TetraPOT uses mangroves to grow a greener sea defense system

Tetrapods, those curious concrete structures that resemble oversized toy jacks, protect shores across the world from life-threatening waves—but they’re not environmentally friendly or sustainable. Inspired to create a “stronger yet greener sea defense” system, Taiwanese designer Sheng-Hung Lee designed the TetraPOT, a fusion between the concrete tetrapod and natural mangroves. The innovative design uses the iconic four-pronged tetrapod shape with the insertion of a biodegradable pre-seeded pot to grow mangrove trees that filter water pollution, protect the shores, and beautify coastlines. 

Lee envisions the TetraPOT as a hybrid between artificial sea defense and natural sea defense, an idea encapsulated in his design slogan: “It is not only a defense, but also an ecosystem. A home for other living [things].” The TetraPOT is an opportunity to restore the world’s mangrove forests, 35% of which has been destroyed. Unlike the common tetrapod, the TetraPOT is partly hollowed out to create room for a biodegradable pot insert, soil, and space for roots to grow. When rising tides water the pre-seeded layers, the organic layers will begin to decompose and allow the mangrove trees to expand its root system through three lower openings.

Related: Are Mangroves The Solution to Urban Sustainability in Asia?

Over time, roots from one TetraPOT will connect with its neighbors as well as the shoreline to reinforce the sea defense system, reducing the risk of dislodgment. The mangroves will also attract greater biodiversity to the region and help clean the air and water. Lee, who currently works with IDEO in Shanghai, plans to work with the local government to test out TetraPOT prototypes on Chongming Island. The TetraPOT has received several prestigious awards, including the James Dyson Award and red dot Design Award.

+ TetraPOT

ORIGINAL: Inhabitat

by Lucy Wang

2016/10/24

Project Film for Tidal Lagoon Swansea Bay

Our vision is to see the UK’s abundant sustainable tidal resource help us towards greater energy security, whilst working sympathetically with the existing environment to bring a range of benefits to local communities involved. This film presents information about this vision and was prepared for statutory consultation in July/August 2013. Further development work was undertaken in response to this consultation such that the film may not accurately represent the final development consent application.

Planning process

An overview of the planning process towards development consent

Tidal lagoons are classed as ‘offshore generating stations’. Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon will be an offshore generating station with more than 100MW of installed capacity and, as such, is considered a ‘nationally significant infrastructure project’ (NSIP) under the Planning Act 2008.

NSIPs are planned under a different system to that managed by local authorities, being managed instead by the UK’s Planning Inspectorate. Local authorities are key consultees throughout the planning process, but the final decision to grant a ‘Development Consent Order’ (DCO) for the Project will rest with the UK’s Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change.

The Project lies in Welsh waters, meaning a marine licence (for dredging and construction) is also required under the Marine & Coastal Access Act 2009. Marine licence applications are determined by the Marine Licensing Team of Natural Resources Wales (NRW) on behalf of the Welsh Government.

The Project cannot go ahead without both consents. Since 2011, TLSB has undertaken consultation with a wide range of organisations and the general public to help inform our proposals before submitting the relevant applications. A period of statutory consultation ran from 4 July to 5 August 2013, during which time we received several thousand representations. TLSB had regard to all such comments received, and conducted a further (non-statutory) consultation on points of detail in November and December 2013, before submitting applications for development consent and marine licensing on 7 February 2014. The requirements of the two applications are different, but duplicate documents were submitted wherever possible.

The marine licence application was accepted for consideration on 28 February 2014, and the development consent application was accepted for consideration on 6 March 2014. This means that both applications met the required standards and will proceed through the appropriate examination processes to determination, as described below.

Consent was granted by the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change when she made an Order (the Development Consent Order, DCO) authorising the development on Tuesday 9 June 2015. The Planning Inspectorate’s Recommendation, the Secretary of State’s decision letter, and the DCO as it has been made is available to view on the Planning Inspectorate’s website.

Environmental Impact Assessment

A fundamental requirement of both the development consent and marine licensing processes is an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), which must be reported in an Environmental Statement (ES) submitted with the applications. The Project’s EIA process commenced in October 2012 when TLSB submitted, and subsequently agreed, the scope of the assessment with relevant regulators. TLSB presented the emerging results of the EIA to regulators and wider stakeholders at several stages of the process, responding to comments before completing the assessment and finalising the ES. More information on the Project’s EIA is provided here, or you can view the full ES here and on the Inspectorate’s website here. It is important to note that TLSB submitted the same ES for both the development consent and marine licence applications.

The six-stage DCO planning process

The Planning Act 2008 introduced a new planning process aimed at streamlining decision-making for NSIPs, making it fairer and faster for communities and developers alike, and securing the delivery of vital national infrastructure including roads, rail and energy generation for example. The Planning Inspectorate provides an excellent summary of the process, including a 6-minute film, here. The information below shows the progress of TLSB through that process, with additional information provided for the marine license process which runs broadly in parallel.

