This device separates and pulls CO2 out of the air, using renewable energy methods to cleanse the environment, create fresh fuel and consequentially affect our planet’s high temperature.

This device separates and pulls CO2 out of the air, using renewable energy methods to cleanse the environment, create fresh fuel and consequentially affect our planet’s high temperature. Xiangkun (Elvis) Cao, now a Schmidt Science student at MIT, made a device with such technology called the HI-Light Solar Thermal Chemical Reactor while pursuing a Ph.D. degree with David Erickson at Cornell. This high-tech device won Cao’s team the SAE’s Create the Future Design Contest award in 2017.

The inspiration behind this invention was the Erickson Lab’s previous work on biofuel production from algae. “For algae cultivation, only the top layer accesses light,” said Cao. “So, our lab engineered waveguides for even light distribution within the whole reactor for better algae production.” Cao’s team decided to create a similar system using the same method.

Cao aimed to create a scalable reactor for photothermic catalytic CO2 conversion. To summarize the process, the glass rod waveguides transmit the light irradiation that gets into the reactor with unique scattering surfaces to enable even irradiation. A catalyst covers the surface of these rods. The purpose of this catalyst is to break CO2 and other reactants, producing renewable solar fuels.

Cao and his solar reactor technology have come a long way ever since 2017, “For me, I feel like the Create the Future award was the starting point for my professional career,” he said. The industrial partner for the HI-Light effort, Dimensional Energy, was a finalist for the Millon Carbon XPrize. In 2019, Forbes featured Cao as one of their “30 Under 30” individuals, specializing in the field of Energy in North America. The reactor progressed in terms of efficiency, scalability, and how manufacturing with the passing of time.
This reactor has abilities beyond just producing fuel. The same system is usable for other solar-driven catalytic processes. It is noteworthy that we, humans are not the only ones to benefit from this technology.

“It could potentially do a very good job on Mars,” added Cao. “There’s far more CO2 there than on Earth, and there’s evidence of subglacial liquid water on Mars. When you feed CO2 and H2O into the reactor, you could produce methanol to power a spacecraft and oxygen for the first Martians.”

Closer to home, Cao is working on pathways to integrate various carbon dioxide reduction and utilization processes.

“For example, taking pure CO2 out of the air — with some certain method — can be costly. Instead, if we create concentrations of carbon at 1,000 parts per million (compared to air’s 420), the result is usable for greenhouses for a very low cost. “1,000 is not good for human health, but tomatoes really like it,” said Cao. “There are many existing carbon capture and carbon utilization processes out there. If we can think outside the box to bridge carbon capture and utilization, we can create new exciting economic opportunities while working to mitigate global climate change.”

Cao started to look into political issues and believes everyone should work together to create an efficient roadmap for carbon capture, and apply it immediately, without wasting any time. “The United States just banned the EPA from banning emissions from power plants — that doesn’t make sense at all,” he says. “Right now we need a global system. We don’t have a global Carbon XPrize.”

“The problem is that our time is very limited to deal with the massive CO2 emissions,” said Cao. “I’m thinking about the whole field: with the technologies out there already, what can we do right now, not 20 years later with higher tech, but at this very moment.”

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post Clean Energy On The Rise: The Newest Solar Device Pulls CO2 Out Of The Atmosphere And Fights Climate Change appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.

The alarming levels of global warming (and subsequent climate change) are a direct indicator of the widened gap between the reality of CO2 emission and the goals. A global climate-conscious effort is now the need of the hour and an essentially sustainable lifestyle that also facilitates the survival of our very own nature.

History has witnessed impressive human capabilities to bring significant changes- be it the discovery and use of fossil fuels (that led to the first industrial revolution), or the search for alternative sources of energy (to cater to the growing demands across the globe while the conventional sources of energy are at the brink of exhaustion).

While companies like Tesla are disrupting the transport industry with their introduction of electric cars and quad bikes, these initiatives fail to be enough given the rate at which the world is still dependent on fossil fuels to meet its global energy demands.

According to the latest IPCC reports, the average annual GHG emissions were at their highest levels during the past decade. While the growth rate of emissions has slowed, limiting global warming to the targeted 1.50C levels is unlikely, owing to a lack of immediate and deep emissions reduction across all sectors.

“It’s now or never if we want to limit global warming to 1.50C. Without immediate and deep emissions reductions across all sectors, it will be impossible”, IPCC Working Group III Co-Chair Jim Skea.

Innovative solutions and accelerated technological advancement, in sync with sincere human efforts and grit, are a way to sail humanity out of the climate mess (that the world is experiencing currently).

Green Technology to combat climate change

Some integral solutions for efficient and transparent carbon management are classified under the umbrella term – Green Technology. This strategy is gaining momentum in the wake of rising concerns to address global warming and climate change. AIoT, Big Data, and blockchain are powerful technologies that hold the promise to beat climate change.

AIoT (Artificial Intelligence of Things)

A myriad of databases and backend systems are involved to categorise and organise huge chunks of data from multiple business units. This requires the employment of an equal volume of manual labour. Integrating AIoT to this segment would enable seamless sourcing of data depicting real-time activity levels. It also provides an asset inventory from a plethora of systems.

This technology leverages the structuring, collection, and transformation capabilities, thereby facilitating accurate monitoring and measurement of the emission levels. Additionally, it reduces overall efforts for data collection and enhances data quality (and report resolution).

AIoT also helps in creating insights based on real-time data. Thus, accurate process emissions can be effectively predicted by analysing this data. This can efficiently refine the evaluation of the performance of abatement measures and reduce the overall marginal abatement costs.

Big Data

Historical and real-time big data solutions can help in identifying pressure points by locating sources of harmful emissions and their respective concentrations. The technology ensures transformative change by tapping the potentials within available data- advent of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Blockchain

The decentralised network of blockchain offers smart contract features that enable automate the enforcement of climate policies and regulations. In addition, it also enables the programming of incentives for businesses, individuals, and governments to comply with sustainable practices. Thus, smart contracts act as an incredible tool for mass participation in green practices globally.

Being in its nascent stage, green smart contracts have not enjoyed popularity in the past. With rapid growth over the past decade and intersection with other upcoming technologies, conscious efforts are giving it the required boost.

Tech alone can’t fix it

Technology offers sustainable solutions to manage global CO2 levels, enabling the world to meet net-zero pledges. However, technology has never been the cause of this climate mess. It is, therefore, logical not to put too much faith in it to be able to solve it entirely. Strong societal, political, and economic agendas are the driving factors for the application (and integration) of these advancements for realising the net-zero targets.

Technology is, certainly, a part of the solution. Nevertheless, it is only effective with collective human will and action.

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

The post Technology That Can Fix The Climate Mess appeared first on OpenBusinessCouncil Directory.