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Revision as of 01:48, 21 September 2016
Contents
(RE)SOURCES
boundaries
Planetary boundaries is the central concept in an Earth system framework proposed by a group of Earth system and environmental scientists led by Johan Rockström from the Stockholm Resilience Centre and Will Steffen from the Australian National University. In 2009, the group proposed a framework of “planetary boundaries” designed to define a “safe operating space for humanity” for the international community, including governments at all levels, international organizations, civil society, the scientific community and the private sector, as a precondition for sustainable development. This framework is based on scientific research that indicates that since the Industrial Revolution, human actions have gradually become the main driver of global environmental change. The scientists assert that once human activity has passed certain thresholds or tipping points, defined as “planetary boundaries”, there is a risk of “irreversible and abrupt environmental change”. The scientists identified nine Earth system processes which have boundaries that, to the extent that they are not crossed, mark the safe zone for the planet. However, because of human activities some of these dangerous boundaries have already been crossed, while others are in imminent danger of being crossed.
The nine boundaries are
- Climate change
- Biodiversity loss
- Biogeochemical - nitrogen and phosphorous
- Ocean acidification
- Land use
- Freshwater
- Ozone depletion
- Atmospheric aerosols
- Chemical pollution
Assessing the Environmental Impacts of Consumption and Production United Nations Environment Programme; 2010
- Environmental impacts are the unwanted byproduct of economic activities. Inadvertently, humans alter environmental conditions such as the acidity of soils, the nutrient content of surface water, the radiation balance of the atmosphere, and the concentrations of trace materials in food chains. Humans convert forest to pastureland and grassland to cropland or parking lots intentionally, but the resulting habitat change and biodiversity loss is still undesired. The environmental and health sciences have brought important insights into the connection of environmental pressures and ecosystem damages. Well-known assessments show that habitat change, the overexploitation of renewable resources, climate change, and particulate matter emissions are amongst the most important environmental problems. Biodiversity losses and ill health have been estimated and evaluated. This report focuses not on the effects of environmental pressure, but on its causes. It describes pressures as resulting from economic activities. These activities are pursued for a purpose, to satisfy consumption. Environmental pressures are commonly tied to the extraction and transformation of materials and energy. This report investigates the production-materials-consumption nexus.
Climate change
Biodiversity
Has land use pushed terrestrial biodiversity beyond the planetary boundary? A global assessment Tim Newbold, Lawrence N. Hudson, Andrew P. Arnell, Sara Contu, Adriana De Palma, Simon Ferrier, Samantha L. L. Hill, Andrew J. Hoskins, Igor Lysenko, Helen R. P. Phillips, Victoria J. Burton, Charlotte W. T. Chng, Susan Emerson, Di Gao, Gwilym Pask-Hale, Jon Hutton, Martin Jung, Katia Sanchez-Ortiz, Benno I. Simmons, Sarah Whitmee, Hanbin Zhang, Jörn P. W. Scharlemann, Andy Purvis; AAAS Science; 15 Jul 2016
- Land use and related pressures have reduced local terrestrial biodiversity, but it is unclear how the magnitude of change relates to the recently proposed planetary boundary (“safe limit”). We estimate that land use and related pressures have already reduced local biodiversity intactness—the average proportion of natural biodiversity remaining in local ecosystems—beyond its recently proposed planetary boundary across 58.1% of the world’s land surface, where 71.4% of the human population live. Biodiversity intactness within most biomes (especially grassland biomes), most biodiversity hotspots, and even some wilderness areas is inferred to be beyond the boundary. Such widespread transgression of safe limits suggests that biodiversity loss, if unchecked, will undermine efforts toward long-term sustainable development.
Biodiversity falls below ‘safe levels’ globally UCL; 14 Jul 2016
- Levels of global biodiversity loss may negatively impact on ecosystem function and the sustainability of human societies, according to UCL-led research.
- “This is the first time we’ve quantified the effect of habitat loss on biodiversity globally in such detail and we’ve found that across most of the world biodiversity loss is no longer within the safe limit suggested by ecologists” explained lead researcher, Dr Tim Newbold from UCL and previously at UNEP-WCMC.
- “We know biodiversity loss affects ecosystem function but how it does this is not entirely clear. What we do know is that in many parts of the world, we are approaching a situation where human intervention might be needed to sustain ecosystem function.”
- The team found that grasslands, savannas and shrublands were most affected by biodiversity loss, followed closely by many of the world’s forests and woodlands. They say the ability of biodiversity in these areas to support key ecosystem functions such as growth of living organisms and nutrient cycling has become increasingly uncertain.
- The study, published today in Science, led by researchers from UCL, the Natural History Museum and UNEP-WCMC, found that levels of biodiversity loss are so high that if left unchecked, they could undermine efforts towards long-term sustainable development.
