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Red Hot Chili Solar Panels | Earth Wise

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The majority of solar panels in use today are made from either single-crystal or polycrystalline silicon, the same stuff used to make the ubiquitous chips in computers, cell phones, and countless other devices.  In addition, a growing fraction of solar panels utilize thin-film technology, which offers cost and flexibility advantages.

Monocrystal silicon still provides the highest efficiency and longest lifespan in commercially available panels, but the lower costs and some other features of thin-film solar panels are growing that market over time.

More recently, perovskite solar cell technology has been a source of great interest in the research community.  Perovskites are a class of minerals with a specific crystalline structure that already have uses in various applications.  As a solar cell material, perovskites offer the potential for converting more sunlight to electricity, being manufactured far more cheaply using no exotic or expensive materials, being more defect-tolerant, as well as a having number of other advantages.  They also have the potential for having very high efficiency. 

Recently, a group of researchers in China and Sweden published results of studies demonstrating that the addition of a novel ingredient has increased the efficiency of perovskite solar cells to nearly 22%, which is better than most commercial silicon solar cells.  The ingredient is capsaicin, the chemical that gives chili peppers their spicy sting.  Adding capsaicin expands the grains that make up the active material of the solar cell, allowing the more effective transport of electricity. 

Why did the researchers think of adding the active ingredient of hot peppers to a solar cell in the first place?  So far, they aren’t saying.

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Solar panels capture more sunlight with capsaicin – the chemical that makes chili peppers spicy

Photo, posted August 16, 2019, courtesy of Pedro via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Helping Corals With Beneficial Bacteria | Earth Wise

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A group of researchers at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia is exploring a novel technology to improve the health of corals.  Around the globe, corals are being stressed by pathogens, toxins, and warming waters leading to widespread bleaching events.

The new idea is to introduce beneficial bacteria to the corals, thereby boosting the strength and resilience of their symbiotic partners.  The concept is akin to the use of probiotics in plant science.  Corals rely on bacterial and algal symbionts to provide nutrients, energy (through photosynthesis), toxin regulation, and protection against pathogens.  

The researchers selected bacteria that are naturally symbiotic to specific coral species on reefs in the Red Sea, ensuring that no alien bacteria are accidentally introduced.  A probiotic cocktail comprising six bacteria strains was used in a laboratory setting.  Results in the lab have been promising so far, as they have observed dynamic and metabolic alterations to the corals that boosted their chances of survival under heat stress. 

Success in the lab will need to be translated to success in the open oceans, which is challenging.  Scaling up and seeding whole reefs might involve robots and artificial intelligence in order to deliver probiotics either into sediments or directly onto corals.

The use of beneficial microorganisms is not the solution to the global destruction of coral reefs.  Only worldwide CO2 mitigation can ultimately accomplish that.  But the probiotic approach might buy corals some time as they deal with shifting environmental pressures and try to adapt to a changing world.

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Microbiome boost may help corals resist bleaching

Photo, posted March 18, 2018, courtesy of Steven dos Remedios via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Solar Energy And Agriculture | Earth Wise

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According to a new study by Oregon State University researchers, co-developing land for both solar voltaic power and agriculture could provide 20% of total electricity generation in the United States with an investment of less than 1% of the annual U.S. budget.

The concept is known as agrivoltaics – using the same land for both growing crops and generating solar energy.  The proponents of agrivoltaics say that it provides more food, more energy, lower water demand, lower carbon emissions, and more prosperous rural communities.

According to the study, wide-scale installation of agrivoltaic systems could lead to an annual reduction of 330,000 tons of carbon dioxide emission in the U.S. – the equivalent of taking 75,000 cars off the road – and the creation of more than 100,000 jobs in rural communities.  All of this could be achieved with minimal effects on crop yields.

The study finds that an area about the size of Maryland would be needed for agrivoltaics to produce 20% of U.S. electricity generation.  That area of 13,000 square miles constitutes about 1% of current U.S. farmland.

The cost of the solar installations would be $1.1 trillion over 35 years and they would pay for themselves from the electricity generated within 17 years.  Installing the arrays would create the equivalent of 117,000 jobs lasting 20 years.

The researchers are going to install a fully functional solar farm on 5 acres of university owned land to demonstrate to the agricultural community and potential future funders how the study’s findings can be applied in real world agricultural systems.

