New Water Filter Made with Layered Copper and Aluminum Hydroxides Can Capture PFAS Chemicals Better and Faster Than Carbon Filters

       Researchers from Rice University in Texas recently unveiled a new water filtration system that can capture PFAS chemicals much faster than carbon filters. The new filter is made from layered copper and aluminum hydroxides. It can essentially suck in PFAS chemicals. The new filtration method utilizes a layered double hydroxide (LDH) material that combines copper and aluminum with nitrate.

"This LDH compound captured PFAS more than 1,000 times better than other materials," said Youngkun Chung, lead author of the study, per ScienceAlert. "It also worked incredibly fast, removing large amounts of PFAS within minutes, about 100 times faster than commercial carbon filters."

     The researchers hope to scale up the filtration technology and use it in both drinking water and wastewater treatment plants. After filtration, the captured PFAS chemicals can be disposed of safely.  

     According to Science Alert:

“The material's unique structure emerges from layers of copper and aluminum with a slight imbalance in their charge, sucking in PFOA molecules, which bind tightly with the filter.”

“Once the adsorption material was saturated with PFOA, the team heated the material and added calcium carbonate, which allowed them to 'clean' the LDH for reuse and strip the PFOA of its fluorine backbone, effectively destroying it.”

     According to The Guardian:

“This material is going to be important for the direction of research on Pfas destruction in general,” said Michael Wong, director of Rice’s Water Institute, a Pfas research center.

“Wong said Rice’s non-thermal process works by soaking up and concentrating Pfas at high levels, which makes it possible to destroy them without high temperatures.”

“The LDH material Rice developed is a variation of similar materials previously used, but researchers replaced some aluminum atoms with copper atoms. The LDH material is positively charged and the long-chain Pfas are negatively charged, which causes the material to attract and remove the chemicals, Wong said.

     Advantages of this new filtration method include its high capture rate, its fast capture rate, and its ability to be used as a “drop-in” with existing infrastructure. That will help keep its cost low.

     According to PFAS researcher and civil engineer Laura Orlando:

“We’re going to need as many technologies as we can possibly find to deal with Pfas in drinking water, and if this works to scale on wastewater, then it would be really something to pay attention to,” Orlando said.

     The research was published in a paper in the journal Advanced Materials.

     In conclusion, this looks like a legitimate breakthrough in water filtration for PFAS chemicals, if it can be scaled up without issues.

 

 

References:

 

Researchers find breakthrough solution on common contaminants linked to cancer, fertility issues: 'Worked incredibly fast'. Beth Newhart. The Cool Down. February 9, 2026. Researchers find breakthrough solution on common contaminants linked to cancer, fertility issues: 'Worked incredibly fast'

Breakthrough Water Filter Removes 'Forever Chemicals' 100x Faster Than Carbon. Jess Cockerill. Science Alert. February 3, 2026. Breakthrough Water Filter Removes 'Forever Chemicals' 100x Faster Than Carbon : ScienceAlert

Regenerable Water Remediation Platform for Ultrafast Capture and Mineralization of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances. Keon-Han Kim, Youngkun Chung, Philip Kenyon, Thi Nhung Tran, Nicholas H. Rees, Seung-Ju Choi, Xiaopeng Huang, Jong Hui Choi, Phelecia Scotland, Sion Kim, Mohamed Ateia, Do-Kyoung Lee, James M. Tour, Pedro J. J. Alvarez, Michael S. Wong, Seoktae Kang. Advanced Materials. Volume 38, Issue1. 2 January 2026. e09842. Regenerable Water Remediation Platform for Ultrafast Capture and Mineralization of Per‐ and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances - Kim - 2026 - Advanced Materials - Wiley Online Library

New filtration technology could be gamechanger in removal of Pfas ‘forever chemicals’. Tom Perkins. The Guardian. January 3, 2026. New filtration technology could be gamechanger in removal of Pfas ‘forever chemicals’ | Pfas | The Guardian

