climate friendly

Hydrogen is an ideal climate-friendly fuel because it doesn’t release carbon dioxide when it is used. But most hydrogen is produced in ways that result in significant carbon emissions. Thus, the search for green hydrogen goes on.

Last year, engineers at MIT developed a new process for making hydrogen that significantly reduces the carbon footprint of its production. The recipe uses seawater and recycled soda cans.

Pure aluminum reacts with water, breaking up the water molecules to produce aluminum oxide and pure hydrogen. But when aluminum is exposed to oxygen, it forms a shield-like layer that prevents the reaction.

The MIT researchers found that the shield can be removed by treating aluminum with a small amount of gallium-indium alloy. Mixing the pure aluminum with seawater not only produces hydrogen, but the salt in the seawater precipitates out the gallium-indium, making it available for reuse.

The research team carried out a “cradle-to-grave” life cycle assessment of the process, taking into account every step in using the hydrogen-production process at an industrial scale. They found that using recycled aluminum – chopped-up soda cans – is environmentally and economically superior to using “primary” aluminum, mined from the earth. The cans would be shredded into pellet and treated with the gallium-indium alloy. The pellets would be processed near a source of seawater where they would be combined to generate hydrogen on demand.

According to their analysis, the hydrogen produced would be at least competitive economically and environmentally with other potential methods of producing green hydrogen.

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Study shows making hydrogen with soda cans and seawater is scalable and sustainable

Photo, posted July 29, 2020, courtesy of Bruce Dupree via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

We often hear about tipping points and climate change. Tipping points are critical thresholds that, when crossed, lead to large, accelerating, and often irreversible changes. Some of the ones of concern with the climate are thawing permafrost, melting glaciers and ice sheets, and global temperatures reaching certain levels. These are all tipping points that are essential to avoid.

A study published in the journal One Earth by researchers at the University of Exeter in the UK contends that in order to avoid the severe consequences of climate change, we need to trigger some positive tipping points.

Many climate-friendly changes are happening too slowly. Triggering positive tipping points is a way to rapidly reach the high levels of decarbonization required to avoid triggering the negative tipping points of great concern.

Reaching a positive tipping point is a way that beneficial changes can rapidly gain momentum. One example is the adoption of electric vehicles. It has clearly reached a tipping point across Scandinavia and has happened rapidly. Norway has managed to transition the market share of electric vehicles from under 10% to nearly 90% in less than 10 years. At some point, everybody wanted an electric car. This is evidence that positive tipping points can happen.

Many of the other forms of decarbonization need to move from their current level of adoption to rapid expansion. A combination of affordability, attractiveness, availability, and political will are needed to trigger tipping points. Exactly what those tipping point are is not necessarily known, but unless something accelerates the current pace of change, it will be very difficult to prevent negative climate tipping points from changing the world in destructive ways.

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Positive tipping points must be triggered to solve climate crisis

Photo, posted July 8, 2023, courtesy of Michael Swan via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Soda can hydrogen

Hydrogen is an ideal climate-friendly fuel because it doesn’t release carbon dioxide when it is used. But most hydrogen is produced in ways that result in significant carbon emissions. Thus, the search for green hydrogen goes on.

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Positive tipping points and climate

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