A market-based answer on water supply
In this edition: A water-management idea that could help farms, cities, and ecosystems; potatoes on Mars; clean energy momentum, despite Trump.
What we're writing
How water swaps help manage a precious resource
Water markets are in many ways in their infancy. But the idea is a big one. If managed right, it can聽potentially encourage聽water to flow where it's most useful, supporting farms, cities, and ecosystems.聽Farmers, the biggest water users, gain an incentive to conserve when they can make extra money by selling or leasing their surplus. //聽Zack Colman
The humble potato ... interplanetary rock star?
An experiment simulating conditions on Mars suggests聽the hearty tubers might聽thrive even there, if provided with air.聽The lesson for Earth: The versatile potato聽is also聽a prime candidate to help feed a warmer, more populous world. //聽Patrick Reilly
Clean energy has momentum, despite Trump
President Trump is expected to issue an executive order to dismantle an Obama administration Clean Power Plan. But experts say that alone won't dictate what states and businesses do. // Yu-Ning Aileen Chuang,聽Medill News Service (in collaboration with 海角大神)
What we're reading
For people around the world who lack electricity, clean-energy microgrids may be the answer.聽// Ensia
Bricks solidified聽with聽pressure instead of heat could save lots of energy,聽say these Swiss researchers.聽// Anthropocene
A researcher tries to quantify the carbon-storing benefits of Florida聽Mangrove forests.聽// Yale Climate Connections
Airborne instruments聽help scientists explore聽how coastal marshes might聽cope with rising sea levels. // NASA
What's trending
"Very few people get to see it, and it is incredible." // Alan Van Valkenburg, park ranger, in video shared by聽Southern California Public Radio
"Investor sentiment ...聽in a rising interest rate and falling oil price market obscured by tax policy uncertainty remains tepid." // Credit Suisse analyst Andrew Hughes, quoted by Reuters. Mr. Hughes is still bullish on some聽residential-solar stocks.
"All signs point to the continued rise of customer ownership. Leasing was a necessary temporary solution that sparked the original growth of residential solar, but the future is cash and loans."聽// a GTM Research report, quoted in Computerworld
"I do think trust has been eroded to the point that it is becoming a serious issue for our long-term future.... If we are not careful, broader public support for the sector will wane." // CEO Ben van Beurden, at a Houston conference, quoted by Digital Journal