T5 Smackover Partners is Developing a Geothermal Plus Lithium Extraction Project in Northeast Texas

      It was only a matter of time before the hot Smackover brines would be tapped for geothermal baseload power as well as direct lithium extraction. The East Texas part of the Smackover has some very high lithium concentrations as well as sufficient heat for commercial geothermal power. In addition, other important minerals can be extracted, including bromine, magnesium, and potassium. While I mostly agree with Art Berman’s recent analysis that concluded that geothermal power is mostly hype, he did not seem to consider some economic co-benefits, like the extraction of these critical minerals. This has been happening in the Salton Sea region of Southern California, where shallow brine is tapped for geothermal power. The economics work much better with the added value of the extracted minerals. However, there have also been some operational issues with the wells, exacerbated by the high mineral content. It remains to be seen whether there will be operational issues with a standard geothermal binary Organic Rankine cycle project involving a producer and an injector well in the Smackover. Bromine and other minerals have been extracted for decades in the Smackover in Southern Arkansas, and lithium is about to be developed in the Smackover from Southern Arkansas, Northern Louisiana, and East Texas.  

    T5 Smackover initially plans to develop up to 10 geothermal wells. According to a press release:

“Originally permitted as a geothermal well, T5's initial development has exceeded temperature expectations, validating the formation's ability to support scalable, baseload geothermal power. Leveraging this resource, T5 plans to deploy modular Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) turbines designed for rapid deployment and fast time-to-market power generation.”

“In parallel with its geothermal success, T5 has identified multiple zones within the Smackover Formation containing some of the highest lithium concentrations reported globally. The company has also confirmed significant concentrations of other critical and strategic minerals, including potassium and strontium, and anticipates world-class bromine deposits across its acreage.”

     The initial project is expected to produce about 35,000 to 50,000 tons of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) per year, making it one of the biggest U.S. lithium producers.

“…T5's modular geothermal, ORC, and Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) infrastructure is designed for phased deployment, allowing production to begin materially sooner as capacity is added incrementally.”

     The company expects meaningful lithium production volumes in 2026 and acceleration in 2027. The initial acreage is on the site of a former coal mine.

“The project also includes ultra-fast electric vehicle charging infrastructure intended to accelerate EV adoption and lower transportation-related emissions.”

“In addition to this, mobile, dispatchable energy storage is planned to support grid resilience, emergency response, and disaster recovery.”

     Below, the company shows how its project can be integrated into other projects around the country, supplying lithium and other critical minerals.

     I would expect some similar projects to arise along the Smackover lithium trend.

     A February 2025 paper in Proceedings, 50th Workshop on Geothermal Reservoir Engineering at Stanford University, utilized AI/machine learning to assess both the temperature variation in the Smackover brines and the lithium concentrations. The abstract and some important maps from the paper are shown below. T5’s project area includes Franklin, Titus, and Dallas counties along the northeast corner of Texas.

References:

 

The T5 Smackover Partners Unveiled a Landmark Project in East Texas. Debra John. PR Newswire. February 11, 2026. Clean the Sky - Texas-Based Mineral Projects

T5 Smackover Partners Unveils Landmark Geothermal, Lithium, and Critical Minerals Project in East Texas. Yahoo Finance. February 10, 2026. /C O R R E C T I O N -- T5 Smackover Partners/

T5 Smackover Partners. Website. T5 Smackover Partners

Data-driven Lithium and Geothermal Resource Assessment in the Smackover Formation. Xiang Huang, Bulbul Ahmmed, Mohamed Mehana, Shuvajit Bhattacharya, and Chelsea Neil. PROCEEDINGS, 50th  Workshop on Geothermal Reservoir Engineering. Stanford University, Stanford, California, February 10-12, 2025. SGP-TR-229. Data-driven Lithium and Geothermal Resource Assessment in the Smackover Formation