1. Pre-application – COMPLETE

The process begins when the Planning Inspectorate is informed by a developer that they intend to submit an application. Before submitting the application, the developer is required to carry out extensive consultation on the development proposals. TLSB consulted on the Project for nearly three years before submission, with all comments being reviewed and subsequently reported in a Consultation Report submitted with the application documents. As noted above, all DCO and marine license application documents were submitted on 7 February 2014.

2. Acceptance – COMPLETE

This stage begins when a developer submits a formal application for development consent to the Planning Inspectorate, as TLSB did on 7 February 2014. The Planning Inspectorate had 28 days to consider whether or not the application meets the required standards. TLSB’s application for development consent met the standards and was accepted for consideration on 6 March 2014. As noted above, the application for a marine license was also accepted for consideration by NRW on 28 February 2014.

3. Pre-examination – COMPLETE

Following acceptance, TLSB was required to publicise the acceptance and give the public at least 28 days to register with the Planning Inspectorate and provide a summary of their views of the application in writing (known as “relevant representations”). TLSB placed notices in local and national press in accordance with regulations, and the “relevant representations period” ran from Friday 14 March to Friday 11 April 2014.

Everyone who registered with the Inspectorate by making a relevant representation was invited to attend a ‘preliminary meeting’ on 10 June 2014. The meeting was designed not to address the merits of the proposal, only how it will be examined. It was chaired by the Examining Authority, who are the Inspector/s appointed to consider the application throughout the process.

The marine license application also had a period of public consultation, also requiring publicity in local and national press. TLSB placed notices in accordance with regulations, and the consultation period ran from Friday 14 March to Friday 25 April 2014.

4. Examination - COMPLETE

After the preliminary meeting, the Planning Inspectorate had six months to carry out the examination of the application. During this stage, those people who had registered were invited to provide more details of their views in writing, and public hearings were held (in the Swansea Bay area from 10 June to 10 December 2014). The local authorities (City & County of Swansea and Neath Port Talbot County Borough) were invited to submit ‘Local Impact Reports’ (LIR) setting out their views on the Project. Careful consideration was given by the Examining Authority to all important and relevant matters including representations, LIRs and evidence submitted.

5. Recommendation and decision - COMPLETE

Upon completion of the examination, the Planning Inspectorate had three months to prepare a report on the application to the Secretary of State, including a recommendation for consent or refusal. The Secretary of State then had a further three months to make the decision on whether to grant or refuse development consent. Development consent was granted by the making of the Order by the Secretary of State on 9 July 2015

The decision on TLSB’s application to NRW for a marine licence will follow a similar timeframe with the Inspectorate and NRW working closely together.

6. Post decision - COMPLETE

Once a decision has been issued by the Secretary of State, there is a six week period in which the decision may be challenged in the High Court. This process of legal challenge is known as Judicial Review.

Other requirements

In addition to the above, TLSB is seeking Environmental Permits (where applicable) and leases from site land owners. In the case of Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon, this includes for example the Crown Estate (owner of the offshore seabed), Associated British Ports (owner of Swansea Docks and its foreshore), plus St Modwen Properties plc and Swansea University (owners of the remaining foreshore).

ORIGINAL: Tidal Lagoon Swansea Bay

Plastic-eating worms may offer solution to mounting waste, Stanford researchers discover

An ongoing study by Stanford engineers, in collaboration with researchers in China, shows that common mealworms can safely biodegrade various types of plastic.

Mealworms munch on Styrofoam, a hopeful sign that solutions to plastics pollution exist. Wei-Min Wu, a senior research engineer in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, discovered the larvae can live on polystyrene. (Photo: Yu Yang)

Consider the plastic foam cup. Every year, Americans throw away 2.5 billion of them. And yet, that waste is just a fraction of the 33 million tons of plastic Americans discard every year. Less than 10 percent of that total gets recycled, and the remainder presents challenges ranging from water contamination to animal poisoning.

Enter the mighty mealworm. The tiny worm, which is the larvae form of the darkling beetle, can subsist on a diet of Styrofoam and other forms of polystyrene, according to two companion studies co-authored by Wei-Min Wu, a senior research engineer in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford. Microorganisms in the worms' guts biodegrade the plastic in the process – a surprising and hopeful finding.

"Our findings have opened a new door to solve the global plastic pollution problem," Wu said.

The papers, published in Environmental Science and Technology, are the first to provide detailed evidence of bacterial degradation of plastic in an animal's gut. Understanding how bacteria within mealworms carry out this feat could potentially enable new options for safe management of plastic waste.

"There's a possibility of really important research coming out of bizarre places," said Craig Criddle, a professor of civil and environmental engineering who supervises plastics research by Wu and others at Stanford. "Sometimes, science surprises us. This is a shock."

