Here's a quick question for you: which is the world's oldest living being?
Chances are you would bank on the tortoise, but even the oldest known of these is only 175 years. We are talking in thousands of years! Quick!
How about something 400,000 to 600,000 years old? Yes, that is the age of the Siberian actinobacteria found in Copenhagen by researcher Rachel Sussman. And then there is the 100,000-year-old Posidonia Oceanica sea grass living off the coast of Ibiza! Or the Creosote bush found in Mojave desert of California which is 12,000 years old. The 13,000 year old underground forest of South Africa. And the 80,000 year old Aspen colony of Utah... for more of these ancients, check out TED.
What do these Ancients tell us besides the records of thousands of years? They speak of nature's resilience and adaptation to severe conditions. They also exhibit telltale symptoms of climate change induced scars. A stark reminder of how the human race stands to wipe out some of the planet's incredible life forms...
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Freeze it, ship it & forget it
Storing and shipping natural gas by trapping it in ice--using technology being developed by researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy--could cut shipping costs for the fuel, making it easier for countries to buy natural gas from many different sources, and eventually leading to more stable supplies worldwide.
The technology traps natural gas in the form of methane hydrate, in which methane, the main component of natural gas, is confined within cage-like ice crystals.
Conventional technologies for making methane hydrate take hours or days: they involve mixing water and the hydrocarbon in large pressurized vessels. The new approach forces water and methane through a specially designed nozzle that creates the methane hydrate "almost instantaneously," says Charles Taylor, the lead researcher on the project at the DOE's National Energy Technology Laboratory in Pittsburgh. As the mixture exits the nozzle, it quickly forms hydrate, which looks like snow.
Making methane hydrate involves mimicking the high pressure and low temperatures at which it forms in nature, typically deep under the ocean. (Huge reserves of methane hydrate exist in places such as the Alaskan North Slope, both threatening to become another source of greenhouse gases and potentially offering a huge source of natural gas.)
Once the ice crystals form, they keep the methane confined even if the surrounding pressure is lowered, so the methane hydrate can be shipped at atmospheric pressure as long as it's kept frozen. The snow-like hydrate can be packed into cubes and loaded into the refrigerated ships, boxcars, and trucks now used to ship frozen food at -10 °C. That temperature is far easier and cheaper to manage than the -162 °C required for LNG. While the methane hydrate can burn, the methane is released slowly enough that it's not explosive.
Now that's smart thinking for you. Transport costs and leaks are among the major concern of gas supplies.
The technology traps natural gas in the form of methane hydrate, in which methane, the main component of natural gas, is confined within cage-like ice crystals.
Conventional technologies for making methane hydrate take hours or days: they involve mixing water and the hydrocarbon in large pressurized vessels. The new approach forces water and methane through a specially designed nozzle that creates the methane hydrate "almost instantaneously," says Charles Taylor, the lead researcher on the project at the DOE's National Energy Technology Laboratory in Pittsburgh. As the mixture exits the nozzle, it quickly forms hydrate, which looks like snow.
Making methane hydrate involves mimicking the high pressure and low temperatures at which it forms in nature, typically deep under the ocean. (Huge reserves of methane hydrate exist in places such as the Alaskan North Slope, both threatening to become another source of greenhouse gases and potentially offering a huge source of natural gas.)
Once the ice crystals form, they keep the methane confined even if the surrounding pressure is lowered, so the methane hydrate can be shipped at atmospheric pressure as long as it's kept frozen. The snow-like hydrate can be packed into cubes and loaded into the refrigerated ships, boxcars, and trucks now used to ship frozen food at -10 °C. That temperature is far easier and cheaper to manage than the -162 °C required for LNG. While the methane hydrate can burn, the methane is released slowly enough that it's not explosive.
Now that's smart thinking for you. Transport costs and leaks are among the major concern of gas supplies.
Monday, September 6, 2010
Holding on to vanishing water
Any guesses on the most critical problem facing humanity today? Yes, water scarcity. Already visible in pockets, this will spread to more parts and become the scourge of the civilisation.