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Combining solar energy and agriculture to mitigate climate change, assist rural communities

Photo, posted October 11, 2011, courtesy of Michael Coghlan via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

The Path To Net Zero | Earth Wise

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Reaching net zero emissions is both feasible and affordable, according to researchers at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the University of San Francisco, and consulting firm Evolved Energy Research.   The researchers created a detailed model of the entire U.S. energy and industrial system to produce the first detailed, peer-reviewed study of how to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.

The study analyzed multiple feasible technology pathways based on very different assumptions of remaining fossil fuel use, land use, consumer adoption, nuclear energy, and biofuel use.  What they had in common was increasing energy efficiency, transitioning to electric technologies, utilizing clean electricity (especially wind and solar power), and deploying small amounts of carbon capture technology.

The decarbonization of the U.S. energy system is an infrastructure transformation.  Getting to net zero by 2050 means adding many gigawatts of wind and solar power plants, new transmission lines, a fleet of electric cars and light trucks, millions of heat pumps to replace conventional furnaces and water heaters, and more energy-efficient buildings.

The various pathways studied have net costs between 0.2% and 1.2% of GDP, which is as little as $1 per person per day.  The cost variations come from various tradeoffs such as the amount of land given to solar and wind farms as well as the amount of new transmission infrastructure required. 

A key result of the study is that the actions required over the next 10 years are similar among all the pathways.   We need to increase the use of renewable energy and make sure that all new infrastructure, such as cars and buildings are low carbon.

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Getting to Net Zero – and Even Net Negative – is Surprisingly Feasible, and Affordable

Photo, posted July 12, 2010, courtesy of Tom Shockey via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Superstrong Nanofibers | Earth Wise

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Self-assembly is a ubiquitous process in the natural world that leads to the formation of the DNA double helix, the creation of cell membranes, and to many other structures.   Scientists and engineers have been working to design new molecules that assemble themselves in water for the purpose of making nanostructures for biomedical applications such as drug delivery or tissue engineering.  For the most part, the materials created in this way have been chemically unstable and tended to degrade rapidly, especially when the water is removed.

A team at MIT recently published a paper describing a new class of small molecules they have designed that spontaneously assemble into nanoribbons with unprecedented strength and that retain their structure outside of water.

The material is modeled after a cell membrane.  Its outer part is hydrophilic (it likes to be in water) and its inner part is hydrophobic (it tries to avoid water.)  This configuration drives the self-assembly to create a specific nanostructure and by choosing the appropriate chemicals to form the structures, the result was nanoribbons in the form of long threads that could be dried and handled.  The resultant material in many ways resembles Kevlar.   In particular, the threads could hold 200 times their own weight and have extraordinarily high surface areas.  The fibers are stronger than steel and the high surface-to-mass ratio offers promise for miniaturizing technologies for such applications as pulling heavy-metal contaminants out of water and for use in electronic devices and batteries.

The goal of the research is to tune the internal state of matter to create exceptionally strong molecular nanostructures.  The potential for important new applications is considerable and exciting.

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Researchers construct molecular nanofibers that are stronger than steel

Photo, posted June 19, 2007, courtesy of Andrew Hitchcock via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

A Sustainable Polymer From Wood | Earth Wise

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Scientists from the University of Bath in the UK have developed a sustainable polymer using xylose, a sugar found in wood.

The new polymer is a member of the polyether family.  It could be used in a variety of applications, including being a building block for polyurethane, used for example in mattresses and shoe soles. It could also be a bio-derived alternative to polyethylene glycol, a chemical widely used in biomedicine, or in polyethylene oxide, which is sometimes used as an electrolyte in batteries.

Xylose, also known as wood sugar, is one of the most abundant carbohydrates on earth, second only to glucose. Apart from comprising 5-20% of hardwoods, xylose is a major component of straw, corncobs, and many other plant materials.

The new polymer could reduce reliance on crude oil products and its properties can be easily controlled to make the material flexible or crystalline.  Added functionality could be added to it by binding other chemical groups such as fluorescent probes or dyes to the sugar molecule for biological or chemical sensing applications.

Tweaking the physical and chemical properties of bio-derived polymers has previously been a very difficult thing to do.  The Bath researchers discovered that combining two mirror-image chemical forms of xylose results in a stronger and more adaptable material.  They have filed a patent for their technology and are seeking industrial collaborators for further development.

The reliance of plastics and polymers on fossil fuels is a major problem.  Bio-derived polymers, such as this new one, are an important part of the effort to make plastics sustainable.

