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Super drivers and electric cars

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The average American driver travels about 13,400 miles a year. The top 10% of drivers average about 40,200 miles a year and account for 35% of the nation’s gasoline use from private light-duty vehicles, meaning cars, SUVs, pickup trucks, vans, and minivans.  Those 21 million Americans alone burn more gasoline than is burned each year in Brazil, Canada, and Russia combined.

These super drivers often live in rural areas and small towns, drive an average of 116 miles each weekday, and typically own vehicles that are larger and less fuel efficient.  Many have long commutes to work because they were pushed out of cities by rising housing prices.  Some are tradespeople who travel from site to site all day in their jobs. 

Given the disproportionate amount of gasoline usage by this small segment of the population, the key to cutting vehicle emissions by adopting electric vehicles may rest with super drivers.  And so far, not many of them have made the transition.

A report by the environmental nonprofit group Coltura contends that getting super drivers to switch to electric cars would lead to a much faster reduction in emissions.

The range of most recent electric cars is sufficient for most super drivers.  The obstacles remaining include availability of convenient charging stations, but that is changing.  Finding the right vehicle might also be a problem, but electric pickup trucks and large SUVs are entering the market. 

The transition to electric vehicles is important for society, and the most active drivers need to take part in it.

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Are You a Super Driver? Some States Want to Help You Go Electric.

Photo, posted January 9, 2025, courtesy of Phillip Pessar via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Raccoons in Europe

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Tens of thousands of raccoons live in Kassel, a city of 200,000 people in central Germany known for its art scene.  Overall, there are an estimated 1.5 million raccoons in Germany.  The omnivorous mammals are native to North America, but they were brought to Germany in the 1930s for fur farming.  Fur farming ultimately ceased but escaping animals and intentional releases ultimately led to a large wild population of raccoons in the years afterward.

Raccoons have gradually made their way across Europe with animals spotted in France, Denmark, Poland, Italy, Austria, and elsewhere.

The people of Kassel have embraced raccoons.  In fact, the place is often called the raccoon city.  Several sports teams are named after the animals.  Many people feed them, and they are pretty much everywhere.  On the other hand, residents have to lock up their trash receptacles and they have to check under their cars before driving places.

Since 2016, the EU has classified racoons as an invasive species because of the threat they pose to native wildlife.  There are no equivalent species like them in Europe.  So, they are a threat to ground-nesting birds, bats in caves, amphibians, and more.  They are able to eat almost anything. 

What to do about raccoons in Europe is unclear.  Despite their popularity in Germany, 200,000 raccoons were culled last year.  But raccoon supporters argue that minks, which are native to Europe, and especially cats, are responsible for much of the pressure on species racoons are accused of consuming.  Meanwhile, Kassel citizens continue to enjoy their raccoons.

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Rampaging raccoons: how the American mammals took over a German city – and are heading across Europe

Photo, posted December 20, 2016, courtesy of Big Cypress National Preserve via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Repurposing used tires

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Every year, millions of tires from cars and trucks end up in landfills.  Just in the U.S., more than 270 million tires were scrapped in 2021 and more than 50 million of them ended up in landfills.  Discarded tires take up huge amounts of space but, more importantly, create environmental hazards.  They leach chemicals into the environment and are a serious fire hazard.

Some tires are chemically recycled via pyrolysis, which is a high-temperature process to decompose the materials in the tire.  But that process introduces harmful byproducts like benzene and dioxins. 

Researchers at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill have introduced a new chemical method for breaking down rubber waste.  The process transforms discarded rubber into valuable precursors for epoxy resins.

Rubber – either natural rubber or the synthetic kind used in tires – is made of polymers cross-linked together to form a tough, flexible, and durable material.  These very desirable properties make it difficult to break down rubber.

The new research has led to a two-step chemical process that breaks down the rubber into functional materials that be used to produce epoxy resins.  The method does not require extremely high temperatures, uses aqueous media, and takes only six hours.   It represents an efficient, scalable solution for repurposing rubber waste which, even as many other aspects of motor vehicle are changing for the better, remains a continuing environmental problem associated with driving.

This new research marks a significant step towards greener recycling technologies.