An interesting book,Out of water: From abundance to scarcity authors look at practical ways to solve the issue. Storing water better will be one aspect. Be it big dams or ponds, tanks, small reservoirs and groundwater, a combination will be required.
The authors lay a six-point plan for overhauling water use to meet competing demands from agriculture, industry, cities and the environment. Our recommendations are that water planners: 1) gather high-quality data about water resources; 2) take better care of the environment; 3) reform how water resources are governed; 4) revitalize how water is used for farming; 5) better manage urban and municipal demands for water; and 6) involve marginalized people in water management.
Water management and understanding how climate change is affecting water availability will play important roles. We need to value the natural environment much more than we have in the past. (To phrase correctly, we need to value environment!)
With a third of the world’s inhabitants facing water scarcity, all sectors need to use water more efficiently. A good example that demonstrates how cities can do so is that of Sydney, where ‘water wise rules’ now restrict times at which gardens can be watered, ban sprinklers and only permit car washing at facilities that recycle water. New design principles are helping to reduce storm water runoff and increase the amount of water recycled, while a desalination plant is putting seawater to use. Meanwhile, industries are beginning to embrace the concept of ‘water footprinting’, where water use from ‘crop to shop’ is calculated to highlight where savings are possible.
How much has your city incorporated of such ideas?
An interesting book,Out of water: From abundance to scarcity authors look at practical ways to solve the issue. Storing water better will be one aspect. Be it big dams or ponds, tanks, small reservoirs and groundwater, a combination will be required.
The authors lay a six-point plan for overhauling water use to meet competing demands from agriculture, industry, cities and the environment. Our recommendations are that water planners: 1) gather high-quality data about water resources; 2) take better care of the environment; 3) reform how water resources are governed; 4) revitalize how water is used for farming; 5) better manage urban and municipal demands for water; and 6) involve marginalized people in water management.
Water management and understanding how climate change is affecting water availability will play important roles. We need to value the natural environment much more than we have in the past. (To phrase correctly, we need to value environment!)
With a third of the world’s inhabitants facing water scarcity, all sectors need to use water more efficiently. A good example that demonstrates how cities can do so is that of Sydney, where ‘water wise rules’ now restrict times at which gardens can be watered, ban sprinklers and only permit car washing at facilities that recycle water. New design principles are helping to reduce storm water runoff and increase the amount of water recycled, while a desalination plant is putting seawater to use. Meanwhile, industries are beginning to embrace the concept of ‘water footprinting’, where water use from ‘crop to shop’ is calculated to highlight where savings are possible.
How much has your city incorporated of such ideas?
Friday, September 3, 2010
Scrape to the last bit
They are truly rare and getting rarer by the day. About 124,000 metric tons of rare earth elements (REEs) were produced in 2009, with worldwide demand during this period estimated to be 134,000 metric tons — the difference have been made up from existing stockpiles. By 2012, worldwide demand is expected to reach 180,000 metric tons while mining operations are not expected to keep up with demand in the near term.
Rare earth elements are critical to a variety of high-tech products and manufacturing processes, including catalytic converters, petroleum refining, color TV and flat panel displays, permanent magnets, batteries for hybrid and electric vehicles, medical devices, and various defense systems like missiles, jet engines, and satellite components.
The Chinese produce 97% of REEs worldwide.
Rare earths are moderately abundant in the earth's crust, some even more abundant than copper, lead, gold, and platinum. While more abundant than many other minerals, REE are not concentrated enough to make them easily exploitable economically.
Either one has to look for alternatives which will take time, or stop using all those gadgets made from these elements (asking for the moon!) or simply pally up to China.
Or, recycle wherever possible, taking help from bacteria?
Researchers from the School of Biosciences at the University of Birmingham have found a way to use microbes, similar to the common soil bacterium Desulfovibrio desulfuricans, to recover palladium from useless industrial waste. Palladium itself is one of the most precious resource metals on Earth, boasting unique chemical properties. This metal can in fact be used as an active element in autocatalytic converters able to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
As we have noted before, these are time of Peak everything!