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Scientists make sustainable polymer from sugars in wood

Photo, posted January 25, 2017, courtesy of Keith Double via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Geothermal Power In The Energy Transition | Earth Wise

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The heat beneath the earth represents a vast repository of energy that in principle could provide for a significant part of our needs.  In some places, geothermal energy is easy to get to and is already being exploited.  California and Nevada operate dozens of geothermal electric generating plants.  Boise Idaho heats 92 of its biggest buildings with the river of hot water that flows 3,000 feet below the city.  In total, the U.S. produces enough geothermal electricity to power more than a million homes.

But all these examples make use of relatively rare local features that are not available to the great majority of locations.  As a result, geothermal energy has generally not been viewed as being able to play a major role in the alternative energy transition.

A number of experts around the world disagree with this assessment.  To a fair extent due to the deep-drilling techniques and knowledge about underground formations developed by the oil and gas industry during the fracking boom, there is growing interest in a type of geothermal energy called deep geothermal that accesses hot temperatures in the earth’s mantle as far down as two or three miles.

Deep geothermal can either access extremely hot water that exists down at those depths or water can be injected into hot rock down there, which is a technology known as enhanced geothermal systems.

There is enormous untapped potential for geothermal energy.  A 2019 report by the U.S. Department of Energy says that by 2050, geothermal could provide 8.5% of the United States’ electricity as well as direct heat.  Geothermal could be an important part of the so-called all-of-the-above future energy strategy.

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Can Geothermal Power Play a Key Role in the Energy Transition?

Photo, posted August 2, 2008, courtesy of ThinkGeoEnergy via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

New York Offshore Wind | Earth Wise

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Norwegian energy company Equinor and its strategic partner bp have been selected by New York State to build several offshore wind power installations that will be one of the largest renewable energy projects in the United States to date.  When completed, the projects will provide 1,260 megawatts of offshore wind power from Empire Wind 2 and another 1,230 megawatts from Beacon Wind 1 and these will be added to the 816-megawatt project already awarded to the companies for Empire Wind 1. 

The two phases of Empire Wind are located 15-30 miles southeast of Long Island and span 80,000 acres. Beacon Wind is located 60 miles east of Montauk Point and 20 miles south of Nantucket and covers 128,000 acres.  The overall development will provide 3.3 gigawatts of homegrown, renewable electricity to New York.

The projects will comprise up to $8.9 billion in investments including $664 million provided by the state.  As part of the award from NYSERDA, the companies will partner with the State to transform two New York ports – the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal and the Port of Albany – into large-scale offshore wind working industrial facilities that position New York to become an offshore wind industry hub.

In Albany, Equinor will join forces with wind industry companies Marmen and Welcon to help the port become America’s first offshore wind tower and transition piece manufacturing facility, where it will produce components for Equinor’s projects.

New York’s goal is to have 9 gigawatts of offshore wind capacity by 2035.  The Equinor projects will contribute more than one-third of that goal. 

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New York Selects Equinor for Largest US Offshore Wind Award

Photo, posted March 24, 2016, courtesy of TEIA via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Understanding How To Enhance Desalination | Earth Wise

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Desalination is the process of removing mineral components – notably salt – from saline water, generally seawater.  Over 16,000 desalination plants operate across 177 countries, generating 25 billion gallons of fresh water each year.  Currently, desalination accounts for about 1% of the world’s drinking water.

The leading process for desalination in terms of installed capacity as well as new installations is reverse osmosis that makes use of a thin-film composite membrane based on ultra-thin polyamide.

Despite the fact that these membranes are widely used for desalination, they are actually rather poorly understood.  It has not been known exactly how water moves through them.  As a result, much of the progress made on the technology over the decades has been essentially based on guesswork.

A team of researchers at the University of Texas, Austin has used advanced microscopy techniques to solve some of the mysteries of reverse osmosis membranes.  By mapping membranes at very high resolution – less than half the diameter of a DNA strand – they gained a much better understanding of what makes a membrane better at reverse osmosis.

They found that desalination membranes are inconsistent in mass distribution and density and that these inconsistencies can impair membrane performance.  It turns out that inconsistencies and dead zones in membranes play a bigger role than membrane thickness.  By making the membranes more uniform in density at the nanoscale, they were able to increase desalination efficiency 30 to 40 percent, therefore cleaning more water with less energy and at lower cost.