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A Cleaner Future for Tires: Scientists Pioneer Chemical Process to Repurpose Rubber Waste

Photo, posted May 5, 2011, courtesy of TireZoo via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Native plants and road salt pollution

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Applying salt to roadways lowers the freezing point of water and prevents slippery surfaces, which makes it safer for people to drive in wintry conditions.  In the U.S., more than 22 million tons of road salt is spread every year. 

But road salt harms infrastructure and the environment.   In fact, road salt damages cars and metal infrastructure by accelerating rust and corrosion.  Road salt can also leach into soil and waterways, disrupting ecosystems, degrading soil, contaminating water, and damaging vegetation. 

In cities and towns, road salts often wash into stormwater systems, posing health concerns and challenges for infrastructure.

A new study led by researchers from Virginia Tech looked at how salt affects plants and whether certain plants could mitigate salt pollution. The research team studied stormwater detention basins in Northern Virginia, examining the impacts of road salt on plants, soils, and water quality in green infrastructure systems.

The findings, which were recently published in the journal Science of the Total Environment, found that the amount of salt present in green infrastructure systems does reach levels that threaten plant communities.  However, the researchers found that relying on salt-tolerant plants for mitigation is unlikely to be effective because they simply don’t take in enough salt.

Certain plants, particularly cattails, absorbed substantial amounts of salt.  But even in a basin densely planted with salt-tolerant cattails, only up to 6% of the road salt applied during winter could be removed. 

Plants alone cannot solve our salt pollution problem.

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Researcher studies the power of native plants to combat road salt pollution

Photo, posted January 22, 2025, courtesy of the City of Greenville, North Carolina via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Tourism and greenhouse gas emissions

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Tourism is a major contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for about 9% of the global total.  Over the past 15 years, its emissions have grown more than twice as fast as those of the rest of the global economy.

Unless the tourism industry finds ways to slow down its growing emissions, those emissions will continue to increase by 3 to 4% each year, meaning that they will double every 20 years.  The major drivers behind tourism’s growing emissions have been slow improvements in tourism-related technologies coupled with the rapid growth in demand.

Transportation is tourism’s main source of greenhouse gas emissions.  Planes and cars generate the most carbon dioxide but there are contributions from tour buses, boat rides, ferries, and trains as well.  The increasing demand for international travel has been the largest contributor to the growth of tourism-related emissions.  But just as people’s homes generate emissions from energy use, so do hotels and other lodging used on vacations.

The United States, China, and India are responsible for 60% of the total increase in tourism’s carbon footprint.  Generally speaking, it is the world’s wealthiest nations that have the most tourists exploring the world.

Researchers from Australia’s University of Queensland recommended several measures to slow the growth of tourism’s carbon emissions.  These include reducing long-haul flights, imposing carbon dioxide taxes, setting carbon budgets, and the use of alternative transportation fuels.  At the local level, tourism businesses making use of renewable energy sources and electric vehicles would help.

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Tourism leads the pack in growing carbon emissions

Photo, posted September 14, 2014, courtesy of Gary Campbell-Hall via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Battery life in electric cars

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Most of us have lots of experience with the batteries in phones, computers, and other gadgets.  Batteries don’t last forever, and we sometimes have to replace them.  It’s a fact of life.   These days, it’s becoming more common to drive electric cars and the fundamental principle is the same.  However, the battery pack in an EV is the most expensive part of the car, so its reliability and lifespan is a greater concern.

EV batteries generally have generous warranties.  In the US, EV batteries are required by federal law to be covered for at least 8 years or 100,000 miles, whichever comes first.  So, the financial exposure from the battery pack is reasonably limited.  Even so, EV owners would like to know that their car’s battery pack is likely to last a long time.

Battery life is generally determined by laboratory tests involving repeated charge-discharge cycles over a relatively short period of time, as opposed to those cycles being spaced out over years.

A new study by Stanford University looked at battery performance under conditions much more like what would be experienced in the real world.  Cars experience frequent acceleration, braking that charges the batteries a bit, lots of stops, periods of rest, and so forth.  Nothing like just charging and discharging repeatedly.

The study found that today’s EV batteries may last up to 40% longer than expected.  Real-world stop-and-go driving benefits batteries more than standard test conditions.