Guterres's Congratulating Iran on the Anniversary of the Islamic Revolution is an Insult to Those Oppressed and the UN, As is the Iranian Foreign Minister Addressing the UN Human Rights Council: Existing UN Protocol is Perhaps the Real Issue

     Human rights advocates, Iranian opposition to the regime, and many others, including me, were shocked when they heard that UN chief Antonio Guterres congratulated the Iranian president on the anniversary of the extremely authoritarian Islamic Revolution taking power in 1979. He also made reference to Iran’s contributions to the international community. This makes the UN look bad. This seeming support of brutal regimes calls into question his ability to run the world body objectively. This comes just after a time period when Iranian executioners brutally murdered tens of thousands of unarmed protestors. Others were executed later or jailed. It is likely still happening.

     In order for meaningful and effective cooperation among nations to occur, a main goal of the UN, the parties have to be reliable, trustworthy, and abide by basic international norms. Iran is none of those.

     Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, is expected to address the U.N. Human Rights Council (HRC) on Feb. 23. What a farce this is. There are no human rights in Iran. The fact that the UN allows it speaks volumes for the failure of the UN to actually support human rights. It would be much better if they would instead have someone from the severely oppressed Iranian opposition address the HRC, but Iran would never allow it, unless it was someone who had already left the country. The UNHRC is a farce as a whole, and this is just another of many examples.

     Let’s look at what some other critics of Guterres’s congratulatory remarks have said about it, according to a Fox News article:

"The UN Secretary-General’s congratulatory message is not merely diplomatic routine — it is abjectly tone-deaf," said Iran analyst Banafesh Zand. "At a time when the Iranian people continue to endure executions, repression, and systemic abuse at the hands of the Islamic Republic, offering formal congratulations to the architects of that suffering reads as a moral failure."

Zand added that such gestures "erode [the U.N.’s] credibility and deepen the wound for those still fighting for freedom inside Iran."

Andrew Ghalili, policy director at the National Union for Democracy in Iran (NUFDI), said the message amounted to legitimizing a repressive system.

"The United Nations is legitimizing a regime built on repression, executions and the systematic destruction of basic freedoms," Ghalili said. "Offering celebratory recognition to the Islamic Republic on the anniversary of its revolution ignores the bloodshed, the repression of protesters and the ongoing hostage-taking of innocent people."

     While a UN spokesperson called the letter a long-standing UN protocol, it certainly calls into question why such a protocol should even exist. Questions about allowing the Iranian Foreign Minister to address the Human Rights Council were answered by stating that, since the HRC is a membership-based organization, any member has a right to address it. Perhaps the issue is not really Guterres but the way the UN is organized. We need the UN, but we don’t need it to be farcical, hypocritical, and supportive of brutal regimes.

 

References:

 

UN chief blasted as ‘abjectly tone-deaf’ over message to Iran marking revolution anniversary. Efrat Lachter. Fox News. February 11, 2026. UN chief blasted as ‘abjectly tone-deaf’ over message to Iran marking revolution anniversary

Iran security forces 'raid hospitals to execute injured protesters'. Matt Davies. The Daily Express. February 11, 2026. Iran security forces 'raid hospitals to execute injured protesters'

 

Red Lines: What Should Be Unacceptable in Today’s World

 

     It doesn’t take a rocket scientist or a brain surgeon to realize and determine what should be acceptable in today’s world. There are certain practices that are basically unacceptable, immoral, unfair, and should not be tolerated in the modern world. This includes medieval interpretations of religious and societal practices like Sharia Law and Jihadism. These Islamic practices may be traditional in some ways, but they are not applicable to today’s world, and they are horrifyingly oppressive to women and all people. They are unacceptable in both Sunni and Shia Islamic contexts. Religious police are unacceptable. Totalitarianism is unacceptable. Kim Jong Il’s North Korea is a rogue nation that tortures its people in a myriad of ways. My list of unacceptable practices and regimes is below.

