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Soda can hydrogen

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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

Green transit in London

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TfL – Transport for London – the operator of the transportation system in Britain’s capital city, has signed a deal with EDF Renewables to purchase electricity from a huge solar array to be erected next year in Essex.  TfL has the goal of powering 100% of its entire transit system – including its sprawling underground railway network – with renewable electricity by 2030.

The forthcoming 1,000-acre solar facility will also transform low-quality farmland by incorporating the planting of trees and hedgerows as well as setting aside some areas for natural regeneration, attracting a greater number of species of plants and animals, expanding biodiversity in the area.  Looking after nature and protecting the environment are key elements in TfL’s contracts, in keeping with its wider goals to be greener, more sustainable, and well-adapted to climate change. 

The solar facility will generate 80 gigawatt-hours annually for the transit authority, roughly enough electricity to power 29,000 homes, comprising about 20% of its total output.  Powering the entire sprawling London underground railroad network is equivalent to powering 420,000 homes.  Over the course of the 15-year contract with EDF, TfL expects to save over 30,000 tons of carbon from its operations.

TfL plans to secure 70% of its electricity use from power purchase agreements for renewable electricity from various sources with the remainder from green tariffs.  The Mayor of London has set the goal for London to be a net zero carbon city by 2030.

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London Inches Closer to Running Transit System Entirely on Renewable Power

Photo, posted March 5, 2017, courtesy of Albert Koch via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

AI and greener cement

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Cement pretty much holds the modern world together.  The amount of cement required to create our infrastructure is almost incomprehensible.   By weight, humanity consumes more cement than food, about 3 pounds per person per day.  The cement industry produces around eight percent of global CO2 emissions, which is more than the aviation industry.  So, if the amount of emissions produced making concrete could be reduced by even a few percent, it would make a significant impact.

Cement plants utilize rotary kilns heated to 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit to burn ground limestone down to a substance called clinker.  That energy-intensive combustion process emits large amounts of carbon dioxide.  However, the combustion process accounts for much less than half of the emissions associated with making concrete.  The majority comes from the raw materials needed to produce clinker.

One strategy to reduce concrete emissions is to modify the cement recipe itself, replacing some of the clinker with alternative materials.  Some producers already make use of materials like slag from iron production and fly ash from coal-fired power plants.   

A team of researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland is making use of machine learning to simulate and optimize cement formulations that would emit significantly less CO2 while maintaining the same high level of mechanical performance.  This AI-based approach eliminates time-consuming experiments and conventional complex simulations.

The Scherrer Institute seeks to discover new materials and the effort has already yielded some promising candidates.  The next steps will be testing some of these recipes in the laboratory. 

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AI paves the way towards green cement

Photo, posted July 3, 2007, courtesy of Tim Shortt via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Extending the shelf life of produce

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More than 30% of the world’s food is lost after it has been harvested.  That’s enough to feed more than a billion people.  Much of that loss is fruits and vegetables that go bad before they can be eaten.

Refrigeration is the most common way to preserve foods, but the energy and infrastructure required is not always available, especially in less affluent regions of the world.

Researchers at MIT and Singapore-based collaborators have demonstrated that they can extend the shelf life of harvested plants by injecting them with melatonin using biodegradable microneedles.

Silk microneedles are tiny, nontoxic, and biodegradable and represent a means of delivering nutrients to plants without triggering a stress response.

Melatonin is a natural hormone that plants already use.  Injecting it was shown to extend vegetables’ shelf life.  The tests used pak choy, an important Asian crop that is very perishable.  Untreated plants at room temperature yellowed within two or three days.  In contrast, treated plants stayed green for five days.  Overall, treated plants retained saleable value for 8 days.  Refrigerated plants had their shelf life extended considerably as well.  However, the most significant value of the technique is that it could enhance the shelf life of perishable produce like pak choy without needing access to refrigeration.