Producing fresh water is not just essential for public health, it is also crucial for use in agriculture and energy production.

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Nanoscale control of internal inhomogeneity enhances water transport in desalination membranes

Photo, posted February 13, 2017, courtesy of Jacob Vanderheyden via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Grid-Scale Battery Storage is on the Rise | Earth Wise

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Driven by steeply falling prices and improving technology, grid-scale battery storage systems are seeing record growth in the U.S. and around the world. Battery storage is a way to overcome one of the biggest obstacles to renewable energy:  the cycling between oversupply when the sun shines or the wind blows, and shortage when the sun sets or the wind drops.  Storing excess energy in battery banks can smooth imbalances between supply and demand.

In California, a 300-megawatt lithium-ion battery plant is being readied for operation with another 100 megawatts to come online in 2021.  The system will be able to power roughly 300,000 California homes for four-hour periods when energy demand outstrips supply.  It will be the world’s largest battery system for a while until even larger systems in Florida and in Saudi Arabia come online.

Nationwide, a record 1.2 gigawatts of storage were installed last year and that number is projected to jump dramatically over the next five years to nearly 7.5 gigawatts in 2025.

The price tag for utility-scale battery storage in the U.S. has plummeted, dropping nearly 70% just between 2015 and 2018.  Prices are expected to drop by a further 45% over the next decade.  Battery performance has continued to improve dramatically with increased power capacity and the ability to store and discharge energy over ever-longer periods of time. 

Favorable energy policies including renewable energy mandates coupled with continued price drops will drive the widespread expansion of battery energy storage.

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In Boost for Renewables, Grid-Scale Battery Storage Is on the Rise

Photo, posted November 17, 2016, courtesy of Steve Ryan via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

The Largest Renewable Energy Project In The World | Earth Wise

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India has broken ground on what is planned to be the largest renewable energy project in the world:  a 30-gigawatt wind and solar power project in the state of Gujarat.

The renewable energy park will have two zones:  a 122,000-acre hybrid park zone that will accommodate 25 gigawatts of wind and solar power plants and a 57,000-acre zone entirely dedicated to wind power.  Multiple developers will be building the power plants in the hybrid zone.  A single company has been allotted the wind power zone.  The selected developers have to develop 50% of the total generation capacity in the next 3 years and finish the project in five years. The project is expected to create jobs for 100,000 people. Total investment in the project will be about $20 billion.

This is not technically a single standalone project but is rather an aggregation of multiple projects in a single general area.  Nonetheless, it represents the largest renewable energy development ever.  By comparison, the entire United States has a total of 50 gigawatts of installed solar power in large plants – which does not include any rooftop solar.  Total wind power capacity in the U.S. is a little over 100 gigawatts.  So, the 30-gigawatt Indian project is huge by any measure.

India already gets over 30% of its electricity from renewable sources, making it one of the largest renewable energy markets in the world.  The country has a goal of 60% renewable energy by 2030, amounting to 450 gigawatts of capacity.  This will require the country to double its already substantial renewable capacity in less than 10 years.  The Gujarat energy park will represent substantial progress towards that goal.

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Largest Renewable Energy Project In World Will Be 30 Gigawatt Solar–Wind Project In India

Photo, posted October 16, 2019, courtesy of Jonathan Cutrer via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Renewable Energy And Green Ammonia | Earth Wise

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Several different clean technology trends may come together on farms across the country where wind turbines could power devices that produce green ammonia for fertilizer and zero emission fuel.

Distributed wind is a kind of renewable energy that doesn’t get much attention.  It refers to turbines that are used to generate electricity for on-site use, as for a factory or a farm.  It typically involves smaller turbines than the behemoths that are used in giant wind farms.

Installing a wind turbine or two on a farm could be quite valuable if the electricity generated could be used to make green ammonia.  Such an application would eliminate the problem of “stranded wind”, which is when a location has lots of wind but lacks access to the electricity transmission infrastructure.

If farmers could utilize wind energy to produce ammonia, they could make their own fertilizer as well as fuel and get relief from price spikes and uncertainties in the commodities market.  Of course, they would also make use of the electricity they generate on site.

Most ammonia is produced using a proven technology called the Haber-Bosch process.   Ammonia contains only nitrogen and hydrogen, both of which can be extracted from the air.  The trick is how to do it efficiently using renewable electricity.   The Department of Energy has a program called the REFUEL Initiative, which aims at deploying renewable energy to produce ammonia.  The University of Minnesota, among other places, has multiple programs dedicated to green ammonia technology. 

