How can green technology simultaneously save both money and the environment? This is what a recent study published in Communications Earth & Environment hopes to address as a team of researchers investigated both the environmental and financial savings attributed to using green wastewater-treatment methods which would replace current grey-water-treatment methods. This study holds the potential to help scientists, legislators, conservationists, and the public better understand the economic and financial benefits of using green technology to mitigate the impacts of climate change.
For the study, the researchers examined a combination of current technologies, water conditions, and greenhouse gas emissions to ascertain the financial and ecological benefits of advancing green technologies. In the end, the researchers found that transitioning to green wastewater-treatment technologies could result in a 40-year total economic savings of $15.6 billion, along with power and carbon emissions reductions of 21.2 terawatt-hours and 29.8 million tons, respectively.
“These findings draw a line in the sand that shows what the potential for adopting green approaches in this space is – both in terms of money saved and total emissions reduced,” said Braden Limb, who is a PhD student in the Department of Systems Engineering at Colorado State University and lead author of the study. “It is a starting point to understand what routes are available to us now and how financing strategies can elevate water treatment from a somewhat local issue into something that is addressed globally through market incentives.”
Going forward, the researchers note these new methods could also contribute to a myriad of countries outside the United States, including Kenya, India, and China, just to name a few.
This study comes as climate change continues to ravage the planet, including more frequent and severe storms and increased global temperatures, with 2023 being named the “warmest year on record”.
How will green wastewater-treatment technologies help mitigate the effects of climate change in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and this is why we science!
As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!
Sources: Communications Earth & Environment, EurekAlert!, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Featured Image: The Big Thompson River in Rocky Mountain National Park. (Credit: Colorado State University)