     Even some legitimate regimes engage in practices that should be stopped. The U.S. bombing of boats suspected of carrying narcotics is one such practice that should be stopped. Those people engaging in narco-trafficking should be stopped, arrested, and brought to trial, not murdered for carrying cannabis or cocaine. It is rather barbaric and unjust to just bomb them. I do want the problem to be addressed. I also want the Mexican cartels to be addressed, along with all the organized crime they and other criminals commit. However, I don’t think indiscriminate bombing is the way to do it.

     It’s really not difficult to track what in the world is morally reprehensible. Below are three of the most sinister men in the world. They are directly responsible for the unnecessary torture and murder of millions of people. They are criminals who should be prosecuted. Their regimes should be considered illegitimate. They are dictators who rule for life or until someone stops them. They should be given zero leverage in talks and deals. One is a major nuclear power. The other two are trying to become nuclear powers to shield themselves from destruction. 

     We have tolerated the murderous Islamic Republic of Iran for too long. We have tolerated the wacko murder cult of Kim Jong Il’s North Korea for too long. We have tolerated the totalitarian imperialist militantism of Putin for too long. All three have embraced militantism. I am not a violent man, but if these three men were killed, it would likely save many other lives from the death that they routinely hand out.

     We should absolutely not be talking to Russia about deals that will benefit them if they do something we want about peace in Ukraine. We should not lessen sanctions on Russia, Iran, or North Korea for any reason whatsoever. They are pariah states and should be treated as such. There should be zero legitimacy offered for these regimes. It’s really very simple.

 

ISO-New England Relies on Diesel Fuel to Power the Grid During Cold Spell: Wood and Refuse Provide 67% of “Renewable” Power, Each More Than Wind and Solar Combined

    Diesel fuel, wood, and refuse provided about 42.35% of power for residents and businesses in New England during one part of the recent cold spell. Diesel oil was number one of all sources at 39%, beating out natural gas, which was at 31%. As usual, air quality rules were allowed to be exceeded. This is mainly the result of efforts by anti-fossil fuel activists to block natural gas pipelines in the region. Wind and solar only provided 30% of the renewable energy, with wind at 20% and solar at 10%. The total renewable power utilized was only 5% of the total power consumed. That means wind provided about 1% of total power, and solar provided 0.5% of total power. Wood provided 1.8% of total power, more than wind and solar combined. Burning trash provided 1.55% of total power, also slightly more than wind and solar combined. These numbers are just a snapshot of one day, so the numbers vary overall.

     This data shows that the region’s push for wind and solar power is insignificant and nearly negligible. It also shows that the region needs natural gas pipelines, which would make power costs lower since diesel costs a lot more than natural gas. It would lead to better air quality and less carbon emissions. This has long been known and should be considered a thorn in the side of commonsense energy policy. Burning trash and wood is also bad for air quality. Add to that the many individual customers in the region who burn wood and diesel fuel oil for heat. Some of us have been sounding the alarm on this for years, falling on deaf ears, while some pretend that there is a real effort to advance an energy transition to wind and solar. The region does not offer good solar and wind resources, with the exception of offshore wind, which, although underway, has faced a lot of problems from the Trump administration.  

“Refuse-derived fuel, or RDF, is a fuel produced from solid waste. It can be used in many industries as an alternative to fossil fuels,” according to Carbon Collective, an investment advisor focused on climate change. “RDF consists of two parts: refuse and derivatives. Refuse includes materials like paper, cardboard, food waste, and plastics. Derivatives are materials that have been processed or burned to create energy.”

        These facts should be considered a big policy failure. In a region that is proud to have shut down its coal plants and blocked needed natural gas pipelines, the reality is that it has replaced them with even worse alternatives and is doing so every year when cold spells hit. Thus, it is yet another situation where environmentalists and climate activists have ended up harming the environment and increasing greenhouse gas emissions. The energy hypocrisy is palpable. Clearly, energy reform is needed in this region. 

