Researchers investigate complex factors that will fuel wildfires of 21st century miragenews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from miragenews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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IMAGE: A recent study shows that in some ecosystems, human-caused climate change is the predominant factor for wildfires; in other places, the trend can also be attributed to a century of. view more
Credit: Photo Courtesy University of Nevada, Reno
The millions of people affected by 2020 s record-breaking and deadly fires can attest to the fact that wildfire hazards are increasing across western North America.
Both climate change and forest management have been blamed, but the relative influence of these drivers is still heavily debated. The results of a recent study show that in some ecosystems, human-caused climate change is the predominant factor; in other places, the trend can also be attributed to a century of fire suppression that has produced dense, unhealthy forests.
February 17, 2021
Over the past decade, fire scientists have made major progress in understanding climate-fire relationships at large scales, such as across western North America.
The millions of people affected by 2020’s record-breaking and deadly fires can attest to the fact that wildfire hazards are increasing across western North America.
Both climate change and forest management have been blamed, but the relative influence of these drivers is still heavily debated. The results of a recent study show that in some ecosystems, human-caused climate change is the predominant factor; in other places, the trend can also be attributed to a century of fire suppression that has produced dense, unhealthy forests.
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“So I told him, Look, we could study just you, but guess what? We re just going to show a lot of failure, despair. That’s what happens,’” Beane recalled. “‘If, however, we could enroll four companies like you and get all of you to donate deployment sites, we might find the positive needles in the negative haystack.’”
It was an intriguing proposal, even though the company might be aiding its competition. The CEO decided to broach the topic with leaders of several other firms in the industry. So far, eight companies commercializing AI-enabled robotics in pick-and-pack enterprises have partnered with Beane under a non-disclosure agreement, offering the researchers detailed access to their, and their customers,’ operations.
Case Western Reserve University computer scientists and energy technology experts are teaming up to leverage the diagnostic power of artificial intelligence (AI) to make solar-power plants more efficient. The work, funded by a three-year, $750,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), is part of a broad $130 million solar-technologies initiative announced by the DOE in 2020 including $7.3 million specifically for machine-learning solutions and other AI for solar applications.
“Solar is now the cheapest form of electricity in the world, but the efficiency of the actual power plants is being analyzed one at a time, and that’s just not tractable, especially for a fast-growing industry,” said Roger French, director of the Solar Durability and Lifetime Extension Research Center and Kyocera Professor of Ceramics, Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the Case School of Engineering. “This project will help us learn where we can make improvements to make sola