Rare earth elements are critical to a variety of high-tech products and manufacturing processes, including catalytic converters, petroleum refining, color TV and flat panel displays, permanent magnets, batteries for hybrid and electric vehicles, medical devices, and various defense systems like missiles, jet engines, and satellite components.
The Chinese produce 97% of REEs worldwide.
Rare earths are moderately abundant in the earth's crust, some even more abundant than copper, lead, gold, and platinum. While more abundant than many other minerals, REE are not concentrated enough to make them easily exploitable economically.
Either one has to look for alternatives which will take time, or stop using all those gadgets made from these elements (asking for the moon!) or simply pally up to China.
Or, recycle wherever possible, taking help from bacteria?
Researchers from the School of Biosciences at the University of Birmingham have found a way to use microbes, similar to the common soil bacterium Desulfovibrio desulfuricans, to recover palladium from useless industrial waste. Palladium itself is one of the most precious resource metals on Earth, boasting unique chemical properties. This metal can in fact be used as an active element in autocatalytic converters able to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
As we have noted before, these are time of Peak everything!
Indestructible solar cells on way
If solar cells must get efficient in their job, they must be able to do pretty much whatever the plants (or leaves) do in converting the same sunlight into energy.For instance, repair themselves from exposure to sun! MIT researchers believe they are in on the secret.
Takinhg a cue from the self-assembly of chloroplasts the MIT team devised a novel set of self-assembling molecules that use photons to shake electrons loose in the form of electricity.
The system contains seven different compounds, including carbon nanotubes that provide structure and a means to conduct the electricity away from the cells, synthetic phospholipids that form discs that also provide structural support, and other molecules that self-assemble into "reaction centers" that actually interact with the incoming photons to release electrons.
These compounds can assemble themselves into structures able to harvest solar energy at an efficiency of about 40%. As they loose efficiency from damage, a surfacant can be spread across them to break down the compounds, then when it is filtered out, the cells reassemble good as new.
Seems too good to be true?
Takinhg a cue from the self-assembly of chloroplasts the MIT team devised a novel set of self-assembling molecules that use photons to shake electrons loose in the form of electricity.
The system contains seven different compounds, including carbon nanotubes that provide structure and a means to conduct the electricity away from the cells, synthetic phospholipids that form discs that also provide structural support, and other molecules that self-assemble into "reaction centers" that actually interact with the incoming photons to release electrons.
These compounds can assemble themselves into structures able to harvest solar energy at an efficiency of about 40%. As they loose efficiency from damage, a surfacant can be spread across them to break down the compounds, then when it is filtered out, the cells reassemble good as new.
Seems too good to be true?
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Policies to drive energy efficiency
Whether it be about tackling climate change or energy crisis, the simplest and most obvious solution has simply not been pursued as earnestly as desired. And that is energy efficiency.
"Efficiency Works" a new report by Bracken Hendricks, Bill Campbell, and Pen Goodale, finds that a straightforward set of policies aimed at upgrading just 40 percent of the residential and commercial building stock in the United States would create 625,000 sustainable jobs, save 64 billion dollars and bring in large investments.
Some 10 key energy efficiency policies that states in the US are adopting or experimenting with to varying degrees are already providing examples of how policy-driven energy efficiency markets can create a new industry to power job creation, combat global warming and lower a nation's reliance on foreign fossil fuels.
Some of these are worth being considered by any country. For instance, policies that not only require utility companies to meet a set portion of demand from renewable energy but also include energy efficiency as a qualifying form of clean energy. And policies that establish markets for tradable clean energy credits and include energy efficiency as a qualifying clean energy resource.
Having specific standards that require utilities to plan for meeting a percentage of future growth in demand through energy efficiency instead of increasing supply; decouplingd utility rate structures, where utilities' rates are adjusted to compensate for changes in the volume of energy sold, removing the structural disincentive to conserve energy; penalties for noncompliance with energy efficiency standards, etc are some policies worth pursuing.