Biodiversity is below safe levels across more than half of world's land – study Adam Vaughan; Guardian; 14 Jul 2016
- Analysing 1.8m records from 39,123 sites across Earth, the international study found that a measure of the intactness of biodiversity at sites has fallen below a safety limit across 58.1% of the world’s land.
Ocean acidification
Leading Ocean Scientists Recommend Immediate, Coordinated Action Plan to Combat Changes to West Coast Seawater Chemistry Scripps Institution of Oceanography; 6 Apr 2016
- Global carbon dioxide emissions are triggering permanent changes to ocean chemistry along the North American West Coast that require immediate, decisive action to combat.
- That action includes development of a coordinated regional management strategy, concluded a panel of scientific experts including Andrew Dickson, a professor of marine chemistry at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego.
- A failure to adequately respond to this fundamental change in seawater chemistry, known as ocean acidification, is anticipated to have devastating ecological consequences for the West Coast in the decades to come, the 20-member West Coast Ocean Acidification and Hypoxia Science Panel warned in a comprehensive report unveiled April 4.
Freshwater
NASA Satellites Reveals Northern India's Groundwater dropping at one foot per year due to irrigation and other human activities Next Big Future; 3 Apr 2016
NASA Satellites Unlock Secret to Northern India's Vanishing Water NASA; 12 Aug 2009
- Beneath northern India’s irrigated fields of wheat, rice, and barley ... beneath its densely populated cities of Jaiphur and New Delhi, the groundwater has been disappearing. Halfway around the world, hydrologists, including Matt Rodell of NASA, have been hunting for it.
- Where is northern India’s underground water supply going? According to Rodell and colleagues, it is being pumped and consumed by human activities -- principally to irrigate cropland -- faster than the aquifers can be replenished by natural processes. They based their conclusions -- published in the August 20 issue of Nature -- on observations from NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE).
- "If measures are not taken to ensure sustainable groundwater usage, consequences for the 114 million residents of the region may include a collapse of agricultural output and severe shortages of potable water," said Rodell, who is based at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
A Bamboo Tower That Produces Up To 25 Gallons of Water In A Day by Capturing Condensation Goods Home Design
Chemical pollution
The dystopian lake filled by the world’s tech lust Tim Maughan; BBC Future; 2 Apr 2015
- Hidden in an unknown corner of Inner Mongolia is a toxic, nightmarish lake created by our thirst for smartphones, consumer gadgets and green tech
Highly efficient heavy metal ions filter Science Daily; 25 Jan 2016
- In November 2015, Brazil experienced an unparalleled environmental disaster. When two dams broke at an iron ore mine, a poisonous cocktail of heavy metals was sent pouring into the Rio Doce, reaching the Atlantic some days later. The consequences were devastating for nature and humans alike: countless fish, birds and animals died, and a quarter of a million people were left without drinking water.
- This case demonstrates that water pollution is one of today's most serious global problems. No satisfactory technical solution has been found for the treatment of water contaminated with heavy metals or radioactive substances. Existing methods used to remove water from heavy metals, for example, have several disadvantages: either they are too targeted at a specific element or their filter capacity is too small; additionally, they are often too expensive.
- Now, a solution may have been found in a new type of hybrid filter membrane developed in the laboratory of Raffaele Mezzenga, Professor of Food and Soft Materials at ETH Zurich. This technology not only has an extremely simple structure, but also comprises low-cost raw materials, such as whey protein fibres and activated charcoal. Heavy metal ions can be almost completely removed from water in just a single pass through the filter membrane.
Efficient removal of uranium, other heavy metals from water Science Daily; 10 Dec 2013
- A new and efficient method for the removal of uranium and other heavy metals from water has been developed at the University of Eastern Finland. Chemec Ltd., a Finnish chemicals industry company, has purchased the rights in the invention and will introduce the method to the commercial markets. Binding metal ions to a solid material, the CH Collector method can be used within the mining industry, and also in the removal of emissions caused by the chemicals and metals processing industries.