The cost of EV batteries continues to get lower all the time and it is likely to be quite a long time before one is likely to need a new battery assuming one even keeps the car long enough.

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Existing EV batteries may last up to 40% longer than expected

Photo, posted August 27, 2021, courtesy of Ron Frazier via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Wildlife crossings

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Every year, there are one to two million collisions between motor vehicles and large animals in the U.S.  About 200 people are killed annually.  Counting smaller vertebrates, around a million animals are killed by vehicles each day.  Research has shown that global warming is triggering widespread species redistribution.  As a result, more and more animals are on the move, changing their habitats to escape warming temperatures and climate extremes.

This situation has created renewed interest in creating wildlife crossings.  These are various kinds of structures that allow animals to traverse human-made barriers like highways.  They include such things as a grassy overpass that allows pronghorn to run across a highway in Wyoming and a long underpass that allows tigers to scamper beneath a highway in India.

In the U.S., there are more than 1,000 wildlife crossings and there are more being built all the time.  Data shows that they are highly effective.  A study of wildlife crossings on Highway 9 through the Blue River Valley in Colorado found that they reduced wildlife-vehicle collisions by nearly 90%. 

Wildlife crossing structures can be expensive to build, costing between $500,000 and $6 million, but research has shown that the money saved by avoiding crashes can recoup these costs in just a few years along with the fact that they potentially save lives.  Federal funding is largely distributed based on areas with the highest number of wildlife-vehicle collisions, which is crucial for addressing public safety issues.  However, a recent study suggests that future proposals need to incorporate climate-driven changes in animal behavior and habitat.

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As Climate Changes Fuels Animal Movement, Will These Structures Still Help Species Cross the Road?

Photo, posted April 5, 2017, courtesy of Jeffrey Beall via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Electric cars and power outages

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As more and more cars are powered by electricity instead of gasoline, people are beginning to worry about what happens during power outages caused by storms and other disruptive events.  It is easy to jump to the conclusion that this is a brand-new problem for drivers.  However, when electricity goes out over a sizeable area, most gas pumps stop working and it isn’t easy to keep gas cars running either.

Electric cars are often charged at home every day and such cars are more likely to be almost fully charged than nearly depleted at any time.  For those drivers, a power failure is unlikely to be much of a concern unless it persists for a very lengthy period.  On road trips, unless a power outage extends over a very wide area, one can probably get to a charger that is still operating.

Nonetheless, the federal government has commissioned researchers at Iowa State University to study potential solutions to possible difficulties in keeping electric cars running during power failures.  The goal of the study is to find ways to reduce the outage frequency of chargers by 75% and the power restoration time by 50%.

The study will evaluate the resiliency of charging stations in extreme weather events and identify ways to quickly restore power to charging stations in the event of outages.  Included are onsite solar power and battery storage at chargers as well as redundant power lines from different electrical substations.  There is even the possibility  of trucks delivering pre-charged batteries to charging stations after a storm.  Identifying and developing technologies to improve the resilience of charging stations is an important goal as the transition to electric vehicles continues.

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Researchers working to keep electric vehicles charging, even when the lights go out

Photo, posted July 29, 2013, courtesy of Jeff Cooper via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Electric cars: Boom or bust?

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Media coverage of electric cars in this country is pretty confusing.  Are electric cars taking over or has the EV bubble burst?

EVs currently represent about 8% of the US new car market.  But they continue to face some relatively unique headwinds in this country.  A very powerful and influential oil industry makes sure that anti-EV stories occupy center stage in the media.  Traditional car dealers don’t want to sell EVs because they don’t make much money from parts and service.  And EVs often find themselves tangled up in American politics.

Meanwhile, the rest of the world tells a very different story.  Globally, EVs constitute 20% of new car sales, but in some places, they are doing much better than that.

So far this year, almost 87% of new car sales in Norway are electric and in August, the figure was 94%.  Norway has some incentives in place for EV owners, but the fact that nearly all new cars on the road are electric is far more than the result of incentives.

One might argue that Norway, a country with only 5 million people, faces a much easier task of transitioning to EVs.   But how about China with its 1.4 billion people?  In July, plug-in vehicles in China were 51% of new auto sales.  And the numbers continue to rise.

