Scientists from the University of Calgary in Canada have created a method to efficiently capture carbon dioxide directly from the air around us. The device, which is built on near-commercial technology, was built by Uof C climate change scientists David Keith and his team.
“At first thought, capturing CO2 from the air where it’s at a concentration of 0.04 per cent seems absurd, when we are just starting to do cost-effective capture at power plants where CO2 produced is at a concentration of more than 10 per cent,” says Keith, Canada Research Chair in Energy and Environment.
“But the thermodynamics suggests that air capture might only be a bit harder than capturing CO2 from power plants. We are trying to turn that theory into engineering reality.”
A new software application will make keeping track of your carbon footprint as easy as having a mobile phone in your pocket. A London-based start-up has developed software for mobile phones that uses global positioning systems (GPS) to automatically figure out whether you are walking, driving or flying and then calculate your impact on the environment.
Carbon Diem’s inventors claim that, by using GPS to measure the speed and pattern of movement, their algorithm can identify the mode of transport being used. The software then calculates the amount of carbon dioxide the journey has emitted into the atmosphere – without any need for input from the user. Read the rest of this entry »
From our friends at ZapRoot this week: Arizona tests artificial CO2 filtering trees. Sarah Palin loves oil. We help you find ways to get rid of your junk mail.
The United Kingdom’s energy supply situation has changed dramatically since 2003, when a UK government report titled Our Energy Future - Creating a Low Carbon Economy concluded that it was not necessary to build new nuclear power plants.
Specifically, that paper stated:
“This white paper does not contain specific proposals for building new nuclear power stations. However we do not rule out the possibility that at some point in the future new nuclear build might be necessary if we are to meet our carbon targets.”
In the fifties, beach goers could jet around in the Fiat 500 Jolly meant to be a zippy golf cart replacement when running to the yacht or out to the course. The hot Italian car design firm known for bringing the past into the present, Castagna, is building the Tender Two, a modern-day take on the Fiat 500 without the doors and back seat but keeping the zippy style and adding a few special features.
As if the announcement of a high-speed rail line that will go from San Francisco to Los Angeles in 2 hours and 40 minutes isn’t exciting enough, Navigant Consulting now claims that the bullet train can run with zero greenhouse gas emissions.
According to the energy consulting firm, the train’s expected usage of 3,350 GWh each year can easily be generated using renewable energy resources in California. The rail line’s energy consumption will be about one percent of the state’s total energy usage—not bad considering its speed, convenience, and potential for widespread use. Read the rest of this entry »
Maybe one of the best things we can do it offset our CO2 is also one of the simplest: stop cutting down trees. In a recent issue of Bioscience, Ohio State University Professor Peter Curtis wrote that carbon storage in Midwestern forests could offset greenhouse gas emissions from two-thirds of the nearby population. Maintaining the forests could even increase storage capacity in the future. Read the rest of this entry »
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology will get a chance to prove itself next week at the 1,600 MW Schwarze Pumpe coal-fired power plant in Germany. The CCS demonstration will capture up to 100,000 tons of CO2 each year and bury it 3,000 m under a nearby gas field.
The scheme uses oxyfuel technology, which relies on burning coal in pure oxygen and CO2 instead of normal air. This results in a byproduct of almost pure CO2 that is bottled and pumped underground.
New ideas for reducing CO2 seem to be popping up all the time. The latest scheme for getting rid of the greenhouse gas comes from Stanford Professor Brent Constanz. The Geological and Environmental Sciences Professor has invented a new type of cement that is carbon neutral—a huge innovation for a material whose production process normally spews vast amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere.
Not only is Constanz’s cement carbon neutral, but it also sequesters CO2 emitted from power plants. Read the rest of this entry »
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is currently the most common solution proposed for reducing CO2 emissions. But surely there must be an alternative to just burying the greenhouse gas.
California-based Carbon Sciences thinks the answer to our CO2 problem is calcium carbonate—specifically, the company has invented a process to convert CO2 into calcium carbonate that can be used in everything from cosmetics to ceramics. Read the rest of this entry »
A fresh, up-to-date perspective on the latest trends in clean tech. From renewable energy sources, to less toxic electronics and more efficient information technology, Cleantechnica introduces readers to the full scope of clean technology in language that doesn’t require an engineering degree.
Scientists from the University of Calgary in Canada have created a method to efficiently capture carbon dioxide directly from the air around us. The device, which is built on near-commercial technology, was built by Uof C climate change scientists David Keith and his team.