- Chemec's CH Collector method is a potential solution to issues relating to the dangers and recovery of uranium, which have been a topic of much debate in Finland lately. Uranium is a mildly radioactive and poisonous heavy metal, which is naturally occurring in some parts of the Finnish bedrock. When mining other metals such as gold, uranium may be present as an impurity in mining waste waters. A complete removal of uranium from solutions is difficult due to the fact that uranium takes different forms depending on the acidity of the solution. The removal of other heavy metal emissions such as lead, mercury, cadmium and zinc from waters is also challenging.
air pollution
Study: More than 6 million could die early from air pollution every year
Choking Our Health Care System With Coal Conca; Forbes
19 April 2016: EU membership delivers cleaner air Stephen Tindale; Climate Answers; 19 Apr 2016
Biogeochemical
Nitrogen
WE’VE CHANGED A LIFE-GIVING NUTRIENT INTO A DEADLY POLLUTANT. HOW CAN WE CHANGE IT BACK? Elizabeth Grossman; ENSIA; 25 Mar 2016
- Coastal dead zones, global warming, excess algae blooms, acid rain, ocean acidification, smog, impaired drinking water quality, an expanding ozone hole and biodiversity loss. Seemingly diverse problems, but a common thread connects them: human disruption of how a single chemical element, nitrogen, interacts with the environment.
- Nitrogen is absolutely crucial to life — an indispensable ingredient of DNA, proteins and essentially all living tissue — yet it also can choke the life out of aquatic ecosystems, destroy trees and sicken people when it shows up in excess at the wrong place, at the wrong time, in the wrong form. And over the past century, people have released so much of this type of nitrogen — known as reactive nitrogen — that scientists say we’ve passed the limit of what the planet can safely handle.
Phosphorus
Freeze-thaw effects on phosphorus loss in runoff from manured and catch-cropped soils Bechmann ME, Kleinman PJ, Sharpley AN, Saporito LS; Journal of Environmental Quality; Nov 2005
- Concern over nonpoint source P losses from agricultural lands to surface waters in frigid climates has focused attention on the role of freezing and thawing on P loss from catch crops (cover crops). This study evaluated the effect of freezing and thawing on the fate of P in bare soils, soils mixed with dairy manure, and soils with an established catch crop of annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum L.). Experiments were conducted to evaluate changes in P runoff from packed soil boxes (100 by 20 by 5 cm) and P leaching from intact soil columns (30 cm deep). Before freezing and thawing, total P (TP) in runoff from catch-cropped soils was lower than from manured and bare soils due to lower erosion. Repeated freezing and thawing significantly increased water-extractable P (WEP) from catch crop biomass and resulted in significantly elevated concentrations of dissolved P in runoff (9.7 mg L(-1)) compared with manured (0.18 mg L(-1)) and bare soils (0.14 mg L(-1)). Catch crop WEP was strongly correlated with the number of freeze-thaw cycles. Freezing and thawing did not change the WEP of soils mixed with manures, nor were differences observed in subsurface losses of P between catch-cropped and bare soils before or after manure application. This study illustrates the trade-offs of establishing catch crops in frigid climates, which can enhance P uptake by biomass and reduce erosion potential but increase dissolved P runoff.
CO2 emissions
Carbon dioxide levels in atmosphere spike World Meteorological Organisation; YubaNet; 10 Mar 2016
- The annual growth rate of atmospheric carbon dioxide measured at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii jumped by 3.05 parts per million during 2015, the largest year-to-year increase in 56 years of research, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Decoupling of global emissions and economic growth confirmed IEA; 16 Mar 2016
- IEA analysis shows energy-related emissions of CO2 stalled for the second year in a row as renewable energy surged
Geoengineering
Oxford Geoengineering Programme? Oxford Martin School
Will Developing Nations Hack the Climate? Kristan Uhlenbrock; UnDark; 18 Jul 2016
- What if the poor and developing nations most vulnerable to climate change took matters into their own hands with geoengineering?
CO2 sequestration
natural/biological
China's Great Green Wall Helps Pull CO2 Out of Atmosphere
- China contributed the most to a global increase in carbon stored in trees and other plants
Carbon Engineering
A Canadian start-up is removing CO2 from the air and turning it into pellets
- A pilot project to suck CO2 out of the atmosphere and turn it into pellets that can either be used as fuel or stored underground for later has been launched by a Vancouver-based start-up called Carbon Engineering. While the test facility has so far only extracted 10 tonnes of CO2 since its launch back in June, its operations will help inform the construction of a $200 million commercial plant in 2017, which is expected to extract 1 million tonnes per day - the equivalent of taking 100 cars off the road every year. It plans to start selling CO2-based synthetic fuels by 2018. "It's now possible to take CO2 out of the atmosphere, and use it as a feed stock, with hydrogen, to produce net zero emission fuels," company chief executive Adrian Corless told the AFP.
Giant Fans Will Soon Suck CO2 out of the Atmosphere and Turn It into Fuel
Albedo / radiation modification
Shipping in the Arctic to Cool Off the Planet ajdavis2004; Climate CoLab
- With help from the multi-billion dollar trans-ocean shipping industry we can open Arctic-night ice-pack, and use these openings to grow and thicken ice to increase summer albedo. This intervention will keep the planet from accumulating excess energy, halting global warming, while providing habitat for Arctic sea life and year-round trade for Arctic human communities.
