EBI News for September 18, 2024 – ICF projects surge in electricity demand and costs

EBI News for September 18, 2024 – The following news section contains the latest stories for the environmental industry. Including, ICF projects surge in electricity demand and costs, acquisitions, and more!

Terracon acquires Flat Earth Archeology 

Employee-owned consulting firm Terracon (Olathe, Kansas) has acquired Flat Earth Archeology (Cabot, Ark.), a specialist in archaeology and cultural resources management and compliance services. “Flat Earth’s team is an excellent fit with our existing business operations in Arkansas and allows us to strengthen our operations regionally,” said Gayle Packer, Terracon chair, president, and CEO. Flat Earth’s 11 employees will join Terracon and operate as Flat Earth Archeology, A Terracon Company. Since 2023, Terracon’s presence in the region has expanded with the acquisitions of two companies based in Little Rock, Ark.: Harbor Environmental, providing environmental and sustainability services, and Pollution Management Inc., providing engineering and environmental services. Flat Earth is Terracon’s fourth acquisition in 2024 and its 24th since the beginning of 2017.

 

WSP forms strategic alliance with Circa Technologies 

WSP (Montreal, Canada) has selected Circa Technologies Inc. (New York, N.Y.) for Emerge, its strategic alliance program for emerging technology companies. Circa is a startup focused on developing tools and data for life cycle assessment (LCA). Circa’s library contains more than nine million data points and more than 1.2 million records spanning material compositions, emission factors and entire LCAs. “Our growing LCA practice will benefit greatly from this alliance,” said Julie Sinistore, WSP vice president for climate change. “It will enable the acceleration of the LCA process to acquire more actionable data to inform design decisions towards more sustainable products and services.”

 

ICF projects surge in electricity demand and costs

A new report by ICF (Reston, Va.) that maps electricity demand growth across the United States over the next four years—and the potential costs to utilities—indicates that after decades of relatively flat electricity demand, it could increase by an average of 9% by 2028. A robust American economy, building and transportation electrification, manufacturing of batteries and fuel cells, data centers, artificial intelligence, and cryptocurrency mining are all contributing to new electric demand. The largest increase by far is projected in the Mid-Atlantic region, resulting from rapid building and vehicle electrification and demand from data centers. Demand in this region is projected to increase 68% by 2050 compared to the U.S. average of 57%. The report finds that the cost many utilities pay for electricity could increase by an average of 19% by 2028. Key recommendations for utilities to meet these challenges include how to establish sophisticated system planning processes, identify locations for renewable energy projects, and consider new distribution grid upgrades.

 

New piezocatalysis method breaks down PFOS in water

Researchers from ETH Zurich in Switzerland are using a technology known as piezocatalysis to break down PFOS (perfluorooctane sulfonates) chemicals in water with the help of nanoparticles and ultrasound. The technology degraded 90.5% of the PFOS in laboratory tests. The researchers have developed nanomaterials that are piezoelectric; in an ultrasonic bath, these particles become electrically charged and act as a catalyst to break down the PFOS molecules. Researchers believe piezocatalysis has advantages over previous methods such as thermal decomposition, photocatalysis, and absorption, but still faces the challenge of scaling up. The method can also be used to treat PFAS and other micropollutants.

 

Apex expands Florida presence with Johnson Engineering

Apex Companies LLC (Rockville, Md.) announced the acquisition of Johnson Engineering Inc. (Fort Meyers, Fla.), a multi-disciplinary civil engineering firm. Established in 1946, Johnson Engineering employs more than 130 professionals across six offices in Florida, with expertise in water supply and quality, utilities, transportation, survey, planning, civil engineering and environmental services. Apex operates nationally in water, environmental, compliance and assurance, health and safety, transportation, survey, and civil engineering. Together, Johnson Engineering, Apex, and Water Science Associates (which joined Apex in 2023), offer a diverse portfolio of engineering and consulting services throughout Florida.

 

Haley & Aldrich enhances Mid-Atlantic services

Haley & Aldrich (Burlington, Mass.) has acquired The ELM Group (Princeton, N.J.), an environmental and engineering consultancy based in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The acquisition will unite Haley & Aldrich’s nationwide geotechnical engineering and environmental expertise with ELM’s regional contaminated site, sediments, and natural resource practices. This combination strengthens both companies’ capacity to serve industrial, manufacturing and other clients in the Mid-Atlantic region, where there is a high demand for services related to environmental compliance, legacy contamination, and the impacts of climate change.