The dose of melatonin delivered to the plants is so low that it is fully metabolized by the crops, so it would not significantly increase the amount normally present in the food.  People would not ingest more melatonin than usual.  The researchers believe that their technique should work with all kinds of produce.

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A new technology for extending the shelf life of produce

Photo, posted May 6, 2010, courtesy of Jessica Spengler 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

The green grab for land

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Solar and wind farms are spreading rapidly around the world.  Many economists believe that solar power has crossed the threshold where it is generally cheaper than other ways to make electricity and will become the dominant energy source in the next couple of decades.  As a result, both solar and wind farms are gobbling up more and more land around the world.  Estimates are that they will take up around 30,000 square miles by mid-century.

One concern is whether we are entering an era of trading food for energy.  Land conflicts seem inevitable since solar power operates best in unshaded areas with gentle winds and moderate temperatures, which are the same conditions favored by many crops.

China is installing more solar farms than the rest of the world combined.  Many of these are in the Gobi Desert, where there is no competing need for the land.  But some are in eastern China, in densely populated grain-growing areas.

There are a number of strategies that reduce the impact of solar farms on land use.  One approach is to put them on old industrial or brownfield sites that are otherwise unusable.  Another is floatovoltaics:  putting solar panels on the surface of lakes and reservoirs.  And then there is agrivoltaics, where solar panels are installed above crop fields or where livestock graze between or even beneath solar arrays.  China has more than 500 agrivoltaic projects that incorporate crops, livestock, aquafarming, greenhouses, and even tea plantations.

Green energy has both environmental and economic benefits to offer, but it must conserve nature and not excessively grab land needed for people, wildlife, and ecosystems.

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‘Green Grab’: Solar and Wind Boom Sparks Conflicts on Land Use

Photo, posted May 25, 2011, courtesy of Michael Mees via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Sea turtles and climate change

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Life is a struggle for survival from the moment a sea turtle hatches.  In fact, only one sea turtle out of every 1,000 typically reaches adulthood as a result of natural predators and other challenges.  Those fortunate enough to make it to adulthood face serious threats from humans. For example, sea turtles are hunted for their meat, eggs, and shells in some regions. Their beach habitats get developed. Harmful marine debris and oil spills pollute their waters and beaches.

Now, climate change is exposing sea turtles to even greater threats.  Rising sea levels and stronger storms threaten to erode and destroy their nesting beaches. Warming oceans disrupt currents, potentially exposing sea turtles to new predators, and damaging the coral reefs that some depend on to survive.

As these environmental challenges intensify, sea turtles are beginning to adapt in surprising ways.  According to a new study by researchers from the University of Exeter in England and the Society for the Protection of Turtles in Cyprus, sea turtles are responding to climate change by nesting earlier.  Researchers monitoring nesting green and loggerhead turtles in Cyprus have discovered they are returning to their regular nesting spots earlier each year to compensate for rising temperatures.

Temperature plays a crucial role in determining the biological sex of sea turtles.  Warmer nest temperatures produce more female hatchlings than males.

But at least for now, sea turtles seem to be doing enough to ensure their eggs continue to hatch by nesting earlier in more ideal temperatures.  While this is good news, there’s no guarantee that it will continue. 

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Turtles change nesting patterns in response to climate change

Photo, posted December 20, 2021, courtesy of Cape Hatteras National Seashore via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Growing safer potatoes

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We are often advised to avoid eating green areas on potatoes.  The green comes from chlorophyll that occurs naturally when potatoes are exposed to light.  It is harmless but when it is there, it can be accompanied by a natural toxin – a substance called solanine, which is a steroidal glycoalkaloid or SGA.  Sunlight can produce solanine as well as chlorophyll.  Solanine is produced by plants to protect them from insects. 

Solanine is bitter tasting so one is unlikely to consume much of it.  But consuming enough of it can lead to gastrointestinal complications like diarrhea, abdominal pain, vomiting, and sweating. 