Plastic for dinner

In the lab, 100 mealworms ate between 34 and 39 milligrams of Styrofoam – about the weight of a small pill – per day. The worms converted about half of the Styrofoam into carbon dioxide, as they would with any food source.

Within 24 hours, they excreted the bulk of the remaining plastic as biodegraded fragments that look similar to tiny rabbit droppings. Mealworms fed a steady diet of Styrofoam were as healthy as those eating a normal diet, Wu said, and their waste appeared to be safe to use as soil for crops.

Researchers, including Wu, have shown in earlier research that waxworms, the larvae of Indian mealmoths, have microorganisms in their guts that can biodegrade polyethylene, a plastic used in filmy products such as trash bags. The new research on mealworms is significant, however, because Styrofoam was thought to have been non-biodegradable and more problematic for the environment.

Researchers led by Criddle, a senior fellow at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, are collaborating on ongoing studies with the project leader and papers' lead author, Jun Yang of Beihang University in China, and other Chinese researchers. Together, they plan to study whether microorganisms within mealworms and other insects can biodegrade plastics such as polypropylene (used in products ranging from textiles to automotive components), microbeads (tiny bits used as exfoliants) and bioplastics (derived from renewable biomass sources such as corn or biogas methane).

As part of a "cradle-to-cradle" approach, the researchers will explore the fate of these materials when consumed by small animals, which are, in turn, consumed by other animals.

Marine diners sought

Another area of research could involve searching for a marine equivalent of the mealworm to digest plastics, Criddle said. Plastic waste is a particular concern in the ocean, where it fouls habitat and kills countless seabirds, fish, turtles and other marine life.

More research is needed, however, to understand conditions favorable to plastic degradation and the enzymes that break down polymers. This, in turn, could help scientists engineer more powerful enzymes for plastic degradation, and guide manufacturers in the design of polymers that do not accumulate in the environment or in food chains.

Criddle's plastics research was originally inspired by a 2004 project to evaluate the feasibility of biodegradable building materials. That investigation was funded by the Stanford Woods Institute's Environmental Venture Projects seed grant program. It led to the launch of a company that is developing economically competitive, nontoxic bioplastics.

Co-authors of the papers, "Biodegradation and Mineralization of Polystyrene by Plastic-Eating Mealworms. 1. Chemical and Physical Characterization and Isotopic Tests" and "Biodegradation and Mineralization of Polystyrene by Plastic-Eating Mealworms. 2. Role of Gut Microorganisms," include Yu Yang, Jun Yang, Lei Jian, Yiling Song and Longcheng Gao of Beihang University, and Jiao Zhao and Ruifu Yang of BGI-Shenzhen.

For more Stanford experts on engineering and other topics, visit Stanford Experts.

ORIGINAL: Stanford

BY ROB JORDAN

September 29, 2015

Volcanic discoveries create Sydney’s hottest new suburb

A map of the newly discovered volcanic peaks off Sydney, showing their depth relative to the surface.

We’ve found a cluster of ancient hotheads just east of the Sydney CBD – forgotten relics of an era long passed. And no, it’s not the clientele at Bondi Icebergs on a Sunday afternoon.

Our new ocean explorer, RV Investigator, has discovered four extinct volcanoes 200 kilometres off the coast of Sydney, hidden under almost five kilometres of ocean. The calderas are estimated to be over 50 million years old, putting even the most seasoned Sydney socialites to shame.

CSIRO RV Investigator. PHOTO: CSIRO

Investigator was actually in the area on other business – searching for the nursery grounds of larval lobsters – when it came across the cluster. The ship is constantly mapping the sea floor as it travels, opening up a previously undiscovered and unknown world. Our previous research vessel could only map to 3000 metres, missing important geological features like the calderas. Investigator can map the ocean to any depth (although it’s yet to find James Cameron).

Being the handy little workers we are, we’ve created a 3D flyover of the volcano cluster for your viewing pleasure:

But the volcanoes aren’t the only hot new talking point in Sydney’s far-East. According to the chief scientist for the voyage, UNSW marine biologist Professor Iain Suthers, the team were amazed to discover an eddy off Sydney that was a hotspot for lobster larvae and other tiny critters, at a time of the year when they were not expecting them.

This discovery turned the previous understanding of juvenile commercial fish species on its head.

“We had thought fish only developed in coastal estuaries, and that once larvae were swept out to sea that was end of them. But in fact, these eddies are nursery grounds for commercial fisheries along the east coast of Australia.”

Check out some of the samples the team collected (a few of which wouldn’t look out of place on the dancefloor of the Eastern at 3am):

We can’t wait to hear about more amazing discoveries from the Investigator as it continues its travels. For all the latest on our Marine National Facility, including a virtual tour, check out our website.

Unfortunately, we can’t yet recommend the far-East as a solution to Sydney’s housing crisis. We hear they don’t even have a Gelato Messina out there yet.

ORIGINAL: CSIRO

Nicholas Kachel

July 13, 2015