Francesca Hopkins

A California dairy tried to capture its methane. It worked.

Tracie Ventimiglia — Wed, 11 Jun 2025 20:48:45 +0000

A California dairy tried to capture its methane. It worked. Tracie Ventimiglia Wed, 06/11/2025 - 13:48 More News Jules Bernstein June 11, 2025

A giant, balloon-like tarp stretches over a lagoon of manure on a Central Valley dairy farm, concealing a quiet but remarkable transformation. Methane, a potent climate-warming gas, is being captured and cleaned instead of released into the atmosphere.

A new study from researchers at the University of California, Riverside shows the effectiveness of dairy digesters, which are manure ponds tightly sealed to capture and re-use the methane they produce. The study shows these systems can reduce atmospheric methane emissions by roughly 80 percent, a result that closely matches estimates California state officials have used in their climate planning.

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Francesca Hopkins

Study links traffic speed to dirty air

Tracie Ventimiglia — Tue, 22 Apr 2025 21:21:40 +0000

Study links traffic speed to dirty air Tracie Ventimiglia Tue, 04/22/2025 - 14:21 More News Jules Bernstein April 15, 2025

Despite cleaner cars on the road, a University of California, Riverside study shows that higher speed limits can make city air dirtier.

The study compares auto emissions data collected in both the Los Angeles and Salt Lake City metro areas before and during the pandemic. It focuses on two tailpipe gases: carbon monoxide, a dangerous air pollutant, and carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas.

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Francesca Hopkins

A climate scientist’s take on the LA fires

Tracie Ventimiglia — Tue, 21 Jan 2025 19:37:31 +0000

A climate scientist’s take on the LA fires Tracie Ventimiglia Tue, 01/21/2025 - 11:37 More News Jules Bernstein January 15, 2025

As the Eaton and Palisades fires continue to burn past the more than 38,000 acres they’ve already consumed, the time is right for a conversation about what led up to this disaster.

In the short term, displaced homeowners and renters allege Southern California Edison failed to de-energize its electrical equipment despite weather service warnings about 100 mph wind gusts and extreme fire risks. Bigger picture, scientists know that the fire risks have been decades in the making.

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Francesca Hopkins

Q&A: What, exactly, is going up in flames?

Mayra Gandarilla — Tue, 17 Sep 2024 18:27:07 +0000

Q&A: What, exactly, is going up in flames? Mayra Gandarilla Tue, 09/17/2024 - 11:27 More News Jules Bernstein and David Danelski September 10, 2024

Several Southern California communities, including Riverside, are being hit with smoke from the huge Line Fire in the San Bernardino Mountains, creating what the Environmental Protection Agency classifies as “very unhealthy” air quality. UC Riverside experts on environmental pollution describe what we’re breathing, how long the airborne particles are likely to stick around, and what long-term effects they are having. Experts include:

James Gomez, Ph.D. candidate, Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences

Markus Petters, professor, Department of Chemical & Environmental Engineering

Roya Bahreini, professor of atmospheric science

William Porter, assistant professor, Department of Environmental Sciences

Francesca Hopkins, associate professor of climate change and sustainability

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Methane from megafires: more spew than we knew

Mayra Gandarilla — Thu, 09 Nov 2023 18:43:50 +0000

Methane from megafires: more spew than we knew Mayra Gandarilla Thu, 11/09/2023 - 10:43 More News Jules Bernstein April 17, 2023

Using a new detection method, UC Riverside scientists found a massive amount of methane, a super-potent greenhouse gas, coming from wildfires — a source not currently being accounted for by state air quality managers.

Methane warms the planet 86 times more powerfully than carbon dioxide over the course of 20 years, and it will be difficult for the state to reach its required cleaner air and climate goals without accounting for this source, the researchers said.

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Francesca Hopkins

Post-lockdown auto emissions can’t hide in the grass

Mayra Gandarilla — Thu, 22 Dec 2022 17:24:35 +0000

Post-lockdown auto emissions can’t hide in the grass Mayra Gandarilla Thu, 12/22/2022 - 09:24 More News Jules Bernstein December 05, 2022

University of California scientists have a new way to demonstrate which neighborhoods returned to pre-pandemic levels of air pollution after COVID restrictions ended.

Vehicle emissions are the biggest source of carbon dioxide in Southern California’s air. As people drove their cars far less in 2020 compared to 2019 due to the pandemic, there was a major drop in CO2 on regional highways. A new study published in AGU Advances using a mobile laboratory shows the CO2 drop was roughly 60%.

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Francesca Hopkins

How drones can help dairy farms manage methane emissions

Mayra Gandarilla — Wed, 22 Jun 2022 20:45:00 +0000

How drones can help dairy farms manage methane emissions Mayra Gandarilla Wed, 06/22/2022 - 13:45 More News May 06, 2022

"Dairy farms produce large amounts of two things: milk and poop. Milk finds its way into delicacies like hot cocoa and grilled cheese sandwiches but the poop just piles up.

Dairy farmers bulldoze the mess into artificial ponds called manure lagoons, where anaerobic microbes break it down into methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. Methane traps 80% more heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide, contributing to around one fourth of climate change to date. The cow digestive tract also produces methane and releases it when the cow burps.

About 50% of the methane that California emits comes from dairy farms. In order to meet strict climate goals, the state has proposed ways to regulate dairy methane emissions. But these efforts run up against a big problem: There isn’t currently a reliable way for dairy farmers to measure the amount of methane produced on their farm."

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Francesca Hopkins

College Of Natural And Agricultural Sciences