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Fuel From Wind And Water | Earth Wise

February 21, 2023 By EarthWise 1 Comment

Hydrogen is the most common element in the universe and it can be used as a fuel to run cars, trains, and even airplanes. Using it produces no harmful emissions. However, to date, the way it is economically produced is not clean and green. It is made from natural gas and leaves behind lots of carbon dioxide.

Around the world there are many projects working on so-called green hydrogen. Producing hydrogen by splitting water into its component elements is called electrolysis and produces only oxygen as a waste product. The problem with electrolysis is that it takes prodigious amounts of energy and therefore is very expensive.

A new project taking place in north Texas hopes to create the country’s first large-scale producer of green hydrogen. The project is building a 900-megawatt wind farm along with a 500-megawatt solar farm. The 1.4 gigawatts of total production capacity is more energy than the city of Austin consumes. That energy will be used to produce 200,000 kilograms of hydrogen a day.

This project is among the largest proposed green hydrogen projects in the U.S. There are green hydrogen proposals in Europe, Australia, Africa, and the Middle East that range from 10 GW to 67 GW.

The Texas project, being developed in partnership by Air Products and AES, has been enabled by government support from the Inflation Reduction Act.

There are a few thousand hydrogen-powered cars, boats, and trains but without substantial, cost-effective hydrogen infrastructure, the market is very limited. Subsidizing the development of the necessary infrastructure is essential if there is any real chance to create the long-imagined hydrogen economy.

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Texas Project Will Use Wind to Make Fuel Out of Water

Photo, posted June 5, 2005, courtesy of City Transport Info via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Low Fares Clean German Air | Earth Wise

September 29, 2022 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Germany’s parliament set summer public transport fares at 9 euros a month as a way to slash pollution and reduce imports of Russian oil. The low price included all buses, trams, subways, and regional trains, effectively lowering prices by more than 90% in some cities. Berliners saved 98 euros on their monthly travel pass; commuters in Hamburg saved even more.

The program began June 1 and ended August 31. The bargain rates drove widespread use of public transport and discouraged the use of cars, which already was undesirable due to high gasoline prices. Over the three-month period, transit authorities sold over 50 million subsidized tickets. One out of five travelers were using public transport for the first time, according to surveys.

According to an estimate from the Association of German Transport Companies, the program helped to avoid 1.8 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions. This is roughly equivalent to taking 1.5 million cars off the road for the summer or planting 30 million trees.

The discount transit program had a clearly positive effect on the climate and, obviously, was a source of financial relief for German citizens. Last year, Germany was the largest buyer of Russian oil in Europe and it wanted to make drastic reductions in its purchases. The success of the program prompted many to ask for it to be continued. However, the program cost the government about 2.5 billion euros in reimbursements to transit companies. The German government has said it would not be extended.

Nonetheless, German policymakers are weighing other proposals for low-cost public transit. Clearly encouraging people to use public transit pays dividends.

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Germany’s Cheap Summer Train Fares Prevented 1.8 Million Tons of Carbon Pollution

Photo, posted June 6, 2022, courtesy of 7C0 via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

A Car-Free Zone In Berlin | Earth Wise

February 22, 2022 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

The regional parliament in Berlin is considering the creation of a car-free zone in the German capital as a result of a petition from a local advocacy group. The group – called the People’s Decision for Auto-Free Berlin – collected 50,000 signatures, which was enough to require the Berlin Senate to take up the issue.

The city ban would apply to the space ringed by the S-Bahn train line, which circles the city center. Known as the Ringbahn, the area enclosed was already established as a low-emission zone in 2008. It is 34 square miles in area, larger than Manhattan. The ban would restrict vehicle use to trucks, taxis, emergency vehicles, and limited car-sharing programs.

In Berlin, a combination of regular trains, ample bike lanes, and a robust network of public buses makes getting around without a car more practical than in many other major cities. In fact, automobiles account for only 17% of trips inside of the Ringbahn.

Even so, there is still a lot of car traffic in the city center. Advocates for the plan believe it would lead to a city with cleaner air and more livable spaces for its citizens.

If the Berlin Senate rejects the measure, the advocacy group will seek to collect 175,000 signatures, which would force the Senate to consider the matter for a second time. If it is rejected again, it would automatically go to a referendum in 2023.

In Europe, it appears that the revolution in transportation may not just be one about electric vehicles, but in some places may be toward the removal of vehicles in general.