Researchers at the University of California Riverside have discovered a way to eliminate toxic compounds from potatoes, making them safer to eat and easier to store.  They have identified a key genetic mechanism in the production of SGAs.  They found a specific protein that controls the production and believe it will be possible to control where and when SGAs are produced.  Thus, it may be possible to have SGAs present in the leaves of potato plants, thereby protecting them from insects, while having none in the potatoes themselves.  By limiting SGAs to non-edible parts of plants, they can be safer and more versatile plants.  For example, modified potatoes could be stored in sunny places without worry and would always be safe to eat.

Plants have evolved ingenious ways to balance growth, reproduction, and defense.  Our growing understanding of these mechanisms can allow people to redesign crops to meet modern needs, increase food safety, and reduce food waste.

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Growing safer spuds: Removing toxins from potatoes

Photo, posted October 14, 2013, courtesy of Elton Morris via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Reducing emissions from cement

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Cement production accounts for about 7% of global carbon emissions.  It is one of the most difficult challenges for emissions reduction.  The emissions associated with producing cement come from both the energy used to provide heat for the process and from the chemical reactions that take place in the formation of cement.  Cement is an essential building block of society, and its use is not expected to decline over time.

A German company called Heidelberg Materials is embarking on an ambitious project to reduce carbon emissions from a cement plant in Norway.  They are building a facility to use absorbent chemicals to capture large quantities of carbon dioxide emitted through cement production.  More than half a ton of carbon dioxide arises from every ton of cement produced at the plant.

Once the carbon dioxide is captured it will be chilled to a liquid, loaded onto ships, and carried to a terminal farther up the Norwegian coast.  From there, it will be pumped into undersea rocks located 70 miles offshore and a mile and a half below the bottom of the North Sea.

With all of this complicated process going on, cement from the plant is likely to be quite expensive.  It might even be two or three times the price of ordinary cement.  Heidelberg Materials is counting on customers’ willingness to pay much more for cement that comes with green credentials. 

Can this be economically viable?  Heidelberg estimates that cement accounts for only about 2% of the cost of a large building project but as much as 50% of the emissions.  As a result, using carbon-free cement could be a relatively inexpensive way for builders to reduce emissions.

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Cement Is a Big Polluter. A Plant in Norway Hopes to Clean It Up.

Photo, posted May 7, 2016, courtesy of Phillip Pessar via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Cooling cities

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As the climate warms, city dwellers tend to suffer from extreme heat more than people in rural areas because of the urban heat island effect. Extensive surfaces of man-made materials like concrete, asphalt, and brick absorb the sun’s energy and lead to temperatures well above those in the surrounding countryside.

Cities can take countermeasures that include creating urban green spaces full of plants that cool the surrounding air and the use of cool roofs that reflect the sun’s energy back into space.  Local governments in many cities provide incentives for planting more trees.  But more could be accomplished by encouraging the use of cool roofs.

The heat island effect has been well-known for a long time, but scientists are only recently learning what interventions are most effective. A recent study modeled two days of extreme heat in London in 2018 and compared the potential effects of cool roofs, green roofs, roof-top solar panels, and ground level vegetation. They found that cool roofs are the most effective way to lower temperatures and would have reduced London temperatures by 2 degrees on average and as much as 3.6 degrees in some places.

Cool roofs are created by swapping out dark, heat-absorbing roofing materials with reflective materials or simply by painting roofs white. Los Angeles is the first major city to require that all new residential construction includes a cool roof. 

Apart from the effectiveness of passive cooling techniques, using them also reduces the reliance upon air conditioning to protect people from heat.  Air conditioners themselves contribute considerable amounts of heat to urban environments.