Economics
Energy use and Conservation
Building
Ventilation in New Homes - A report of site visit findings Zero Carbon Hub
- The Zero Carbon Hub (“the Hub”) visited 33 dwellings across 6 construction sites in 2015 to see how effectively their mechanical ventilation systems were designed, installed, commissioned and handed over to occupants. This report presents the findings from the site visits anonymously. It is intended for organisations with an interest in quality assuring the delivery of ventilation systems, including government policymakers, developers and their advisers. In summary, the Hub team found things going wrong at multiple stages of the construction process at every site. The cumulative effect of these issues ultimately outweighed any good practice, as the systems we tested showed significant under-performance. At 5 of the 6 sites, fans were operating at only half the required duty or lower, i.e. flow rates were far too low. The end result was that nearly all of the 13 occupants interviewed by the team across the sites had turned off their ventilation systems, finding them too noisy, especially at night. If systems are turned off, they are not doing their job. The air quality in the property will be compromised, with potentially serious consequences for the health of occupants.
Government must learn from previous mistakes as Green Deal report concludes it failed to deliver value for money HVP; 19 Apr 2016
- The National Audit Office has concluded that the Department of Energy & Climate Change’s (DECC) Green Deal has not achieved value for money. The scheme, which cost taxpayers £240 million, including grants to stimulate demand, has not generated additional energy savings because DECC’s design and implementation did not persuade householders that energy efficiency measures are worth paying for, says the report. Green Deal and Energy Company Obligation, published on 14 April, also concluded that DECC’s design of its Energy Company Obligation (ECO) scheme to support the Green Deal added to energy suppliers’ costs of meeting their obligations. This reduced the value for money of ECO, but the Department’s information is not detailed enough to conclude by how much. Suppliers have met their obligations for saving carbon dioxide (CO2) and reducing bills.
district heating
Factory machines to heat homes under huge green networks plan Emily Gosden; Daily Telegraph; 28 Aug 2016
- Hundreds of thousands of homes are to be heated using warmth generated by industrial machinery, geothermal energy and even Tube trains, under government-backed plans for a major expansion of “heat networks”.
low energy / passivhaus
Transforming the market to make net zero energy housing a reality in the UK Energiesprong UK Limited, National Energy Centre, Milton Keynes MK5 8NG
- low energy housing retrofits
Irish county becomes first in English speaking world to make Passive House standard mandatory (Lloyd Alter; TreeHugger; 23 Feb 2016)
EnerPHit - The new Passivhaus refurbishment standard from the Passivhaus Institute Melissa Taylor, Passivhaus Trust; Mar 2011
heat pumps
- Heat Pumps Today was first published in 2009 in response to growing demand from the market for information focused on the ground source, water source and air source heat pumps.
Desalination
Scaling Shock Electrodialysis for Desalination NextBigFuture
Drought stricken California county looks to nuclear plant desalination plant
Transport
IT
By 2040, computers will need more electricity than the world can generate Richard Chirgwin; The Register; 25 Jul 2016
Efficiency
Energy Efficiency: Shaping the United States Energy System James Sweeney ( director of the Precourt Energy Efficiency Center, Stanford University); 30 Nov 2015 Video of Energy Seminar
- Ever since the oil embargo of 1973-74, private and public U.S. energy discussions have centered on energy impacts to three complex and crucial systems: the economy, the environment, and national and international security. Policy debates have deadlocked trying to balance tradeoffs among these essential systems. Energy efficiency, on the other hand, is good for the economy and the environment, while enhancing security. It should be no surprise that since the oil embargo of 1973-74, individuals, corporations, and other organizations have found ways of economically reducing energy use. Nor should it be a surprise that federal, state, and local governments have enacted laws and regulations to promote energy efficiency.
- However, many will find the remarkably large energy efficiency results surprising. Since the energy crisis of 1973-74, U.S. energy efficiency has done more to curb greenhouse gas emissions and to reduce net energy imports than have increases in domestic production of oil, gas, coal, geothermal energy, nuclear power, solar power, wind power, and biofuels – all taken together
Futures
self-sufficiency
What happened to the self-sufficient people of the 1970s? Claire Bates; BBC News Magazine; 12 Apr 2016
- Forty years ago a new book offered city dwellers a way to escape the rat-race and go back to the land. The author of the "bible" of self-sufficiency, John Seymour, convinced thousands to change their lives.