There are plenty of articles out there explaining why electric cars just can’t meet people’s needs, have insurmountable problems, and how having too many of them would collapse electric grids and otherwise wreak havoc with society.  Apparently, the Norwegians and Chinese, among a growing number of other countries, haven’t gotten the memo.

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Elbil Thinks Electric Car Sales In Norway Could Hit 100% By Next Year

Photo, posted July 27, 2024, courtesy of Amaury Laporte via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Solid-state batteries for cars

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Battery-powered electric vehicles have historically faced the challenges of limited driving range and long charging time.  In recent years, both of these limitations have been largely overcome for many if not most drivers.  Popular EVs on the market can go 300 miles and more on a charge and today’s fastest charging networks can add 200 miles of range in 20 minutes.  But many people want even more range and even faster charging.  Both of these things will happen in the not-too-distant future.

Multiple companies are working on solid-state batteries, which hold more energy in a given volume than current batteries.  The lithium-ion batteries that power today’s EVs (as well as our phones and computers) have a liquid or gel electrolyte.  Solid-state batteries use a solid ceramic or polymer electrolyte that provides higher energy density, faster charging times, and reduced fire risk as well.

Samsung announced that it will produce solid-state batteries for vehicles by 2027.  Toyota says it is on track to develop a solid-state battery by 2027 or 2028.  California-based QuantumScape has an agreement to supply solid-state batteries to Volkswagen for mass production.  Tesla has not said what it is doing with regard to solid-state batteries, but it is likely that it’s also pursuing the technology.

The upshot of all of this is that EV ranges are likely to increase dramatically over the next several years leading to the availability of vehicles that can go 600 miles or more on a charge.  Given that the cost of EVs is already rapidly becoming at least competitive with if not lower than that of gasoline-powered cars, the days of internal combustion are becoming numbered.

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Want an EV With 600 Miles of Range? It’s Coming

Photo, posted August 17, 2024, courtesy of Bill Abbott via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Making wind turbines safer for birds

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There are people who oppose the installation of wind turbines for a variety of reasons. It is true that wind turbines can be dangerous to birds.  Estimates are that about 250,000 birds are killed flying into wind turbines each year in the U.S.  

However, this data needs to be looked at in comparison to bird deaths from flying into electrical lines (25 million), vehicles (214 million), and building glass (at least 600 million). And even these figures pale in comparison to the more than 2 billion birds killed by domestic cats each year.

Despite these facts, it would still be great if fewer birds died from flying into wind turbines.  Researchers at Oregon State University are part of a team looking at reducing bird collision risks from wind turbines by painting a single blade of the turbine black.

Recent research in Norway found that painting a single turbine blade black reduced the number of bird collisions by nearly 72%.  Why should this work?  The hypothesis is that the black-painted blades disrupt the visual uniformity of the airspace around the turbines and makes them more noticeable to birds, which prompts avoidance behavior.

The Norwegian data is based on a relatively small sample size and the Oregon State researchers as well as others in Spain, Sweden, and South Africa are working on more rigorous and comprehensive studies.

The hope is that this rather simple strategy could make windfarms safer for birds.  Unfortunately, this approach is not likely to be very effective with bats, which rely more on auditory cues rather than visual cues.

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Scientists studying impact of painting wind turbine blade black to reduce bird collisions

Photo, posted May 21, 2024, courtesy of Roy Harryman via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

An electric reactor for industry

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The industrial sector accounts for nearly a third of greenhouse gas emissions in the US, which is more than the annual emissions from cars, trucks, and airplanes combined.  These emissions primarily come from burning fossil fuels to produce goods from raw materials as well as from the chemical reactions associated with production.  Many industrial processes require very high temperatures that are not easily achieved other than by burning fossil fuels.

Researchers at Stanford University have developed and demonstrated a new kind of thermochemical reactor that can generate the huge amounts of heat required for many industrial processes that runs on electricity rather than the burning of fossil fuels.  The researchers claim that the design is also smaller, cheaper, and more efficient than the fossil fuel technology it would replace.

