PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Low-cost technology reduces the cost and carbon footprint of pressurized irrigation

Low-cost technology reduces the cost and carbon footprint of pressurized irrigation
2021-04-06
(Press-News.org) Innovation and advances in technology have facilitated agricultural activity in recent years, as traditional irrigation techniques have been supplanted by pressure-basedones, improving water efficiency but increasing energy dependence. This drives up the Agriculture sector's energy costs, some of the highest in the European Union.

With the aim of increasing the energy efficiency of irrigation, researchers at the Hydraulics and Irrigation Group with the María de Maeztu Unit of Excellence,at the Department of Agronomy of the University of Cordoba (DAUCO), Juan Antonio Rodríguez Díaz and Jorge García Morillo, have field-tested a low-cost technology that takes advantage of the excess pressure on the grid to generate energy. This technology has made it possible, on the farm where it was installed, to forego the diesel generator that was used to power filtering equipment, fertilizer injector pumps and other devices necessary for irrigation, rendering the gridself-sufficient and operating on clean energy. The annual savings for the farmer came to €2,400, and his carbon footprint was reduced by up to 9 tons of CO2 thanks to the complete elimination of the diesel generator.

These results are achieved through the installation of hydraulic pumps that work as turbines, known as a PAT (Pump as Turbine). The water moves the impeller and generates electricity, like a small hydroelectric power plant, but one cheaper than traditional turbines for small power levels, since the production of hydraulic pumps is much greater, impacting their price.

The researchers used the EPANET hydraulic model to perform a theoretical analysis of the pressures that would be present on this network, determining the most unfavourable situations and the point where the turbine should be installed. Once the system was evaluated, it was put into operation in the field, where this kind of technology is very novel. Flow fluctuations in irrigation are very great. In order to adapt to this, a series of control elements were implemented in the design so that the turbine would always receive the optimum flow rates and adequate pressure to deliver high performance.

According to Jorge García, "another important innovation is the telemetry system, which measures and records the main hydraulic and electrical variables in real time and allows the plant to be monitored via the Web, and its performance to be analysed".

In this way, farmers in off-grid areas with excess pressure can generate their own electricity and reduce the energy dependence of their irrigation systems, or even make their facilities self-sufficient. This is clean and cheap energy, adding value to the final product by slashing the carbon footprint, "something even more important for farmers than the economic savings related to energy",notes Juan Antonio Rodríguez.

The agricultural community, represented by the Association of Irrigation Communities of Andalusia (FERAGUA) is very interested in the advantage of eliminating diesel generators and achieving energy autonomy through renewable energy with this technology developed as part of the European REDAWN project, of which both the University of Cordoba and FERAGUA are partners. The plant was installed at the Finca Cortijo Calonge, which belongs to the Community of Irrigators of the Genil River's Left Bank.

INFORMATION:


[Attachments] See images for this press release:
Low-cost technology reduces the cost and carbon footprint of pressurized irrigation

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

A new type of battery that can charge ten times faster than a lithium-ion battery created

A new type of battery that can charge ten times faster than a lithium-ion battery created
2021-04-06
It is difficult to imagine our daily life without lithium-ion batteries. They dominate the small format battery market for portable electronic devices, and are also commonly used in electric vehicles. At the same time, lithium-ion batteries have a number of serious issues, including: a potential fire hazard and performance loss at cold temperatures; as well as a considerable environmental impact of spent battery disposal. According to the leader of the team of researchers, Professor in the Department of Electrochemistry at St Petersburg University END ...

First air quality profile of two sub-Saharan African cities finds troubling news

First air quality profile of two sub-Saharan African cities finds troubling news
2021-04-06
Ambient air pollution is a global public health crisis, causing more than 4.9 million premature deaths per year around the world. In Africa, it has surpassed AIDS as the leading cause of premature death. According to one study, air pollution--specifically, fine particulate matter (PM2.5)--may cause at least as many as 780,000 premature deaths annually in Africa and worsen a significant number of diseases, including asthma, lung cancer, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Brazzaville, capital of the Republic of Congo, are both large metropolises. However, neither Kinshasa (population 14. 3 million) nor Brazzaville (population 2.4 million) have had comprehensive air quality monitoring programs. ...