Environmentalism
Inconvenient truths for the environmental movement Joshua S. Goldstein and Steven Pinker; Boston Globe; 23 Nov 2015
- CONGRESSIONAL REPUBLICANS MAKE an easy target for their denial of climate change... Environmentalists deserve enormous credit for calling the world’s attention to the threat to humanity posed by climate change. But precisely because this challenge is so stupendous, we need an uncompromisingly focused plan to solve it. Instead of offering such a solution, traditional greens have been distracted by their signature causes, and in doing so have themselves denied some inconvenient truths.
- The first is that, until now, fossil fuels have been good for humanity. The industrial revolution doubled life expectancy in developed countries while multiplying prosperity twentyfold. As industrialization spreads to the developing world, billions of people are rising out of poverty in their turn — affording more food, living longer and healthier lives, becoming better educated, and having fewer babies — thanks to cheap fossil fuels...
- That brings us to the second inconvenient truth: Nuclear power is the world’s most abundant and scalable carbon-free energy source. In today’s world, every nuclear plant that is not built is a fossil-fuel plant that does get built, which in most of the world means coal. Yet the use of nuclear power has been stagnant or even contracting.
The Education of an Environmentalist Robert Stone; Scientific American; 21 Apr 2016
- How an award-winning filmmaker who created the definitive Earth Day documentary learned to love nuclear power in an age of global warming
EcoModernism
- We offer this statement in the belief that both human prosperity and an ecologically vibrant planet are not only possible, but also inseparable. By committing to the real processes, already underway, that have begun to decouple human well-being from environmental destruction, we believe that such a future might be achieved. As such, we embrace an optimistic view toward human capacities and the future.
NATURE UNBOUND - DECOUPLING FOR CONSERVATION Linus Blomqvist, Ted Nordhaus, Michael Shellenberger; The Breakthrough Institute; Sep 2015
A New Breed of American Environmentalists Challenges the Stale Dogma of the Left
Why energy transitions are the key to environmental progress (MICHAEL SHELLENBERGER & RACHEL PRITZKER)
- particularly about India
Monbiot's criticism
- Wiping the World Clean George Monbiot; 24 Sep 2015
- Responding to George Monbiot’s attack on Ecomodernists Ben Heard
Third Way
Third Way Tries to Revive Nuclear William Tucker; 20 Nov 2015
- Third Way, the Washington think tank, has taken upon itself the unenviable task of trying to convince liberal Democrats that nuclear energy is an important part of the battle against global warming.
- Third Way occupies the position once held by centrist Democrats. Granted there are only a few of them left and the position seems to be completely missing in the Democratic Presidential debates. Scoop Jackson was the premier representative of the position but there are no Scoop Jacksons on the horizon. Third Way lists Democratic Senators Tom Carper, Claire McCaskill, Joe Manchin, Chris Coons and Jean Shaheen among its supporters. Jim Webb, the former Democratic Senator from Virginia, also might have filled the bill but he only lasted one round of the debates.
- Third Way likes to pride itself in being practical and pragmatic. It says that both sides often have a point on critical issues and that “If people cannot compromise they should not be in politics.” It has staked out a middle ground on issues as diverse as education, health care and financial regulation. But where it is making a name for itself – and where it is likely to have the most impact – is in its support of nuclear power.
musings
It's not climate change - it's everything change Margatet Atwood
Bill Gates
Gates: Renewable energy can't do the job. Gov should switch green subsidies into R&D
World's Richest Man Picks Energy Miracles David Biello, Scientific American, 29 Feb 2016
Q&A: Bill Gates Jason Pontin; MIT Technology Review; 25 Apr 2016
- Microsoft’s cofounder vows to change the “supply side” for breakthrough energy technologies by investing billions of his and his friends’ dollars.
grids / integration
Electricity Transmission Systems World Nuclear Association; Nov 2015
- National and regional grid systems connecting generators with wholesale customers are generally just as important as electrical power generation.
- Investment in these is often on a similar scale to generation capacity.
- New technology is enabling transmission at high voltages over long distances without great losses.
- Transmission system operators have responsibility for the quality of power supply.
- Countries with well-developed electricity infrastructure have established grids run by transmission system operators (TSO) to convey power to distribution systems where it is needed. Where generating plants can be located close to load centres, these are less important than where the plants are remote, as with many hydro-electric plants and wind farms. Lower voltage can be used. At higher voltages, eg 500kV and above, transmission losses over hundreds of kilometres are much reduced. At ultra-high voltages (UHV) eg 1000 kV AC or 800 kV DC, losses are further reduced (eg to 5% over 1000 km) but capital requirements are greater. In Germany consideration is being given to converting some existing AC lines to DC to increase their capacity. In the USA it is estimated that transmission losses amount to about 6%, or 250 TWh per year, worth some $20 billion. In India transmission losses in 2011 were 222 TWh (21%).