Standard industrial thermochemical reactors burn fossil fuel to heat a fluid that is piped into the reactor, much like the way home radiators work, albeit at far higher temperatures.  The new reactor uses magnetic induction, similar to the way that induction cooktops work.  Heat is transferred by inducing a current into materials that heat up as the current flows.

A proof-of-concept demonstration powered a chemical reaction called the reverse water gas shift reaction and resulted in more than 85% efficiency.  The reaction in question converts carbon dioxide into a valuable gas that can be used to create sustainable fuels. 

The Stanford researchers are working to scale up their new reactor technology and expand its potential applications.  They are working on designs for reactors for capturing carbon dioxide and for manufacturing cement. 

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Electric reactor could cut industrial emissions

Photo, posted October 30, 2022, courtesy of Helmut via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Pollution in downwind states

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Air pollution is a serious health threat.  It is associated with asthma and can lead to chronic disease, cancer, and premature death.  Globally, air pollution kills 7 to 9 million people, and 200,000 Americans die from it each year.

There are multiple sources of air pollution including automobiles, power plants, and other industrial activities.  Exposure to pollutants such as nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide, and particulate matter does not require living or working near their sources.  Winds can carry pollution great distances including across state lines.  

The Clean Air Act included the EPA’s “Good Neighbor Plan”, which requires “upwind” states to implement plans to reduce emissions from power plants and other industrial sources.  However, three states – Indiana, Ohio, and West Virginia – along with various industrial companies and trade organizations sued the EPA when it tried to enforce these plans.  A recent Supreme Court decision to block a federal rule curbing interstate air pollution further complicates efforts to reduce emissions.

As a result, there is a disproportionate burden on downwind states.  They face major challenges in demonstrating and attributing air pollution to sources across state lines and pursuing legal actions to get the EPA to address their problems.

A recent study by the University of Notre Dame looking at all the complex issues related to interstate pollution underscored how the regulatory system continues to be hamstrung when attempting to address a serious threat to human health and the environment.

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Downwind states face disproportionate burden of air pollution

Photo, posted February 19, 2021, courtesy of David Wilson via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Car tires in your salad

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There seems to be no end to the types of pollution we have introduced into the environment.  One that has only recently started to gain attention is pollution caused by vehicle tires. 

Through normal wear and tear, as vehicles drive along roadways, their tires cast off countless bits of rubber.  These particles can linger in the atmosphere or can be washed down sewage drains and into waterways.  In the water, these particles leach compounds that are toxic to wildlife.

Tires contain various chemical additives that prevent them from cracking and degrading along with various metals and other materials added to rubber and artificial rubber.  Some of these additives are acutely toxic or even carcinogenic.

A recent study by researchers at the University of Vienna tested leafy vegetables that were grown in Switzerland, Spain, and Italy, and were sold in Swiss supermarkets.  The study also tested vegetables harvested directly from Israeli farmlands.

Tire ingredients were found in 11 out of 15 samples gathered from Swiss supermarkets and 9 out of 13 samples collected from Israeli fields.  Among these are 6PPD, a tire additive that has been identified as the cause of the extensive deaths of coho salmon on the US West Coast.

The researchers say that farmers may be introducing tire additives by irrigating crops with treated wastewater or by using sewage sludge as fertilizer.  Airborne tire particles may also be settling on farm soil.

The concentration of tire particles found in the leafy vegetables are relatively low, but it is troubling that we are eating dangerous chemicals used to improve the quality of tires.

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Leafy Vegetables Found to Contain Tire Additives

Photo, posted October 14, 2014, courtesy of Green Mountain Girls Farm via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

EV growth and oil demand

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There has been lots of talk recently about the transition to electric vehicles sputtering out.  Several automakers have delayed their EV programs citing reduced demand for the vehicles and lack of profitability.  In the bigger picture, the auto industry as a whole is in a rough patch as rising interest rates and other factors have reduced car buying.

Despite all this doom and gloom talk, sales of electric vehicles will hit an all-time high this year.  Adoption of EVs is accelerating more quickly than many people expected and government policies in China, the United States, and Europe have had a significant impact on vehicle sales.  In China, 37% of new cars sold last year were electric.  The country hit its 2025 target three years early and this year the figure could hit 45%.