New multiple sclerosis subtypes identified using artificial intelligence

2021-04-06
Scientists at UCL have used artificial intelligence (AI) to identify three new multiple sclerosis (MS) subtypes. Researchers say the groundbreaking findings will help identify those people more likely to have disease progression and help target treatments more effectively. MS affects over 2.8 million people globally and 130,000 in the UK, and is classified into four* 'courses' (groups), which are defined as either relapsing or progressive. Patients are categorised by a mixture of clinical observations, assisted by MRI brain images, and patients' symptoms. These observations guide the timing and choice of treatment. For this study, published in Nature Communications, researchers wanted to find out if there were any - as yet unidentified - patterns ...

Houston flooding polluted reefs more than 100 miles offshore

Houston flooding polluted reefs more than 100 miles offshore
2021-04-06
HOUSTON - (April 6, 2021) - Runoff from Houston's 2016 Tax Day flood and 2017's Hurricane Harvey flood carried human waste onto coral reefs more than 100 miles offshore in the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, according to a Rice University study. "We were pretty shocked," said marine biologist Adrienne Correa, co-author of the study in Frontiers in Marine Science. "One thing we always thought the Flower Garden Banks were safe from was terrestrial runoff and nutrient pollution. It's a jolt to realize that in these extreme events, it's not just the salt marsh or the seagrass that we need to worry about. Offshore ecosystems can be affected too." The Flower Garden Banks sit atop several salt domes near the edge ...

Scientists reveal elusive inner workings of antioxidant enzyme with therapeutic potential

Scientists reveal elusive inner workings of antioxidant enzyme with therapeutic potential
2021-04-06
Mitochondria, known as the powerhouses within human cells, generate the energy needed for cell survival. However, as a byproduct of this process, mitochondria also produce reactive oxygen species (ROS). At high enough concentrations, ROS cause oxidative damage and can even kill cells. An overabundance of ROS has been connected to various health issues, including cancers, neurological disorders, and heart disease. An enzyme called manganese superoxide dismutase, or MnSOD, uses a mechanism involving electron and proton transfers to lower ROS levels in mitochondria, thus preventing oxidative damage and maintaining cell health. More than a quarter of known enzymes also rely on electron and proton transfers to facilitate cellular activities ...

Spin defects under control

Spin defects under control
2021-04-06
Boron nitride is a technologically interesting material because it is very compatible with other two-dimensional crystalline structures. It therefore opens up pathways to artificial heterostructures or electronic devices built on them with fundamentally new properties. About a year ago, a team from the Institute of Physics at Julius-Maximilians-Universität (JMU) Wuerzburg in Bavaria, Germany, succeeded in creating spin defects, also known as qubits, in a layered crystal of boron nitride and identifying them experimentally. Recently, the team led by Professor ...

Americans are super-spreaders of COVID-19 misinformation

2021-04-06
Misinformation about COVID-19 is spreading from the United States into Canada, undermining efforts to mitigate the pandemic. A study led by McGill University shows that Canadians who use social media are more likely to consume this misinformation, embrace false beliefs about COVID-19, and subsequently spread them. Many Canadians believe conspiracy theories, poorly-sourced medical advice, and information trivializing the virus--even though news outlets and political leaders in the country have generally focused on providing reliable scientific information. How then, is misinformation spreading so rapidly? "A lot of Canadians are struggling to understand COVID-19 denialism and anti-vaccination attitudes among their loved ones," says ...

Deep learning networks prefer the human voice -- just like us

Deep learning networks prefer the human voice -- just like us
2021-04-06
New York, NY--April 6, 2021--The digital revolution is built on a foundation of invisible 1s and 0s called bits. As decades pass, and more and more of the world's information and knowledge morph into streams of 1s and 0s, the notion that computers prefer to "speak" in binary numbers is rarely questioned. According to new research from Columbia Engineering, this could be about to change. A new study from Mechanical Engineering Professor Hod Lipson and his PhD student Boyuan Chen proves that artificial intelligence systems might actually reach higher levels of performance if they are programmed with sound files of human language rather than with numerical data labels. The researchers discovered that in a side-by-side comparison, a neural network whose "training labels" consisted ...