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Berlin Looks to Create Car-Free Zone Larger Than Manhattan

Photo, posted March 30, 2019, courtesy of Falco Ermert via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Private Jets and CO2 Emissions | Earth Wise

July 16, 2021 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

During the heart of the Covid-19 pandemic, private jet use saw record levels because chartered aircraft were estimated to have 30 times lower risk for covid than flying commercial. By August 2020, while commercial flights were down 60% year-over-year, private jet traffic was actually up. From an environmental perspective, however, flying on a private jet is about the worst thing one can do for the environment.

Private jets are 10 times more carbon intensive than airlines on average and 50 times more polluting than trains. A four-hour private flight emits as much as the average person does in a year.

In Europe, 7 out of the 10 most polluting routes taken by private aircraft lie in the UK-France-Switzerland-Italy axis, with jets departing the UK and France being the biggest source of pollution. One in 10 flights departing France are private jets, half of which travelled less than 300 miles.

A study by the research group Transport & Environment points out that wealthy private jet owners are ideally suited to aid in the decarbonization of the aviation sector. Private jet short hops are prime targets for replacement by clean technologies like electric and hydrogen aircraft. European policy makers could ban the use of fossil-fuel private jets for flights under 600 miles by 2030. Until such a ban, jet fuel and flight taxes could be imposed on private jets to account for their disproportionate climate impact and support technology development. And companies and individuals could commit to substantial reductions in private jet use when alternatives exist that do not unreasonably increase travel time.

The super-rich could be part of the solution instead of part of the problem.

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Private Jet Use Rising, Sending CO2 Emissions Soaring

Photo, posted September 9, 2020, courtesy of Mackenzie Cole via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Renewables Surpass Coal | Earth Wise

July 3, 2020 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

In 2019, energy consumption in the U.S. from renewable sources exceeded consumption from coal for the first time since before 1885. This has come about from a combination of the continued decline in the amount of coal used for electricity generation as well as the continued growth in renewable energy, mostly from wind and solar.

Until the mid-1800s, burning wood was the main source of energy in the U.S. and, in fact, it was the only commercial-scale renewable energy source until the first hydroelectric plants came online in the 1880s. Coal was used as fuel for steamboats and trains and making steel but only started to be used to generate electricity in the 1880s.

In 2019, U.S. coal consumption decreased for the sixth consecutive year and fell to its lowest level in 42 years. Natural gas has displaced much of the energy generation from retired coal plants.

At the same time, renewable energy consumption in the U.S. grew for the fourth year in a row to a record high level, almost entirely as a result of the growing use of wind and solar power. In 2019, wind power surpassed hydroelectric power for the first time and is now the most-used source of renewable energy for electricity generation in the U.S.

Coal was once commonly used in the industrial, transportation, residential, and commercial sectors. Today, in the U.S., it is mostly used to generate electricity, and that use is rapidly declining.

Electricity consumption for 2020 is likely to be anomalous in many ways as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic shutdowns. From all indications, however, the role of renewable energy will only have been increased during the shutdown period.

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U.S. renewable energy consumption surpasses coal for the first time in over 130 years

Photo, posted July 26, 2013, courtesy of Don Graham via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

The Earth Itself Is Quieter | Earth Wise

May 15, 2020 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Our stories often discuss how human activities change the natural environment. With most of us confined to our homes, the lack of human activities is having profound effects on the environment. We are talking about some of these this week.

With about a third of the world’s population sheltering in place, our planet is much quieter these days. It isn’t just our machines, vehicles, and factories that are making less noise. The earth itself is quieter. There has been a reduction in the earth’s seismic vibrations.

According to the journal Nature, various human-powered movements contribute to the persistent vibration of the earth’s crust. Things like engines firing up in factories, trains pulling into stations, and trucks barreling down highways all make contributions to seismic activity. Taken individually, such things are insignificant, but taken together, they produce a background of seismic noise that makes it difficult for seismologists to detect natural signals such as volcanic activity and earthquake aftershocks.

With much human activity on pause during the coronavirus outbreak, seismologists across the globe are seeing significant reductions in background seismic noise levels.

This respite in seismic noise, for as long as it lasts, represents an opportunity for scientists to better study the natural activity in the earth’s crust. Researchers studying the impact of ocean waves to predict volcanic activity and those who triangulate the location of earthquake epicenters may be able to make more sensitive measurements than under normal conditions.

There are very few positive things one can say about the coronavirus crisis, but it is providing opportunities to study and observe aspects of the natural world that are ordinarily drowned out by the bustle of humanity.

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