References:

 

Trash and wood accounted for major 'renewable energy' share during winter storm, reports show. Audrey Streb. Daily Caller. February 10, 2026. Trash and wood accounted for major 'renewable energy' share during winter storm, reports show

Lead Pollution is a Vastly Smaller Problem Than It Used to Be: Up to 100-Fold Reduction in 100 Years

 

      I know from attending some state health department lectures about lead pollution that there are still some risks, especially for young children, mainly with lead paint from old houses. There is testing where contamination is suspected. Water supplies are also tested. Lead is also an air pollutant that may be a component of the smoke of combustion. The famous Flint, Michigan, water fiasco, where a new water source was tapped that happened to be able to leach lead from networks of lead water pipes, made replacement of those pipes a huge priority that continues today in many cities. The phasing out of leaded gasoline was a major factor in reducing lead pollution. Lead from improper lead-acid battery recycling is an unnecessary problem in some places.  

     An article by Good News Network summarizes the lead issue:

“Lead is a dangerous neurotoxin that accumulates in human tissues and is linked to developmental deficits in children. Due to the health risks, the United States and other countries start phasing out lead in the 1970s, with the US achieving total elimination for on-road vehicles by 1996.”

     They note that the last country to stop using leaded fuel was Algeria in 2021. Combustion smokestacks, metals smelting, paint, water pipes, and exhaust emissions are all sources of lead pollution.

     Researchers at the University of Utah analyzed hair samples from before and after regulations were enacted.

“We were able to show through our hair samples what the lead concentrations were before and after the establishment of regulations by the EPA,” said University of Utah Professor Ken Smith.

“Back when the regulations were absent, the lead levels were about 100 times higher than they were after the regulations.”   

     The hair samples showed that after the Nixon administration enacted rules against leaded gasoline levels as high as 100 parts per million (ppm), before the rule was enacted dropped to 10 ppm by 1990. In 2024, those levels were less than 1 ppm.

     The paper, published in the proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), shows the hair sampling data and conclusions.

     In light of recent moves to deregulate pollutants by making higher levels acceptable or stopping any lowering of pollutant thresholds, the current study can be seen as a clear indication of the success of environmental regulations.

     The hair samples were collected from people living in Utah’s ‘Wasatch Front’, which historically experienced heavy lead emissions from industrial sources. Hair samples from the same people before and after the rules were enacted confirm the reduction in environmental lead. Some participants were even able to find ancestors’ hair preserved in family scrapbooks dating as far back as a century. That particular area of Utah had a long, thriving metal smelting industry that heavily contributed to lead pollution.

     Good News Network gives some more details:

“The research team ran the hair samples through mass spectrometry equipment and says the surface of the hair is special.”

“Lead is not lost over time,” said research team member Professor Diego Fernandez. “It is concentrated and accumulated in the surface. It tells you about that overall environmental exposure.”

“Before the 1970s, gasoline contained around two grams of lead per gallon, which added up to nearly two pounds of lead per person a year released into the environment.”

“It’s in the air for a number of days and it absorbs into your hair. You breathe it and it goes into your lungs,” explained Prof. Cerling.

“But, thanks to federal regulations, the median blood lead level today in children, aged 1–5 years, fell from over 15 in the late 1970s to just 0.6 in 2020.”