There is encouraging progress being made that may ultimately result in a common sight of wind turbines on farms producing fertilizer, fuel, and electricity.

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The Renewable Energy Cows Come Home, Now With Green Ammonia

Photo, posted July 15, 2009, courtesy of Daniel_Bauer via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Recyclable Wind Turbines | Earth Wise

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The blades of modern wind turbines can be longer than the wing of a Boeing 747. Their useful lifetime is perhaps 20 years and after that, they can’t just be hauled away.  They end up being cut up with special industrial saws to create pieces small enough to be strapped to a tractor-trailer.  Then, they end up in landfills.  There are thousands of blades being removed each year and those numbers are growing.

Wind turbine blades are currently manufactured using thermoset resin, which cannot be recycled.  It is also energy-intensive and manpower-intensive to produce.

Researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in partnership with Arkema Inc of Pennsylvania have demonstrated the feasibility of using thermoplastic resin instead to make wind turbine blades.  That material can be recycled and can also enable longer, lighter-weight, and lower-cost blades.  Using thermoplastic could also allow manufacturers to build blades on site, alleviating the problems of transporting ever larger turbine blades.

Current blades are made primarily of composite materials like fiberglass infused with thermoset resin.  The manufacturing process requires additional heat to cure the resin, which adds cost and time.  Thermoplastic resin cures at room temperature and requires less labor.  With regard to recycling, thermoplastic resin, when heated above a certain temperature, melts into its original liquid resin and can be reused. 

NREL has demonstrated the feasibility of the thermoplastic resin system by manufacturing nearly identical blades using both the standard materials and the thermoplastics.  NREL has also developed a technoeconomic model to evaluate the cost benefits of using thermoplastic resin.

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News Release: NREL Advanced Manufacturing Research Moves Wind Turbine Blades Toward Recyclability

Photo, posted June 28, 2008, courtesy of Patrick Finnegan via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Improved Radar For Cars | Earth Wise

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Self-driving cars require a variety of sensor systems in order for the cars to safely navigate roads and deal with the wide range of objects and conditions that they encounter.  Two competing technologies that cars use to identify and locate objects on the scene are radar and LiDAR. 

Radar uses transmitted radio waves to locate objects and LiDAR bounces laser beams off of objects.   Each has its shortcomings.   Radar has the problem that only a small fraction of the transmitted signals gets reflected back to the sensor, so that there is frequently insufficient data to fully characterize a scene.  LiDAR has the problem that it is an optical system that does not work well in fog, dust, rain, or snow.  It is also much more expensive than radar.

Researchers at the University of California San Diego have developed a new system that they describe as a LiDAR-like radar. The system consists of two radar sensors placed on a car’s hood and spaced about 1.5 meters apart.  This configuration enables the system to see more space and detail than a single radar sensor.

Having two radars at different vantage points with an overlapping field of view creates a region of high-resolution with a high probability of detecting the objects that are present.  The system also overcomes noise problems of conventional radar systems.

The researchers developed new algorithms that can fuse the information from two different radar sensors and produce a new image free of noise.

Self-driving cars have to combine detection technologies like radar with cameras and ultrasonic sensors.  Duplicating the capabilities that people use in order to safely drive a car is a complex problem requiring a combination of multiple sensors and sophisticated software.

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Upgraded radar can enable self-driving cars to see clearly no matter the weather

Photo, posted January 2, 2014, courtesy of Bradley Gordon via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Replacing Plastic Tableware | Earth Wise

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Plastics have been described as the “ubiquitous workhorse material of the modern economy.”  But their versatility, pliability, and durability comes at a heavy price to the environment.  Plastic pollution is quite literally everywhere.  Plastic debris and microplastic particles can be found in every corner of the globe, including the Arctic and Antarctic. 

The scourge of plastic pollution is driving scientists to create ecologically-friendly alternatives.  According to a paper recently published in the journal Matter, scientists have developed “green” tableware made from sugarcane and bamboo that doesn’t sacrifice on convenience or functionality.  This eco-friendly tableware could serve as a permanent replacement for plastic cups and other disposable plastic containers. 

Traditional plastic polymers, a product of petroleum, can take as long as 1,000 years to decompose in landfills.  The new material only takes 60 days to break down.

