Iowa State engineers contributed to a study of the economic value of significantly expanding the connections between the country’s eastern and western power grids. Expanding the connections could allow wind power from the Midwest and solar power from the Southwest to move back and forth across the country. The two-year, $1.5 million study was part…
Food loss and waste is a global problem that negatively impacts the bottom line of businesses and farmers, wastes limited resources and damages the environment. The Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR), The Rockefeller Foundation and Iowa State University today launched the Consortium for Innovation in Post-Harvest Loss and Food Waste Reduction at the 2019 Iowa International Outreach…
A farmer using big data technology to manage pesticide application or a school cafeteria director conducting an audit to reduce food waste are saving money by investing in sustainability. Both are examples of how Iowa State University faculty are working to dispel the misconception that sustainable initiatives do little to boost the bottom line.
Climate change could contribute to the demographic collapse of the painted turtle, a species that has temperature-dependent sex determination. Nicole Valenzuela, professor of ecology, evolution and organismal biology at Iowa State University, is sounding the alarm about the painted turtle’s future in a new study.
Iowa State University associate professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering Michelle Soupir and her research team are working on a pilot project to determine how well wood chips and corn cobs stored in edge-of-field bioreactors — a water-treatment technology — reduce nitrates in Iowa’s water supply.
Reza Montazami, associate professor of mechanical engineering at Iowa State University, has developed a technology that could fully dissolve a lithium-ion battery in minutes compared to hours or days.
A new technology for cleansing nutrients from water leaving Iowa’s tile-drained fields began with two Iowa State University researchers brainstorming after a professional meeting back in 2010. Their conversation led to development of saturated riparian buffers, a new conservation practice that is rapidly gaining interest in Iowa and far beyond.
Two Iowa State University scientists and a U.S. Department of Agriculture research partner have received a national honor for their roles in a multistate research collaboration finding solutions to water quality challenges related to agricultural drainage.
Iowa State’s Jonathan Claussen, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering, is leading a team of engineers developing a system of low-cost, “bury-and-forget” soil sensors connected to a remote, wireless, data-collection network. Data collected by the system will help the engineers build better models of the interactions of fertilizer, soil and crops. Those models could help…
Improving the odds of a successful cash crop after cover crops is the aim of several new projects funded by the Iowa Nutrient Research Center at Iowa State University.