But even as electric car sales rapidly increase, oil demand has continued to climb, reaching 100 million barrels a day, slightly more than it was before the COVID-19 pandemic.  The International Energy Agency expects that oil demand will peak before the end of this decade, but oil consumption could remain strong for decades unless there is further policy action encouraging the transition away from it.

Some experts say that the IEA’s models don’t take into account how quickly the world is changing.  New emission rules are expected to speed the adoption of EVs and plug-in hybrids.  In addition, falling battery costs are making the economics of electric vehicles increasingly attractive.  If EV adoption accelerates more rapidly than these models predict, then oil consumption could drop much more quickly.

However, the oil industry is deeply embedded in modern life and is not likely to fade away without a fight.

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EV Sales Are Taking Off. Why Is Oil Demand Still Climbing?

Photo, posted September 9, 2020, courtesy of Chris Yarzab via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Who’s driving electric?

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Electric cars are growing in popularity around the world and are expected to represent 20% of new car sales this year.  In some places, they have a much bigger share:  38% in China and a whopping 82% in Norway.  Here in the U.S., things are more complicated.

Last year, EVs represented 8.5% of U.S. new car sales while hybrids accounted for an additional 10%.  But enthusiasm for plug-in vehicles was by no means universal or consistent across the country or across various segments of the population.

Overall, the West Coast, and especially California, dominated the electric vehicle market.  Electric vehicles accounted for more than 30% of new car sales in the San Francisco Bay Area.  In Los Angeles, the number was close to 25%.

A number of metro areas elsewhere also had strong EV sales, including Denver, Las Vegas, Washington DC, Austin, and Phoenix.  New York City had almost 10% EV registrations. 

Americans buying electric cars so far tend to be richer, younger, and more likely to live in urban areas than the average person and are often motivated by environmental concerns.  Meanwhile, about half of American adults say they are not likely to consider purchasing an EV as their next car and that figure rises to 70% for Republicans.

Lack of interest in EVs is often based on concerns about the availability of sufficient charging options or high EV prices, although those are dropping.  There is also concern about EV efficiency in colder climates, although the Norwegians clearly don’t find it to be a problem.

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Electric Vehicles

Photo, posted October 18, 2021, courtesy of Chris Yarzab via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Iceland power

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Iceland burns very little fossil fuel to power its economy and heat its homes.  About 85% of its energy comes from geothermal power and hydropower.  Its unique geology provides it with the highest percentage of renewable energy in the world.  The fossil fuel that Iceland does burn is primarily used to power cars and trucks as well as boats in its fishing fleet.  And Iceland is rapidly embracing the use of electric vehicles.

Iceland can make far more electricity than its 373,000 people can use.  The majority of its electricity is essentially exported as bars of aluminum.  Iceland is one of the world’s largest refiners of aluminum.  The aluminum ore comes from other countries but gets shipped to Iceland where electricity is cheap.  Refining aluminum is so energy-intensive that some say that aluminum is basically just pure electricity in solid metal form.

Electricity-rich Iceland is finding other ways to make use of its resources.  There is a proposed project called Icelink, which is an electricity interconnector between Iceland and Great Britain.  The high-voltage direct current link would run between 620 and 750 miles and would be the longest sub-sea power interconnector in the world.  It is controversial in Iceland and it may or may not happen.

Another technology that is establishing an early foothold in Iceland is carbon capture.  An Icelandic company called Carbix is doing leading work on taking captured carbon dioxide and sequestering it underground.  Capturing and storing carbon dioxide is energy-intensive and the promise of cheap, clean geothermal power makes Iceland an attractive place to do it.

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Iceland Is Living in our Future

Photo, posted July 2, 2012, courtesy of  Emily Qualey / PopTech via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Sustainable hydrogen from methane

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Hydrogen could serve as a viable alternative to fossil fuels that can be used directly as a fuel or can be used to generate electricity to power cars and other devices. However, large-scale production of hydrogen currently relies on fossil fuels and creates carbon emissions in the process.

So-called green hydrogen involves using electricity to split water into its component elements to produce it.  If the electricity is generated without emissions, then the hydrogen is truly green.