To create this material, scientists used bamboo and bagasse, also known as sugarcane pulp.  Bagasse is one of the largest food-industry waste products.  The researchers wound the fibers together to form a mechanically stable and biodegradable material.  They added an alkyl ketene dimer, an eco-friendly chemical, to increase the oil and water resistance of the material.  The green material is durable enough to hold liquids like hot coffee and hot greasy foods like pizza.   

There’s another advantage: the green material’s manufacturing process emits 97% less CO2 than the process to make commercial plastic containers.  The next step is to lower the manufacturing cost.  While the cost of cups made from the green material is $2,333 per ton, traditional cups made from plastic are still slightly cheaper at $2,177 per ton.

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This tableware made from sugarcane and bamboo breaks down in 60 days

Photo, posted May 19, 2013, courtesy of Henry Burrows via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Finding Methane Leaks from Space | Earth Wise

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There is growing concern about the climate effects of methane leaking from oil and gas wells.  The 20-year global warming potential of methane is 84, meaning that over a 20-year period, it traps 84 times more heat per mass unit than carbon dioxide.  Global methane concentrations have increased by nearly a factor of 3 since the industrial revolution.

More than a century of oil and gas drilling has left behind millions of abandoned wells, many of which are leaching pollutants into the air and water.   In the U.S. alone, more than 3.2 million abandoned oil and gas wells emitted 280,000 tons of methane just in 2018.  And the data is incomplete.

Part of the problem is finding out which wells are leaking.  Ground-based sensors or airplanes and drones are effective ways to find leaks but considering how many wells there are to check, the costs are considerable, and the process is time consuming and complicated. 

New technology is coming along that uses satellites to detect methane leaks.  A Canadian company called GHGSat recently used satellites to detect what it has called the smallest methane leak ever seen from space and has begun selling data to emitters interested in pinpointing leaks.

Another company, New York-based Bluefield Technologies, plans a group of satellites for launch in 2023 that promises even finer resolution.  The Environmental Defense Fund, with support from Jeff Bezos’ Earth Fund, plans to launch MethaneSAT in the next couple of years, which is designed to find small sources of methane.

Research at Stanford University determined that just 5% of methane leaks produce around half the total leakage. 

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New Technology Claims to Pinpoint Even Small Methane Leaks From Space

Photo, posted June 8, 2011, courtesy of Jeremy Buckingham via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Hydrogen-Powered Jetliners | Earth Wise

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Airbus, the giant European aerospace company, hopes to have hydrogen-powered commercial airliners in the sky by 2035.  Such planes would have no carbon dioxide emissions.

Greenhouse gas emissions from commercial aviation have been a rapidly increasing contribution to the global total.  Of course, the Covid-19 pandemic has drastically reduced air travel, so emissions are currently lower than they have been in a very long time.  But at some point, they will resume at previous levels and continue to increase.

Planes themselves produce over 2% of global CO2 emissions, and between the climate effects of contrails and the emissions associated with the rest of the air travel industry, commercial aviation drives about 5% of global warming.

Airbus is studying design concepts in which planes run off of hydrogen and oxygen fuel and have no carbon exhaust.   Making such planes practical and environmentally advantageous requires solving an array of complex technical challenges. 

One of the biggest challenges is that the hydrogen on the market today is considered to be “brown” rather than green, meaning that it is not a sustainably produced energy source.  Almost all hydrogen produced today comes from natural gas reforming, which results in carbon emissions.  A viable hydrogen-powered aviation technology assumes that producing hydrogen by splitting water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen using renewable energy becomes the standard source for it.

There have been test flights of small planes and drones powered by hydrogen, but Airbus expects that intensive research and development for the next five years will be required to evolve its current preliminary designs to a stage where they could be developed for future use in its product line.  It won’t happen overnight, but according to Airbus, hydrogen planes are coming.

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Airbus Hopes to Be Flying Hydrogen-Powered Jetliners With Zero Carbon Emissions by 2035

Photo, posted April 15, 2019, courtesy of Olivier Cabaret via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

The Toughest Beetle Of Them All | Earth Wise

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In 2015, UC Riverside materials scientists placed a mottled black beetle in a parking lot and ran it over with a Toyota Camry.  Twice.  Crushed beneath the wheels of a 3,500-pound sedan, the inch-long insect made it through without a scratch.