 

Cleantech industry to thrive regardless of election outcome

Analysis by Rystad Energy (Oslo, Norway) suggests that domestic renewable energy and cleantech sectors in the United States will thrive whichever party wins in November. Rystad Energy projects that by 2030, Republican states like Oklahoma, Iowa, Florida and Texas, which have seen substantial investments in renewables, will account for 57% of U.S. battery cell manufacturing capacity and 59% of solar PV cell and module production, in addition to 95% of all hydrogen production capacity and 83% of carbon capture capacity. “Cleantech is increasingly becoming a bipartisan success story in the U.S. This is underscored by our analysis, which shows the bulk of cleantech projects, from solar and batteries to hydrogen and carbon capture, are located in Republican strongholds,” said Lars Nitter Havro, head of Energy Macro Research. “These sectors are poised to continue expanding, whether we see a red or blue outcome in November.”

 

New filtration material could remove long-lasting chemicals

A new water filtration material based on natural silk and cellulose can remove a wide variety of persistent chemicals, in addition to heavy metals, according MIT News. Researchers used a self-assembly method in which silk fibroin protein was suspended in water and templated into nanofibrils by inserting “seeds” of cellulose nanocrystals. This caused the previously disordered silk molecules to line up together along the seeds, forming the basis of a hybrid material with distinct new properties. The material was shown in lab tests to be highly effective at removing contaminants, and the electrical charge of the cellulose contributed strong antimicrobial properties—addressing the common problem of fouling of filtration membranes by bacteria and fungi. Initially, the material would likely be used as a point-of-use filter but could be scaled up to provide filtration for municipal water supplies. 

 

ARM Group acquires Taylor GeoServices

ARM Group LLC (Hershey, Pa.) announced the acquisition of Taylor GeoServices (TGS, Newtown, Pa.), a provider of environmental and geological consulting. This strategic acquisition enhances ARM Group’s service offerings and expands its reach in Pennsylvania and the Mid-Atlantic region. TGS brings expertise in hydrogeology, environmental site assessments, soil and groundwater remediation, landfill services, water, land planning, GIS, geothermal, stormwater management, and mapping. ARM Group is a full-service science and engineering consulting firm that employs over 200 people specializing in environmental services, waste management engineering, geotechnical engineering, hydrogeology, renewable energy, and natural resources, among other areas. 

 

Stantec to help implement regional water reuse program

Stantec (Edmonton, Canada) has been selected as the Owner’s Advisor for the Washington County Regional Reuse Purification System in Utah. Stantec will work with the Washington County Water Conservancy District, City of St. George, and Ash Creek Special Service District on regional water reuse program consisting of $1 billion for more than 30 projects to improve the efficacy of local water supplies. Stantec will help implement the program, including preliminary design, environmental permitting, and project set-up and coordination. System implementation will consist of reuse water projects to support agriculture and irrigation needs, followed by an advanced water treatment facility for indirect potable reuse.  

 

One Click LCA and AECOM partner on decarbonization

AECOM (Dallas) has entered into a multi-year global agreement with One Click LCA (Helsinki, Finland), a sustainability platform. The collaboration enhances AECOM’s ScopeX approach that aims to deliver a 50% carbon reduction on major client projects, utilizing One Click LCA’s suite of carbon assessment and other sustainability tools for buildings and infrastructure projects. The partnership “is a key enabler for our project decarbonization efforts,” said Todd Battley, AECOM’s chief strategy officer. “By integrating these advanced carbon assessment tools, we are able to operationalize carbon management into our major projects and track our efforts towards our goal of significantly reducing the carbon footprint of the projects we deliver for our clients.” 

 

Paustenbach expands TRC’s capabilities in health hazard assessments and litigation support

TRC Companies Inc. (Windsor, Conn.) has acquired Paustenbach & Associates (P&A, Jackson, Wyo.), a provider of toxicology, exposure science and risk assessment specializing in high-end health hazard assessments and litigation support. P&A provides expert witness testimony and analysis of the health effects of chemicals in sediments, air, soil, consumer products, foods, groundwater, and the workplace. The company’s expertise ranges across exposure science, epidemiology, chemical and biomedical engineering and radionuclides. P&A has provided scientific expertise at over 500 depositions and 30 trials and is a regular contributor to peer-reviewed publications.

 

Bureau Veritas acquires Arcvera Renewables

Bureau Veritas (Paris, France) has acquired ArcVera Renewables (Golden, Colo.), a specialist in finance-grade consulting and technical services for wind, solar, and battery storage projects worldwide. The acquisition is aligned with Bureau Veritas’ Leap 28 strategy to create a “new stronghold” in the renewables sector and to expand Bureau Veritas’s capabilities, primarily in North America, to support landowners, developers, owners, and investors in delivering wind and solar farm projects. ArcVera Renewables has supported 9GW of solar projects in North and South America and has evaluated projects representing 93,000 MW of wind capacity in the United States. 

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