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The surprisingly simple way cities could save people from extreme heat

Photo, posted February 21, 2024, courtesy of Warren LeMay via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

The carbon cost of wind farms

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Opponents of electric vehicles and renewable energy often try to make arguments to the effect that the carbon footprint associated with producing electric cars, solar panels, and wind turbines negates their advantages over legacy technologies that involve burning fossil fuels.  These arguments have been soundly refuted for the case of electric vehicles but there have been fewer studies related to other green technologies.

A new peer-reviewed study by engineers at the Te Herenga Waka Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand, has analyzed the carbon emissions associated with wind farm operation.

The main result is that after operating for less than two years, a wind farm can offset the carbon emissions generated across its entire 30-year lifespan.   The study takes into account everything from the manufacturing of individual turbine parts, to transporting them and installing them into place, to decommissioning the entire wind farm at its life’s end.  The environmental impacts of the installation and transportation phases are important, accounting for about 10% of the overall emissions.

The decommissioning phase is also important.  The study recommended the development of a recycling process for end-of-life turbine blades.  Currently, such blades are disposed of in landfills, but a recycling process could reduce emissions.

The manufacturing of wind turbines is the primary contributor to the carbon and energy consumption footprints and continues to be the subject of efforts to be improved.

There are other aspects of wind farms that are subject to criticism including physical impacts on the local environment and various social, wildlife and economic impacts.  But with respect to carbon emissions, wind farms are a winning strategy.

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Wind Farms can Offset Their Emissions Within Two Years, New Study Shows

Photo, posted April 2, 2017, courtesy of Ian Dick via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Clean energy investment at record levels

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According to a new study by the International Energy Agency, global clean energy investment will be nearly twice that of fossil fuels this year.  The surging funding for clean energy is being driven by a combination of lower costs for renewable energy and by improving supply chains.

In 2024, the world’s investments in energy are expected to surpass $3 trillion dollars for the first time.  About $2 trillion of that will be directed at green technologies that include renewable power sources, grids, and energy storage; electric vehicles; low-emission fuels; nuclear power; and heat pumps and efficiency improvements.  The remaining amount of just over $1 trillion will fund oil, gas, and oil projects.

The record growth in clean energy investments is taking place in spite of challenging economic conditions related to high interest rates, which demonstrates the momentum behind the global energy transition.

The IEA report does caution that there are big imbalances and shortages in energy investment in various places around the world.  For example, there is a low amount of green energy spending in developing and emerging economies outside of China.  Countries like Brazil and India are leading the way for this sector by having investments in excess of $300 billion.

More money is currently going into solar power development than all other electricity generation technologies combined.  In 2024, solar photovoltaic power investment is set to grow to $500 billion as the falling price of solar modules spurs new investments.

The largest renewable investments will come from China at $675 billion, followed by Europe and the U.S. at $370 billion and $315 billion, respectively.

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Global Clean Energy Investment Will Nearly Double That of Fossil Fuels in 2024: IEA Report

Photo, posted October 2, 2015, courtesy of John Englart via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Biofuel refineries and toxic pollution

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There have been decades of government support for renewable, crop-based fuels – primarily corn ethanol.  In fact, it is a required component of gasoline sold in this country.  The biofuels industry has long claimed ethanol to be a clean, greener alternative to petroleum. 

There have been arguments all along that the environmental benefits of corn ethanol are dubious at best because of the energy required to produce the stuff.  There are also issues related to burning a food crop instead of feeding it to people and that the conversion of grasslands and forests to produce it releases massive amounts of carbon.

Recently, another serious concern has emerged.  A new review of industry data has found that the country’s biofuel refineries, mostly located in the Midwest, produce large amounts of toxic air pollutants, in some cases ever more than from their petroleum counterparts.

Emissions data from the country’s 275 ethanol, biodiesel, and renewable diesel plants revealed that they release carcinogenic formaldehyde as well as other potentially dangerous substances including acetaldehyde, hexane, and acrolein.  In 2022, biofuel refineries released 12.9 million pounds of hazardous air pollutants, compared to 14.9 million pounds emitted by oil refineries, and the biofuel plants actually emitted more of the four chemicals just mentioned than petroleum refineries did.