For the past five years, a group of scientists have been studying this remarkable bug, which has the splendid name of the diabolical ironclad beetle. Using a combination of advanced microscopy, mechanical testing, and computer simulations, the researchers have figured out the secret of this beetle’s crush resistance.

The beetle’s super-toughness lies in two armorlike structures called elytra that meet in a line, called a suture, running the length of the abdomen.  The suture acts like a jigsaw puzzle.  It connects various exoskeletal blades – the puzzle pieces – in the abdomen under the elytra.   These structural components can act in different ways.  The interconnecting blades lock to prevent themselves from pulling out of the suture.  The suture and blades delaminate, leading to a graceful deformation rather than catastrophic failure.  These strategies dissipate energy to circumvent fracturing.

The researchers found that the diabolical ironclad beetle – just had to say that name again – can take on an applied force of about 150 newtons, a load at least 39,000 times its body weight.  (That’s the equivalent of a 150-pound person resisting the crush of about 25 blue whales).

An ongoing challenge for structural engineering is how to join together different materials without limiting their ability to support loads.  The strategies evolved in these beetles may be applicable in gas turbines of aircraft, for example, where metals and composite materials are joined together with mechanical fasteners.   We can learn things from the toughest beetle of them all.

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Diabolical ironclad beetles inspire tougher joints for engineering applications

Photo, posted April 9, 2017, courtesy of Vahe Martirosyan via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Getting Value From Plastic Waste | Earth Wise

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To date, the world has produced more than five billion tons of plastic and is making more all the time.  Based on the way things are currently done, most of that will end up in landfills or in the natural environment.  By 2050, the amount of plastic is expected to exceed 13 billion tons.   This is one of the world’s biggest environmental problems.

Recently, an international collaboration by universities and institutions in the UK, China, and Saudi Arabia has developed a method of converting plastic waste into hydrogen gas and high-value solid carbon.

The technique was achieved with a new type of catalysis that uses microwaves to activate catalyst particles that effectively strip hydrogen from plastic polymers.  The work was recently published in the journal Nature Catalysis and details how the researchers mixed mechanically pulverized plastic particles with a microwave-susceptor catalyst of iron oxide and aluminum oxide.  That mixture was then subjected to microwave treatment and yielded a large volume of hydrogen gas and a residue of carbonaceous material, most of which was identified as carbon nanotubes.

The process is more rapid than most methods for dealing with plastic waste and can extract over 97% of the hydrogen in plastic without producing any carbon dioxide emissions. 

The new method represents an attractive potential solution to the problem of plastic waste.  Instead of polluting the planet, plastics could become a valuable feedstock for producing clean hydrogen fuel as well as valuable carbon materials.  Proponents of the so-called hydrogen economy have continued to seek a green and economical way to produce hydrogen.  This new work might be just what they are looking for.

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Turning plastic waste into hydrogen and high-value carbons

Photo, posted April 21, 2007, courtesy of Redwin Law via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Hydrogen-Powered Transport In Britain | Earth Wise

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The first hydrogen-powered train in the UK had its first mainline runs at the end of September.  The train, known as HydroFLEX, was developed under a project headed by the University of Birmingham under the UK government’s Department for Transport. 

Hydrogen-powered trains do not emit harmful gases but rather use hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity, water, and heat.  The technology in the HydroFLEX train will be available by 2023 to retrofit existing diesel-powered trains and thereby de-carbonize the rail network and make train travel greener and more efficient.

The UK has ambitious plans for the use of hydrogen technology.  The Department of Transport plans to publish a master plan in January that will outline how green hydrogen could power buses, trucks, rail, maritime, and aviation transport across the UK.

The HydroFLEX trial is taking place in Tees Valley in northeastern England and the plan is for that area to become a Hydrogen Transport Hub that will include the world’s largest versatile hydrogen refueling facility.   The plans for Tees Valley involve academia, industry, and government participants.  The next stages of the HydroFLEX project are well underway with the University of Birmingham developing a hydrogen and battery-powered module that can be fitted underneath a train to allow for more space for passengers in train cars.

The UK government’s Hydrogen for Transport Program is also funding a green hydrogen refueling station and 19 hydrogen-powered garbage trucks in Glasgow, Scotland.

The UK plans to switch to a net zero economy and their current program increasingly embraces hydrogen technology to provide more sustainable, greener forms of transportation.

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UK embraces hydrogen-fueled future as transport hub and train announced

Photo, posted May 15, 2019, courtesy of Jeremy Segrott via Flickr.

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