Any thoughts?
"Efficiency Works" a new report by Bracken Hendricks, Bill Campbell, and Pen Goodale, finds that a straightforward set of policies aimed at upgrading just 40 percent of the residential and commercial building stock in the United States would create 625,000 sustainable jobs, save 64 billion dollars and bring in large investments.
Some 10 key energy efficiency policies that states in the US are adopting or experimenting with to varying degrees are already providing examples of how policy-driven energy efficiency markets can create a new industry to power job creation, combat global warming and lower a nation's reliance on foreign fossil fuels.
Some of these are worth being considered by any country. For instance, policies that not only require utility companies to meet a set portion of demand from renewable energy but also include energy efficiency as a qualifying form of clean energy. And policies that establish markets for tradable clean energy credits and include energy efficiency as a qualifying clean energy resource.
Having specific standards that require utilities to plan for meeting a percentage of future growth in demand through energy efficiency instead of increasing supply; decouplingd utility rate structures, where utilities' rates are adjusted to compensate for changes in the volume of energy sold, removing the structural disincentive to conserve energy; penalties for noncompliance with energy efficiency standards, etc are some policies worth pursuing.
Any thoughts?
China faces dropping crop yields
Climate change could reduce key harvests in China by a fifth if the gloomiest scenarios prove true, according to a study published in Nature.
A team of Chinese scientists say China's climate "has clearly warmed" over the past half century, gaining 2.2 degrees F since 1960. "China experienced explosive economic growth in recent decades, but with only 7 percent of the world's arable land available to feed 20 percent of the world's population, China's economy may be vulnerable to climate change itself," the study warns.
In the most favorable scenario, grain yields by mid-century could remain stable or benefit from the rise in carbon dioxide levels. But in the worst scenario, there could be declines of 4 to 14 percent for rice, 2 and 20 percent for wheat, and 0 and 23 percent for corn in cases where these crops are rainfed rather than irrigated.
The biggest problem could be water stress, amplified by a growing and increasingly wealthy population.
While on water, another study notes that oceans are acidifying 10 times faster today than 55 million years ago when a mass extinction of marine species occurred. Much of the carbon dioxide pollution put into the air is absorbed by the world’s oceans.
Dissolved as carbonic acid, the pollution increases the acidity of the oceans, which is disrupting the marine food chain, especially by making it more difficult for plankton, corals, mollusks, and crustaceans to form their calciferous shells. To avoid substantial damage to ocean ecosystems, deep and rapid reductions of global CO2emissions by at least 50% by 2050, and much more thereafter are needed.
Sorry if we seem to be going on and on about climate change, but you can't well ignore the most pressing problem on the planet today!
A team of Chinese scientists say China's climate "has clearly warmed" over the past half century, gaining 2.2 degrees F since 1960. "China experienced explosive economic growth in recent decades, but with only 7 percent of the world's arable land available to feed 20 percent of the world's population, China's economy may be vulnerable to climate change itself," the study warns.
In the most favorable scenario, grain yields by mid-century could remain stable or benefit from the rise in carbon dioxide levels. But in the worst scenario, there could be declines of 4 to 14 percent for rice, 2 and 20 percent for wheat, and 0 and 23 percent for corn in cases where these crops are rainfed rather than irrigated.
The biggest problem could be water stress, amplified by a growing and increasingly wealthy population.
While on water, another study notes that oceans are acidifying 10 times faster today than 55 million years ago when a mass extinction of marine species occurred. Much of the carbon dioxide pollution put into the air is absorbed by the world’s oceans.
Dissolved as carbonic acid, the pollution increases the acidity of the oceans, which is disrupting the marine food chain, especially by making it more difficult for plankton, corals, mollusks, and crustaceans to form their calciferous shells. To avoid substantial damage to ocean ecosystems, deep and rapid reductions of global CO2emissions by at least 50% by 2050, and much more thereafter are needed.
Sorry if we seem to be going on and on about climate change, but you can't well ignore the most pressing problem on the planet today!
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