The broad use of crop ethanol is the result of intensive industry lobbying.  Ethanol plants are even exempt from some air pollution permitting requirements.  Perhaps the time has come to revisit its pervasive and mandated use.

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Biofuel Refineries Are Releasing Toxic Air Pollutants in Farm Communities Across the US

Photo, posted February 27, 2021, courtesy of Sue Thompson 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

Greenland is greening

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Despite their names, Iceland is very green, and Greenland is very icy.  But in Greenland, that is changing.  Temperatures in the world’s largest island are rising twice as fast as they are in the rest of the world and, as a result, the icy rocky landscape is turning increasingly green.

Satellite records reveal that over the last three decades Greenland has lost 11,000 square miles of ice, which is an area about the size of Massachusetts.  As the ice melts off, tundra and shrublands takes its place.  The ice melt moves sediment and silt and eventually wetlands and fenlands are formed.

Between the late 1980s and the late 2010s, the areas of Greenland covered by vegetation have more than doubled.  The new green areas cover roughly 33,000 square miles, which is an area the size of Maine.

Greenland’s dramatic changes are the result of the warming climate, but in turn, those changes are accelerating climate change.  Land covered with dark green vegetation absorbs more energy from the sun thereby warming the air whereas ice-covered landscapes reflect much of the sun’s energy back into space.  In addition, the rapidly expanding wetlands are a significant source of methane, which traps even more heat in the atmosphere.

Greenland is a poster child for the effects of climate change.  Its glaciers and icecaps are shrinking, glacier-fed lakes are expanding, permafrost lakes are draining, and rivers are transporting vast amounts of sediment and widening.  All of this is going on as its vegetation cover and species diversity is expanding.

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In Icy Greenland, Area Covered by Vegetation Has More Than Doubled in Size

Photo, posted September 20, 2019, courtesy of Amanda via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Red mud and steel

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Most of us have never heard of red mud.  Otherwise known as bauxite residue, it is an industrial waste product generated by the most common process by which aluminum is made and the world produces 200 million tons of red mud each year.  The stuff is a significant environmental hazard being extremely alkaline and corrosive. Most of it ends up in large landfills and the costs associated with disposing of red mud are substantial.

Red mud is red because it contains large amounts of iron oxide, often as much as 60% of it.  Scientists at the Max-Planck Institute in Germany have developed a method for producing steel from red mud that is much less carbon intensive than traditional steel production and that is economically viable.

The scientists melt the red mud in an electric furnace powered in part by green hydrogen.  Running the furnace this way, even when using electricity from only partially renewable sources, results in far fewer greenhouse gas emissions as well as economic benefits.  In the furnace, liquid iron separates from the other liquid oxides and can be extracted easily.  The resultant iron is so pure that it can processed directly into steel.  The remaining metal oxides are no longer corrosive, and they solidify into a glass-like material that can have practical uses in construction.

There are 4 billion tons of red mud that have accumulated worldwide to date.  According to the researchers, their process could produce over 700 million tons of green steel from it, potentially saving 1.6 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions. 

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Green steel from toxic red mud

Photo, posted September 7, 2021, courtesy of Healthy Gulf 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

A giant underground battery

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Two up-and-coming energy technologies are coming together near a tiny town in central Utah.  Outside of the town of Delta, population 3,600, two caverns, each as deep as the Empire State Building, are being created from an underground salt formation to be used to store hydrogen gas.  The gas will be used as a fuel in a new electricity generation plant.

The plant will replace an aging local coal-fired power plant.  The new plant will burn a mixture of natural gas and hydrogen – green hydrogen produced without emitting greenhouse gases. To produce the hydrogen, the facility will operate 40 giant electrolyzers that will use excess solar and wind power generated at times of low demand to split water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen.