Another way to get hydrogen is by breaking down hydrocarbons like methane, which itself is a very powerful greenhouse gas.  This so-called blue hydrogen could be environmentally friendly if an appropriate method for producing it can be developed.

Existing techniques for converting methane into hydrogen involve the use of metal catalysts – often nickel – that are energy-intensive to mine and manufacture, and can negatively affect the environment.  Research at the University of Surrey in the UK has shown promising results for the use of nitrogen-doped nanocarbons as metal-free catalysts for the direct conversion of methane into hydrogen.  One of the biggest problems with using metal catalysts for hydrogen production is that they get poisoned by carbon.  The carbon that comes out of the methane ends up stopping the catalyst from continuing to do its chemical job.  It turns out that the doped nanocarbon approach to hydrogen catalysis appears to be resistant to this problem.

The development of sustainable hydrogen production methods, including efficient and sustainable electrolysis of water as well as catalysis of hydrocarbons like methane, is crucial to realizing the potential of hydrogen fuel as a clean energy source.

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‘Game-changing’ findings for sustainable hydrogen production

Photo, posted April 30, 2021, courtesy of California Energy Commission via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

One in five cars will be electric this year

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There has been lots of turbulence in the electric car industry of late.  Part of it is aggressive publicity campaigns spreading misinformation and part of it is the natural fits and starts associated with major change.  But apart from the ups and downs of individual companies and countries, analysts are projecting another record year for the sales of electric vehicles and are expecting that plug-in cars will account for 20% of all car sales globally.  Much of the growth will be driven by China, where 38% of new car sales will be electric cars.

Global sales of plug-in cars are expected to grow by 21% this year, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.  Total projected sales are 16.7 million cars, including 1.9 million in the U.S., 3.4 million in Europe, and 9.7 million in China.  Because of the rapid adoption of electric cars in China, that country is expected to reach peak gasoline demand this year.  In other words, the use of gasoline in China will be diminishing from now on.

The auto industry is in flux.  The traditional big automakers are currently slowing down EV manufacturing as they work to come up to speed with the technology and market demand.  Meanwhile, EV-only carmakers such as Tesla in the U.S. and BYD in China are ratcheting up production. BYD is focusing on emerging economies with its lower-priced offerings.

In the U.S., EV adoption has been slowed somewhat by high interest rates and the slow rollout of EVs by the Big Three automakers.  But many new vehicles by a growing list of automakers will provide customers with more and more choices of EVs to suit diverse tastes and needs.

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This Year One in Five Cars Sold Globally Will Be an EV

Photo, posted November 18, 2023, courtesy of RL via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Lower carbon emissions in the U.S.

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American greenhouse gas emissions in 2023 fell by 1.9%.  In total, U.S. emissions have now fallen by over 17% since 2005.  The largest factor in the decline has been the reduction in the burning of coal to produce electricity.  Coal-fired generation has fallen to its lowest level in half a century.

There was a huge drop in emissions at the start of the covid pandemic when large segments of the economy shut down.  But then there was a sharp rebound in emissions in the following two years when economic activity resumed.  But over the long term, American emissions have been trending downward as both cars and power plants have become cleaner and greener.

The decline in emissions is a good thing but hasn’t been nearly enough to meet the nation’s goals for trying to slow down global warming.  The U.S. has a goal of reducing emissions by 2030 to half of the 2005 level.  To achieve that goal, annual emissions would have to fall more than three times faster than they did last year for the rest of the decade.

The emissions data used for the current assessment included those from transportation, electricity generation, industry, and buildings.  It did not include pollution from agriculture, which accounts for about 10% of the nation’s greenhouse gases.

The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act provided record amounts of money for low-emissions technologies like solar panels, wind turbines, nuclear reactors, electric vehicles, and hydrogen fuels.  The full impact of these federal investments has yet to be seen, since many companies are still ramping up their efforts in clean energy.  How quickly emissions will fall as these efforts come to fruition remains to be seen.

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U.S. Carbon Emissions Fell in 2023 as Coal Use Tumbled to New Lows

Photo, posted May 17, 2020, courtesy of Frans Berkelaar via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

WAMC Northeast Public Radio

WAMC/Northeast Public Radio is a regional public radio network serving parts of seven northeastern states (more...)