No such thing as waste

A breakthrough in battery technology, which combines waste carbon dioxide with tiny microbes, could be the next best thing for wind and solar energy. Scientists at Pennsylvania State University are using a combination of tiny microbes and CO2. Placed under an electrical current – for example from an off-grid renewable power source such as wind or solar – the microbes convert the CO2 into methane.

The initial carbon dioxide needed for the chemical reaction could even come from industrial sources. CO2 is soluble in water, so the gas stream could be bubbled or transferred in pipes from factories, for example. The ‘battery’ is designed to work as a closed loop, capturing and reusing the CO2 that’s released when the methane is burned.

The energy conversion is about 80%, but scaling up will need to be worked on. Not only is carbon used up but more energy generated in the form of methane, and a storage unit created for intermittent energy.

Meanwhile, there is hope from what’s unwanted, dirty and a nuisance – waste. According to a recent study by the university of Singapore, fuel from processed waste biomass, such as paper and cardboard, is a promising clean energy solution.

Data from the United Nation’s Human Development Index and the Earth Trends database was used to arrive at an estimate of how much waste is produced in 173 countries and how much fuel the same countries annually require.

The research team has calculated that 82.93 billion liters of cellulosic ethanol can be produced by the available landfill waste in the world and the resulting biofuel can reduce global carbon emissions in the range of 29.2% to 86.1% for every unit of energy produced.

With improvements in technology the numbers will increase. And make cellulosic ethanol an important component of our renewable energy future.

Not that there is reason enough to keep wasting! But waste for sure need not be waste, whether it be carbon dioxide or organic waste!