The caverns were created by a process called solution mining in which high-pressure water is pumped down into salt deposits that are dissolved. The resulting caverns are 200 feet in diameter and 1,200 deep and lie 3,000 to 4,000 feet below the surface.  Hydrogen cannot escape through the thick salt layers.

The amount of energy that can be stored in the form of hydrogen fuel in these caverns is massive – far more than all the battery storage installed in the U.S. to date.  Chevron has a majority stake in one of the projects and will supply the natural gas.  The facility is expected to go online in 2025.

While this will produce far fewer emissions than existing coal plants, it is not carbon-free.  Currently, turbine technology cannot operate with pure hydrogen fuel.  The Delta plant will run on only 30% hydrogen.  The hope is that turbine technology will improve in the future and permit operation on pure hydrogen.

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A Huge Underground Battery Is Coming to a Tiny Utah Town

Photo, posted September 9, 2013, courtesy of Scott via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Airplanes, corn, and groundwater

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The aviation industry wants to slash its greenhouse gas emissions.  One proposed strategy is to replace ordinary jet fuel with ethanol.  Ethanol in this country mostly comes from corn.  The airlines are enthusiastic about the idea; corn farmers are enthusiastic about the idea.  Ethanol suppliers are obviously enthusiastic about it.  But is it a good idea?

Today, nearly 40% of America’s corn crop is turned into ethanol.  Twenty years ago, the figure was around 10%.  The massive growth was the result of mandates for ethanol augmentation of gasoline for environmental reasons.

But the environmental benefits of corn ethanol have always been controversial at best when all the energy factors are considered. But apart from that, a very serious issue is that corn is a water-intensive crop, and it can take hundreds of gallons of water to produce a single gallon of ethanol.  As the climate warms and corn crops expand, groundwater in many corn-growing areas is being increasingly depleted and groundwater provides half our drinking water and meets far more than just the needs of corn farmers.

Corn farmers and ethanol producers see the rapid growth of electric vehicles as a threat to their lucrative business of supplying the auto fuel industry.  The ambitious goals of the airline industry to reduce its emissions would likely require nearly doubling ethanol production.

The situation is a powerful example of the tradeoffs that can arise as the world tries to make the transition away from fossil fuel.  Even green solutions can have their own environmental cost and sometimes that cost may be too steep.

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Airlines Race Toward a Future of Powering Their Jets With Corn

Photo, posted September 2, 2007, courtesy of Rosana Prada via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Detecting dangerous chemicals with plants

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Researchers at University of California Riverside have been studying how to enable plants to sense and react to a chemical in the environment without damaging their ability to function in all other respects.  Why do this?  The idea is to be able to use plants as environmental sensors that can detect the presence of harmful substances.

The impetus for the work is presence of a protein in plants that senses a plant hormone called abscisic acid (or ABA) that helps plants acclimate to environmental changes.  During drought, plants produce ABA causing the plant to produce ABA receptor proteins that close pores in its leaves and stems, keeping in moisture.

The UCR researchers demonstrated that these ABA receptor proteins can be trained to bind to chemicals other than ABA.  This ability enabled them to create sensors for many chemicals, including banned pesticides.

In their recent publication, they demonstrated a green plant that turns bright red in the presence of azinphos-ethyl, a banned pesticide.  The goal is to easily detect chemicals in the environment from a distance.  A field of these plants would provide an obvious visual indicator of the use of a banned pesticide.  The researchers also demonstrated the ability to turn a variety of yeast into a sensor that could respond to two different chemicals at the same time.

Ultimately, it would be extremely valuable to design plants that sense dozens of chemicals to they could be used as living sensors that persist for years and provide environmental information.  The sensor plants are not being grown commercially at this time.  That will require regulatory approvals that are likely to take years.  But the discovery opens up real possibilities.

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Plants transformed into detectors of dangerous chemicals

Photo, posted August 29, 2013, courtesy of the United Soybean Board 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...)