Smart energy could save £8bn a year, say advisers Roger Harrabin; BBC; 4 Mar 2016
Ofgem challenges power grid companies to connect more renewables
- Ofgem is challenging local electricity grid owners to follow Western Power Distribution’s lead by squeezing more capacity out of their grids to connect renewables.
- There is huge growth in renewable generation in Great Britain. By December 2015 8.6GW of solar capacity had been installed 15 years ahead of forecasts.* Official projections made in 2012 suggested that around 6.5GW of solar panel capacity would be connected by 2030.
- In some regions including the South West, there is little spare network capacity meaning costs and timescales for connection can be extremely high. So Ofgem is calling on electricity distribution network operators (DNOs) to speed up connections, firstly by finding new ways to link more generators to the existing network.
Managing Flexibility Whilst Decarbonising the GB Electricity System Andy Boston, Helen K Thomas; Energy Research Partnership UK; Aug 2015
- 3rd Science and Energy Seminar at Ecole de Physique des Houches, March 6th-11th 2016
- presentations on EROI, power-gas-power, intermmittency, grids, etc
power line bird mortalities
Refining Estimates of Bird Collision and Electrocution Mortality at Power Lines in the United States Scott R. Loss,1,*¤ Tom Will,2 and Peter P. Marra1; PLOS One; 3 Jul 2014: Collisions and electrocutions at power lines are thought to kill large numbers of birds in the United States annually. However, existing estimates of mortality are either speculative (for electrocution) or based on extrapolation of results from one study to all U.S. power lines (for collision).
conversion / chemical fuels
Carbon dioxide-to-methanol catalyst ignites ‘fuel from air’ debate
Recycling CO₂ in U.S. Navy with SMR (Small Modular Reactors) Don Larson; 26 Apr 2015
- Pulling carbon dioxide from seawater and recycling it into liquid fuel has been prototyped by U.S. Naval Research Laboratory. It needs to be scaled up, and provided with inexpensive energy to drive the process.
waste to oil
MIT researchers turn waste gas into liquid fuel
- The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) process uses bacteria to convert the waste gases into acetic acid - vinegar - then an engineered yeast to produce an oil.
Chemists find new way to recycle plastic waste into fuel University of California, Irvine News; 21 Jun 2016
- A new way of recycling millions of tons of plastic garbage into liquid fuel has been devised by researchers from the University of California, Irvine and the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry (SIOC) in China.
aircraft fuels
Scale Model WWII Craft Takes Flight With Fuel From the Sea Concept US Naval Research Laboratory; 7 Apr 2014
- Navy researchers at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), Materials Science and Technology Division, demonstrate proof-of-concept of novel NRL technologies developed for the recovery of carbon dioxide (CO2) and hydrogen (H2) from seawater and conversion to a liquid hydrocarbon fuel. Fueled by a liquid hydrocarbon—a component of NRL's novel gas-to-liquid (GTL) process that uses CO2 and H2 as feedstock—the research team demonstrated sustained flight of a radio-controlled (RC) P-51 replica of the legendary Red Tail Squadron, powered by an off-the-shelf (OTS) and unmodified two-stroke internal combustion engine. Using an innovative and proprietary NRL electrolytic cation exchange module (E-CEM), both dissolved and bound CO2 are removed from seawater at 92 percent efficiency by re-equilibrating carbonate and bicarbonate to CO2 and simultaneously producing H2. The gases are then converted to liquid hydrocarbons by a metal catalyst in a reactor system.
Fuel from Seawater? What's the Catch? Don Willmott; Smithsonian Magazine; 6 Dec 2014
- Scientists at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory recently flew a model plane using a liquid hydrocarbon fuel they sourced from the ocean
- Hydrocarbon bonds in Camelina-derived JP-5 can be shaped so the fuel has higher energy density than petroleum-derived JP-5. NRL fuel has performance properties superior to fossil fuel sourced fuel.
- SMR exist today in the Navy, on carriers and submarines. USS Enterprise had eight A2W reactors. They can be built, and expanded modularity. They do not require a site license.
- FY 2013 procurement and delivery at sea was $6.60 per gallon. 540 million gallons for $3.6 BB. Current procurement presents logistic and on-station issues.
- Don Larson gave this presentation for eGeneration at the 5th Annual Small Modular Reactor Conference, 2015 in North Carolina.
- The Molten Salt Reactors Don Larson cites as capable of generating high temperatures capable of directly disassociating hydrogen from oxygen in water (bypassing electrolysis entirely) are being designed by Terrestrial Energy and Flibe Energy.
