Tauck grant will fund a total of three different
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PEEC Offers Yoga Class Beginning March 3

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Yoga class. Courtesy photo

PEEC News:

Beginning March 3, the Los Alamos Nature Center will have a different type of class ─ yoga.

The Pajarito Environmental Education Center (PEEC) is working with registered yoga instructor, Christa Tyson, to provide weekly yoga sessions with a view of nature.

The yoga classes will take place at 6:30 p.m. Thursdays where participants can enjoy the nature center’s breathtaking view of the Los Alamos canyons, skies, and wildlife. When the weather permits, this class will take place on the patio outside the nature center, where the sounds and smells of nature Read More

Climate Change Lecture: Future Of New Mexico’s Pikas

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Marie Westover, a fourth-year PhD student in Biology at UNM present her research on the impacts of climate on pika ecology and evolution at 7 p.m., Tuesday. Courtesy/PEEC

PEEC News:

What does the future hold for alpine animals? Marie Westover will present her research on the impacts of climate on pika ecology and evolution at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 1 at the Los Alamos Nature Center.

This talk is part of a lecture series on climate change organized by Pajarito Environmental Education Center (PEEC).

Westover is a fourth-year PhD student in Biology at the University of New Mexico. She studies Read More

New Mexico, Navajo Nation Prepare For Spring Run-off Carrying Heavy Metals

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NMED News:
 
SANTA FE ― While temperatures warm and the high altitude snowpack in Colorado’s Southern Rockies & San Juan Mountains begins to melt, Animas/San Juan watershed communities are getting ready for the re-disturbance of toxic heavy metals in their primary water source.
 
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that they released 880,000 pounds of metals last summer when they triggered a blowout of impounded mine water at the Gold King Mine.
 
The metals raced through the Animas River in Colorado where the river had faster flows, then
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WIPP’s Reopening Not Certain; Very Expensive

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CCNS News:
 
On Feb. 19, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) held a workshop in Carlsbad to discuss the detailed budget and schedule to re-open the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in December 2016.
 
Despite having spent about $500 million in the two years that WIPP has been shut down, few significant schedule milestones have been met.
 
The formal budget and schedule document is called the Performance Measurement Baseline (PMB). The PMB is for the period of Oct. 1, 2015 through Sept. 30, 2017, which is the time remaining on the management contract
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Federal Junior Duck Stamp Program And Contest Deadline For Submissions March 15

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2015-2016 Junior Duck Stamp featuring wood ducks, art by Andrew Kneeland of Rock Springs, Wyo. Courtesy image

WILDLIFE REFUGE News:

ALBUQUERQUE — Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge is proud to announce the Federal Junior Duck Stamp Program and Contest deadline for art submissions is March 15, 2016.

Students in kindergarten through 12th grades across New Mexico learn about habitat conservation through science, math, technology, and the arts to create an original drawing or painting of waterfowl as their “visual term paper.”

“We are so excited to have Valle de Oro National Wildlife Read More

DOE Launches $40 Million Effort To Improve Materials For Clean Energy Solutions

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DOE News:
 
WASHINGTON, D.C. ― The U.S. Department of Energy announced Wednesday Feb. 24, the launch of its Energy Materials Network (EMN), a new National Laboratory-led initiative that will give American entrepreneurs and manufacturers a leg up in the global race for clean energy.
 
Leveraging $40 million in federal funding in its first year, EMN will focus on tackling one of the major barriers to widespread commercialization of clean energy technologies: the design, testing, and production of advanced materials. By strengthening and facilitating industry
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