Study links prenatal phthalate exposure to altered information processing in infants

Study links prenatal phthalate exposure to altered information processing in infants
2021-04-06
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Exposure to phthalates, a class of chemicals widely used in packaging and consumer products, is known to interfere with normal hormone function and development in human and animal studies. Now researchers have found evidence linking pregnant women's exposure to phthalates to altered cognitive outcomes in their infants. Most of the findings involved slower information processing among infants with higher phthalate exposure levels, with males more likely to be affected depending on the chemical involved and the order of information presented to the infants. Reported in the journal Neurotoxicology, the study ...

Aquatic invasive species cause damage worth billions of dollars

Aquatic invasive species cause damage worth billions of dollars
2021-04-06
The global movement of goods and people, in its modern form, has many unwanted side effects. One of these is that animal and plant species travel around the world with it. Often they fail to establish themselves in the ecosystems of the destination areas. Sometimes, however, due to a lack of effective management, they multiply to such an extent in the new environment that they become a threat to the entire ecosystem and economy. Thousands of alien species are currently documented worldwide. A quarter of them are in highly vulnerable, aquatic habitats. So far, research has mainly focused on the ecological consequences of these invasions. In a first global data analysis, 20 scientists from 13 countries led by GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel have now compiled the economic ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Mandatory standards for the indoor environment would result in immense benefits to the health and productivity of people around the world

Chickadees have unique neural “barcodes” for memories of stashing away food

Chickadees are memory geniuses. Their barcode-like neural activity may be to thank

Tiny orchid flowers pollinated by tiny flies

Researchers develop AI-based tool paving the way for personalized cancer treatments

Reports of COVID-19 vaccine adverse events in predominantly republican vs democratic states

Patient out-of-pocket costs for biologic drugs after biosimilar competition

New Brigham research highlights combining prostate MRI with a blood test to avoid unnecessary prostate biopsies

Scientists discover a key quality-control mechanism in DNA replication

Lipids with potential health benefits in herbal teas

Synergically improved energy storage performance and stability in sol–gel processed BaTiO3/(Pb,La,Ca)TiO3/BaTiO3 tri-layer films with a crystalline engineered sandwich structure

International collaboration enabled participatory stock assessment on glass eel fisheries in West Java, Indonesia

Enhanced melanoma vaccine offers improved survival for men

Nearly one-third of patients with TBI have marginal or inadequate health literacy

Genetic causes of cerebral palsy uncovered through whole-genome sequencing

Modesty and boastfulness – perception depends on usual performance

Do sweeteners increase your appetite? New evidence from randomised controlled trial says no 

Women with obesity do not need to gain weight during pregnancy, new study suggests

Individuals with multiple sclerosis face substantially greater risk of hospitalisation and death from COVID-19, despite high rates of vaccination

Study shows obesity in childhood associated with a more than doubling of risk of developing multiple sclerosis in early adulthood

Rice Emerging Scholars Program receives $2.5M NSF grant to boost STEM education

Virtual rehabilitation provides benefits for stroke recovery

Generative AI develops potential new drugs for antibiotic-resistant bacteria

Biofuels could help island nations survive a global catastrophe, study suggests

NJIT research team discovering how fluids behave in nanopores with NSF grant

New study shows association of historical housing discrimination and shortfalls in colon cancer treatment

Social media use may help to empower plastic surgery patients

Q&A: How to train AI when you don't have enough data

Wayne State University researchers uncover potential treatment targets for Zika virus-related eye abnormalities

Discovering Van Gogh in the wild: scientists unveil a new gecko species

[Press-News.org] Low-cost technology reduces the cost and carbon footprint of pressurized irrigation