MOLTEN SALT REACTORS AND THE COAL INDUSTRY
electricity to hydrogen -- Hebrides
HEBRIDEAN HYDROGEN PARK - PROJECT DEVELOPMENT Jun 2007
- PURPOSE OF REPORT To obtain approval for the use of capital funds to develop hydrogen infrastructure via the Hebridean Hydrogen SEED (H2SEED) Project.
Royal Mail goes green in Hebrides Severin Carrell; Guardian; 7 Sep 2010
- The nation's posties have used the greenest kinds of transport for generations, relying on their feet and their distinctive fleet of red bicycles to make their rounds. Now their delivery vehicles, too, could go green. For the last few months, it has emerged, the Royal Mail has been secretly testing new zero-carbon vehicles on one of the remotest delivery rounds in Britain, in the Outer Hebrides. Instead of diesel-belching vans, postal staff on the Isle of Lewis have been driving hydrogen-powered Ford Transits, converted at a total cost of £100,000. They fill up in Stornoway, at one of the UK's few hydrogen refuelling stations.
Hydrogen vehicles in the Outer Hebrides Fuel Cell Works; 13 Sep 2012
- Comhairle nan Eilean Siar has published an invitation to tender for the supply of hydrogen vehicles to the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. The vehicles, which will be either passenger cars or vans, will be deployed in Stornoway for an initial 2 year trial period performing normal operational duties. The vehicles will refuel at the Comhairle’s existing renewable hydrogen refuelling station, the H2seed Facility.
Fossil fuels
Natural Gas
See also: Methane
Fracking
Potential Greenhouse Gas Emissions Associated with Shale Gas Extraction and Use Professor David J C MacKay FRS, Dr Timothy J Stone CBE; DECC; 9 Sep 2013
- Our conclusions are as follows:
- Carbon footprint
- a. If adequately regulated, local GHG emissions from shale gas operations should represent only a small proportion of the total carbon footprint of shale gas, which is likely to be dominated by CO2 emissions associated with its combustion.
- b. Any local GHG emissions from shale gas operations would fall within the nontraded sector of the UK’s carbon budgets. If the carbon budgets impose a binding constraint, any increase in emissions associated with domestic shale gas operations would have to be offset by emissions cuts elsewhere in the economy.
- c. The carbon footprint (emissions intensity) of shale gas extraction and use is likely to be in the range 200 – 253 g CO2e per kWh of chemical energy, which makes shale gas’s overall carbon footprint comparable to gas extracted from conventional sources (199 – 207 g CO2e/kWh(th)), and lower than the carbon footprint of Liquefied Natural Gas (233 - 270g CO2e/kWh(th)). When shale gas is used for electricity generation, its carbon footprint is likely to be in the range 423 – 535 g CO2e/kWh(e), which is significantly lower than the carbon footprint of coal, 837 – 1130 g CO2e/kWh(e).
UC Study Claiming Air Pollution from Fracking Quietly Retracted Due to Bad Data Seth Whitehead; Energy In Depth; 7 Jul 2016
- The University of Cincinnati (UC) has yet to publish the results of a now year-old study that found no water contamination from hydraulic fracturing in a scientific journal, despite scrutiny, media attention, and numerous calls from groups and elected officials to do so. This indefinite delay is all the more interesting considering that UC couldn’t wait to publish the results of its 2015 study that claimed fracking was causing significant air pollution in Carroll County. That study appeared in Environmental Science & Technology just three months after it was completed. But the UC researchers’ urgency has apparently come back to bite them as they have just retracted the study due to “errors” and “incorrect” calculations
Coal
Ultra Super Critical Boilers Clean coal technology
Greenwash / snake oil
Fuel economy devices
- Claims: "The Ultimatecell is powered by direct fused current from the vehicles 12v battery. The UltimateCell powers itself on-and-off and only creates minute-quantities of hydrogen gases On-Demand-when the engine is running. This technology, unlike others, does not rely on the large storage of fuel.
- “When the engine starts, the UltimateCell initiates an electrolysis process that is electronically controlled. This results in the safe chemical separation of the Hydrogen molecules from the Water that will be fed into the engines air intake”
- "The hydrogen produced within the vehicle works as a catalyst inside the engine head. This allows a faster and more complete combustion of the fuel. The result is an engine with optimum performance– always. This results in a cleaner, greener, smoother running engine. Power band torque is optimised resulting in easier, quicker driving through the gears. It would be found easier to remain in a higher gear for longer periods of time, thus resulting in less fuel been used and also reduced harmful tailpipe emissions. This saves you money and it is much greener to our environment."
other
population
Global population growth, box by box Hans Rosling; TED@Cannes; Jun 2010
- The world's population will grow to 9 billion over the next 50 years — and only by raising the living standards of the poorest can we check population growth.