 

 

 

References:

 

Lead Pollution Has Dropped 100-Fold in the U.S. Over the Last Century. Good News Network. February 7, 2026. Lead Pollution Has Dropped 100-Fold in the U.S. Over the Last Century

Lead in archived hair documents a decline in lead exposure to humans since the establishment of the US Environmental Protection Agency. Thure E. Cerling, Diego P. Fernandez, and Ken R. Smith. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Vol. 123 | No. 6. February 2, 2026. Lead in archived hair documents a decline in lead exposure to humans since the establishment of the US Environmental Protection Agency | PNAS

The Importance of Gas-Electric Coordination for Ensuring Power Adequacy and Reliability: The National Petroleum Council’s Reliability Report and RBN Energy’s Summary and Post-Winter Storm Fern Analysis

     Housley Carr of RBN Energy notes that coordination between natural gas and electricity is at an all-time high. This is necessary to optimize power generation and ensure reliability. The National Petroleum Council’s Reliability Report was compiled at the request of Energy Secretary Chris Wright. Reliability and resilience risks were highlighted in the report. Both the natural gas and power grids are in need of new buildout due to rising demand for both.

     Carr addresses market model misalignment. He notes that electric utilities “operate within a specified service territory and have an obligation to serve customers within it.” Electric utilities have monopoly rights and are permitted to recover costs, including investment costs. Local gas distribution companies may operate by a similar service-obligation model.

“Midstream companies that develop, own and run the interstate pipelines that transport vast volumes of gas to electric utilities, IPPs and gas distribution companies operate under an entirely different construct. Midstreamers are on-request service providers — their core role is to transport gas to their customers under individual contracts that are governed by tariffs (i.e., terms and rates) determined to be just and reasonable by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). (Note: Even discounted and negotiated rates are subject to FERC oversight.) Put another way, pipelines act simply as contract vendors to their customers, with their mix of capital facilities (pipelines and storage) and service offerings based on what their customers want, and are willing to pay for.”

     Of course, where gas pipelines are constrained will be the places most at risk, where gas will become unavailable to some markets, as its use for heat is prioritized.

“The need for stability and balance in operating the pipelines means they frequently collide with the substantial swings in power requirements as electric utilities follow their public service obligations to keep the lights on.”

     Another important issue, he says, is a lack of incentives for firm gas transportation to electric utilities. Again, this is exacerbated by pipeline constraints. He says that part-time demand response generators can be disincentivized by paying higher costs for firm transportation, especially if they are not utilized.

     Solutions to these issues include “preemptive line packing (pushing extra gas into pipelines in advance of anticipated high-demand periods) to help sustain deliveries.” Incidentally, this would be less effective if hydrogen were mixed in with the gas since its lower power density means it can’t be packed as easily as natural gas. Another solution, which is quite common in the ISO-New England territory, is replacing unavailable natural gas with diesel fuel oil. As shown below, this happened during winter storm Fern. The first days of the cold spell are shown below, where petroleum fuel oil became the largest generation source on the grid, with its associated increased air pollution, which exceeded limits and increased carbon emissions, compared to natural gas. LNG may be used in a similar fashion, with emissions between those of fuel oil and non-LNG natural gas.

     FERC regulates interstate gas transmission but not intrastate gas transmission. Other regulatory bodies include state regulatory commissions, the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC), which coordinates state regulators, and the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC), which works with all stakeholders. Other “helpers” include the North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB) and the National Petroleum Council, which advises the Secretary of Energy.

     Carr goes into more detail and reviews some recent FERC orders related to gas-electric coordination.

     Winter Storm Uri in 2021 involved power plant and natural gas infrastructure freeze-ups due to inadequate weatherization of such facilities in the ERCOT region in Texas. Winter Storm Elliott in 2022 involved “freezing equipment and mechanical/electrical issues led to reliability lapses, and system operators narrowly avoided catastrophic gas service loss.” Winter Storm Fern encountered fewer problems due to better preparation. Coal and diesel oil shored up grid reliability along with natural gas, where it was available. Coal generation rose from 17% of the power share to 21% during the cold spell. More gas plants were ramping up and down to support higher levels of wind and solar on the grid. This means there is a lot of load volatility. Those peaking plants need to be ready to respond, which also entails more emissions. Supplying gas to new AI data centers also competes for pipeline capacity with gas that powers the grid.

