Climate change innovation – Page 14

April 29, 2021July 1, 2022

A flurry of pledges have been made as the climate summit gets underway. Carbon cuts – but can we deliver?

USA has promised to cut its emissions in half by 2030, EU will cut its emissions by 55%, and the UK will cut its emissions by 78% by 2035

April 5, 2021March 23, 2021

Using sewage to heat homes?

Thames water in London UK is hoping to use excess heat from sewage treatment plants to provide the warmth needed for 2000 homes in Kingston-upon-Thames.

What normally happens, is that once the water has been fully treated, it is returned to the river. The problem with this, is that the water is at a higher temperature than the river, and this is not good for its ecosystem.

April 2, 2021March 23, 2021

Could many hills in the UK become the batteries of tomorrow?

A new system can transform thousands of hills in the UK into large batteries. A team of engineers have developed a system which would allow Hydropower to store and release power within gently sloping hills and without the huge dams currently needed.

The idea of these small hydropower systems, is that we could build many of these tiny dams for far less than just a few large ones. More importantly, it would come with far less negative issues to those that come with historic large dams (for instance the proposed dam which threatens the future of 8th great ape species the Tapulani Orangutan).

March 31, 2021March 23, 2021

Paris agreement for nature?

At the beginning of January an new agreement was signed by 50 countries who pledged to protect 30% of the earths land and oceans. The intention of this agreement is to stem the flow of extinctions that human activity has been causing for the last few centuries.

The hope is that this agreement can form the basis of a larger agreement at the UN, building on the early commitments from nations such as Nigeria Pakistan Costa Rica Canada and many more.

March 25, 2021March 23, 2021

HSBC is voting on stopping funding coal? about time, but not action for 19 years

Over the last few years it has become increasingly clear that conservationists approach to fossil fuel companies were not working.

The problem is that there is a great deal of money to be made from fossil fuels. Companies like tesla hint at a world where this ceases to be the case, and the speed that the electric car market is growing, is incredibly fast. Indeed many people have commented on the fact that the growth curve of electric cars is clearly following the curve of many other disruptions from computers to mobile phones.

March 20, 2021March 23, 2021

Synthetic palm oil brewed like beer? Bill Gates investing in the possibility

Palm oil is a wonder material. Being used in a vast range of different products, it is almost impossible to avoid it in the west. Why should we try? because it has been the cause of much of the rainforest destruction on Sumatra, Borneo and lately even in the last great rainforests of west Africa.

Could we have all the palm oil we want, while at the same time replanting the rainforests which were lost?

March 18, 2021March 23, 2021

An analysis late last year shows UK reaching net zero emissions is far cheaper than once thought can other countries do this to?

The arguments from people opposed to climate action have gone through a number of steps.

March 13, 2021July 1, 2022

Super enzyme that eats plastic, now 6 times faster

I have written in the past, about a discovery made on a Japanese dump back in 2016 of a plastic eating enzyme. By working in the lab, scientists have been able to speed this process up 6 times, such that full recycling is thought to be possible of plastics within 2 years.

Could the days of sites like this – legal or otherwise, potentially become a thing of the past?

February 28, 2021July 1, 2022

The Daily Mail is claiming blue hydrogen is better fuel for cars: let’s see if it is (hint of course not)

As in the USA, some of the UK newspapers have an illogical hatred of electric cars. Perhaps chief amongst them, in the UK, is the Daily Mail. Now, I’m unsure what it’s problem is, but this article is littered with errors.

February 16, 2021July 1, 2022

Bio-fuels are necessary if humans are to stop burning fossil fuels so what’s wrong?

Battery power is great for cars and taxis. Recently Tesla has shown you can make a viable electric lorry – claims the range isn’t far enough are absurd. Name one country when a lorry driver is allowed to drive for more than 4 hours without break – modern chargers can give you 4 hours of range in 15 to 30 minutes (a Tesla 3 or Y can have 180 miles in 15 minutes).

However, there are areas where fuels will be used, like rocketry. Now it is true that no one has yet made a rocket fly on biofuels, but that’s a different problem.

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