New insights on poverty Hans Rosling; TED2007; Mar 2007
- Researcher Hans Rosling uses his cool data tools to show how countries are pulling themselves out of poverty. He demos Dollar Street, comparing households of varying income levels worldwide.
There is no population explosion on this planet Robert Newman; Guardian opinion; 22 Sep 2013
- Our population problem isn't too many humans on the planet, but too few owning too much of it
World Fertility Patterns 2009 United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs Population Division
- World Fertility Patterns 2009 presents the data available to assess the change in fertility taking place in countries of the world. For the 224 countries or areas for which data are available, it displays unadjusted data on total fertility, age-specific fertility and the mean age at childbearing for two points in time: the first as close as possible to 1970 and the second showing the latest available data.
pollution
Denmark accused of keeping quiet over "environmental disaster" that saw fertiliser and oil pour into the sea during fire Lizzie Dearden; Independent; 28 Feb 2016
- Several thousand tonnes of liquid fertiliser burst out of a silo in Frederica Harbour on 3 March, causing palm oil to leak from a neighbouring vat and catch on fire, starting a huge blaze. But a Danish newspaper has accused local authorities of failing to announce the impact of the accident for several weeks, amid fears that huge amounts of toxic substances flowed into the sea and could kill countless fish.
human welfare / social change
working hours
Long working hours and risk of coronary heart disease and stroke: a systematic review and meta-analysis of published and unpublished data for 603 838 individuals Mika Kivimäki et al; The Lancet; 31 Oct 2015
- Employees who work long hours have a higher risk of stroke than those working standard hours; the association with coronary heart disease is weaker. These findings suggest that more attention should be paid to the management of vascular risk factors in individuals who work long hours.
Working long hours is linked to a significantly higher risk of stroke PETER DOCKRILL; Science Alert; 21 AUG 2015
- According to researchers in the UK, those who work longer hours during the week significantly increase their chances of having a stroke. In the largest research project of its kind, researchers from University College London reviewed 25 studies involving more than 600,000 men and women from across Europe, the US, and Australia. Looking at the data, they found that those working 55 hours or more per week had a 33 percent greater risk of stroke than those working a more balanced 35–40 hour work week. Working the longer set of hours also brings with it a 13 percent increased risk of developing coronary heart disease.
Sweden
Sweden introduces six-hour work day Hardeep Matharu @Hardeep_Matharu; Independent; May? 2016
- Employers across the country including retirement homes, hospitals and car centres, are implementing the change
Sweden is shifting to a 6-hour work day BEC CREW; Science Alert; 30 SEP 2015
effective altruism
RESEARCHERS MAY HAVE FOUND THE BEST WAY OF ENDING EXTREME POVERTY, AND IT’S EMBARRASSINGLY SIMPLE MATT HERSHBERGER; Matador Network; 18 Apr 2016
- Utah homelessness, Pete Singer, GiveDirectly, cash transfers,
OTHER RESOURCES
- "a magazine showcasing environmental solutions in action. Our mission is to share stories and spark conversations that motivate and empower people to create a more sustainable future."
Tyndall Centre for climate change research
- We bring together scientists, economists, engineers and social scientists who are working to develop sustainable responses to climate change. We work not just within the research community, but also with business leaders, policy advisors, the media and the public in general.
Energy Research Partnership UK
- The Energy Research Partnership is a high-level forum bringing together key stakeholders and funders of energy research, development, demonstration and deployment in Government, industry and academia, plus other interested bodies, to identify and work together towards shared goals. The Partnership has been designed to give strategic direction to UK energy innovation, seeking to influence the development of new technologies and enabling timely, focussed investments to be made. It does this by (i) influencing members in their respective individual roles and capacities and (ii) communicating views more widely to other stakeholders and decision makers as appropriate. ERP’s remit covers the whole energy system, including supply (nuclear, fossil fuels, renewables), infrastructure, and the demand side (built environment, energy efficiency, transport). The ERP is co-chaired by Professor John Loughhead, Chief Scientific Advisor at the Department of Energy and Climate Change and Dr Keith MacLean (formerly Director of Policy & Research at Scottish and Southern Energy). A small in-house team provides independent and rigorous analysis to underpin the ERP’s work. The ERP is supported through members’ contributions.
- Contributors
- The University of Western Australia
- Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia
- Wheatbelt Natural Resource Management is the regional Natural Resource Management (NRM) group for the Avon River Basin and administers investment for on ground projects that will result in positive NRM outcomes for the environment, economy and community.
- Grains Research & Development Corporation is one of the world’s leading grains research organisations
- South Coast Natural Resource Management is an incorporated non-profit association owned and directed by the people of the South Coast Region of Western Australia.
- Grower Group Alliance is a network of grower groups, research providers and grains industry representatives located throughout Western Australia.