     As I have noted many times, one of the most pressing reliability issues is inadequate gas pipeline capacity.

“In particular, the NPC report called for many more “fit-for-purpose” facilities — not just regular point-to-point pipeline capacity, but facilities capable of managing large fluctuations in demand in real time.”  

     Carr thinks FERC action to better coordinate gas and electric grids would be good, but also notes that due to employee loss, low morale, and lack of available staff, such new orders may not come quickly enough.

     Digging into the NPC’s report, one can see that firm transportation capacity share has moved from local distribution companies (LDCs) to power generation since 2010.

     The 181-page report goes into detail about the challenges facing different U.S. regions and power grids. The graphics, findings, and recommendations below are mainly from the executive summary. The report notes that gas pipeline expansion in recent years has mainly come from reversing flows and adding compression rather than building new pipelines.

“According to the EIA, approximately 44 Bcf/d of interstate natural gas capacity has been added in the United States since 2010.78 That about equals the average natural gas consumption for power generation nationwide during peak summer months. It is also enough gas to heat around 160 million homes annually—more than double the total number of U.S. households that use natural gas.” 

“With this level of expansion, one might reasonably assume that the ability of pipeline operators to support variable demand would be increasing, not decreasing. The reasons for this counterintuitive dynamic have to do with where the expansions have occurred, and how.” 

“First, nearly half of this expansion capacity was driven by the growing LNG export industry on the Gulf Coast, which reshaped interstate pipeline flows. Instead of moving gas primarily from Gulf producing basins to markets in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, flows increasingly shifted toward the Gulf to meet LNG demand for exports. At the same time, production growth in shale basins such as the Permian (West Texas and eastern New Mexico), Haynesville (Northwest Louisiana and eastern Texas), and Marcellus (Appalachia) positioned these regions as key suppliers for LNG exports.”

     One of the main issues has been the opposition to new gas pipelines by anti-fossil fuel activists. If we had been able to build more pipelines in the past 15 years, there would be far fewer reliability challenges than there are today. New pipeline projects have been essentially tortured by environmentalists with too much influence, causing years-long delays and massive ballooning costs. Now, as new demand comes, it is the gas and power consumers who are paying the price.

     As can be seen below, peak winter demand forecasts for PJM are very high and in need of being addressed.

     Below are some findings and recommendations for improving operational efficiencies and misalignments.

     Findings and recommendations for addressing fuel assurance are shown below.

     The table below shows that wind and solar have much smaller average capacity factors than combined cycle natural gas plants, and this is especially true in the PJM region, which is not ideal for solar or wind.  

     The map below shows where natural gas power plants are directly connected to selected major gas pipelines in the eastern U.S. The takeaway is that natural gas pipelines are needed to provide gas for electricity.

     The report concludes that there is a clear need for better natural gas and electric coordination to optimize these assets. The report concludes that there are not adequate incentives for fuel assurance and reliability assurance. It also concludes that communication and operational integration of the gas and electric systems are inadequate. The report notes that permitting reform could seriously aid gas-electric coordination, as detailed below.

  

 

References:

 

Happy Together – A Renewed Push for Tighter Gas-Electric Coordination as Potential Crises Loom. Housley Carr. RBN Energy, December 22, 2025. Happy Together – A Renewed Push for Tighter Gas-Electric Coordination as Potential Crises Loom | RBN Energy

Reliable Energy: Delivering on the Promise of Gas-Electric Coordination: A Report of the National Petroleum Council Committee on Gas-Electric Coordination. December 3, 2025. NPC_gas-electric_report_2025-12-3.pdf

Happy Together – Natural Gas and Electric Power More Intertwined Than Ever; NPC Sounds the Alarm. Housley Carr. RBN Energy. February 9, 2026. Happy Together – Natural Gas and Electric Power More Intertwined Than Ever; NPC Sounds the Alarm | RBN Energy

 

 

 

 

Inducing Heritable Structural Variation in Plants: A New Simple, Affordable, Safe, and Accessible Method Using the Cancer Drug Etoposide Can Replace Irradiation

     Radiation, or irradiation, has been used to induce mutation in plants, but it has safety issues, is impractical, and is random. It is used to induce genetic variety in plants. Selective farming of crops for centuries has led to more limited genetic variety and more difficulty in dealing with stresses such as dry conditions, high temperatures, and salty soil.

     A new method, known as etoposide mutagenesis, developed by researchers at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, uses etoposide, a cancer medication, to induce genetic variety in plants. It is also rather random, but researchers can select among the traits induced. As documented by Leslie Sattler for The Cool Down:

“When sprouting seeds encounter this drug, it disrupts an enzyme responsible for organizing DNA as cells multiply. Mistakes made during the cell's attempt to fix the resulting damage can scramble

“The technique requires only common lab supplies. Seeds initially grow in a solution containing the medication before being planted in soil to mature.”

"I was surprised at how efficient it was," said Mary Gehring, who teaches biology at MIT and led the research team, per Phys.org. "The diversity of new traits that you could see just by looking at the plants in the first generation was extensive."

     Testing indicates that about 66% of the treated samples led to new genetic traits. The method was first tested on the Arabidopsis thaliana plant. The researchers are now using the technique on pigeon peas, a legume food plant with great nutrition and protein profiles, but that has a limited gene pool. Better breeding for it can lead to it being a staple food for more people, especially across Africa and Asia. Pigeon peas are also in a lot of modern plant-based food products as the main protein source. Breeding more plants for the different heat, drought, and salinity conditions will lead to more successful crop yields and food with better nutrition.

“The process relies on standard laboratory tools: seeds are germinated on growth medium containing the drug, then transferred to soil to complete their life cycle.”

     Deletions, duplications, and rearrangements of DNA segments lead to the new genetic traits.

"All of the traits that we might want to see in pigeon pea are not present in the existing population," says Gehring. "The idea is to do a large-scale mutation experiment to increase genetic diversity."

     Another potential benefit of this new method is that it can be used on plants that are more challenging for gene-editing techniques like CRISPR to work.

“The new method complements existing genetic tools rather than replacing them. By providing a more accessible alternative to irradiation, chemical mutation could expand the availability of large-scale genetic changes and novel plant varieties.”

     Breeding by selection involves tapping the natural variation in the traits exhibited. However, that natural variation in traits may be limited now due to plant domestication and past selective breeding. The new method involves inducing new genetic traits. The new method is simple, affordable, and potentially applicable to a wide variety of plant species. Like irradiation, there is a random induction of traits.

     After treatment with etoposide, the mutants exhibited a variety of phenotypes and a spectrum of structural variation types. Etoposide treatment has been deemed an efficient method of inducing structural variation in plants.

 

Etoposide Mutagenesis Has Several Advantages and Can Replace Irradiation

     As detailed below, this new method can replace irradiation as a method of mutagenesis and be more accessible to more researchers.

 

   

References:

 

A simple method to efficiently generate structural variation in plants. Lindsey L. Bechen, Naiyara Ahsan, Alefiyah Bahrainwala, Mary Gehring, and Prasad R. V. Satyaki. PLoS Genetics 21(12): e1011977. A simple method to efficiently generate structural variation in plants | PLOS Genetics

Researchers make incredible breakthrough that could revolutionize how we grow food: 'I was surprised at how efficient it was'. Leslie Sattler. The Cool Down. February 8, 2026. Researchers make incredible breakthrough that could revolutionize how we grow food: 'I was surprised at how efficient it was'

New chemical method makes it easier to select desirable traits in crops. MacKenzie White, Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. edited by Sadie Harley, reviewed by Robert Egan.Phys.org. January 9, 2026. New chemical method makes it easier to select desirable traits in crops