High Tech Environmental Techniques That are Saving Our Planet
We have all become painfully aware of the dire environmental issues that face our planet. However, amazing technologies are being developed and are coming into use that could only be compared to the best of science fiction imagination and fantasy.
The two biggest concerns we are currently facing on the environmental front are greenhouse gas emissions and global warming. If allowed to continue as it has, global warming will induce drastic climate changes and force a multitude of species to extinction.
If we don’t change our ways, we will have more carbon dioxide per metric ton in our air than we have had in all recorded history of the last 700,000 years. We have cleared 50% of the planets forests and have burned a million years worth of fossil fuels.
The main culprit contributing to global warming is the issue of green house gas emissions. More specifically, carbon monoxide and dioxide. At present on a global level, 24 gigatons of carbon monoxide per day are being pumped into the atmosphere. When you think about it in those terms, it can be pretty staggering.
Reversing The Carbon Emissions Problem
New concepts are being developed and implemented that, while being in a start up phase, will surely be considered a major breakthrough in the near future. One solution comes from a very surprising source – algae.
Photo Bioreactor Tubes
By using what is called Photo Bioreactors, power plants will be able to convert their carbon dioxide emissions into more fuel. A bioreactor mixes water and algae, and then runs the mixture through clear tubes exposing it to sunlight. Then, the algae is harvested for biofuel, cattle feed and even re-used as fuel in the same power plant. Various types of closed systems are used to expose the algae to carbon dioxide, which actually stimulates it’s growth.
This type of production is superior to other biofuel sources such as corn and soy because of it’s high yield percentile ratio. Some strains of algae can even produce as much as 80% of it’s total harvested weight in biofuel.
Photo Bioreactor technology was first implemented at the MIT Power Plant, and is sure to be used in other locations in the near future. Presently, there are several pre-commercial pilot projects slated to begin on a global level. Hopefully, this next phase of implementation will lead to the development of algae farming around existing power plants worldwide as well. This method is outstanding when you consider that the reduction of green house emissions from algae based reactors would be equivalent to removing 8.8 million cars from the road.
Enhanced Oil Recovery Project
In 2005 the Midale Oil Fields in Canada launched an enhanced oil recovery project that actually has two benefits. The process involved here is to use the carbon dioxide that would otherwise escape into our atmosphere to increase oil production levels by injecting it into the ground, causing the oil to extract and rise up from the bedrock.
It is estimated that 26 million cubic feet of carbon dioxide daily is injected in the Midale Oil Field, increasing production by 45-60 million barrels per year. This is very significant considering our need to eliminate both foreign oil dependency and reduce green house gas emissions.
Carbon Storage
Another method being explored that would help reduce green house gas emissions is being promoted by the European Technology Platform for Zero Emission Fossil Fuel Power Plants (ETP-ZEP) . In a letter written to Dr. Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Kurt Häge , Chairman for (ETP-ZEP) writes that their goal is to see zero emissions from power plants in Europe. One of the methods mentioned is underground carbon storage and is asking for her endorsement of the ZEP Flagship Program. This program will “play a critical role in being able to engage the USA and other new large CO2 emitters in the developing world, like China and India.”
Hopefully, we will soon see carbon storage become a regulatory matter. In order to be truly effective, this issue will need to be addressed on a global scale. The Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership is a call for cooperation and collaboration between government, industry, universities, and international organizations funded by DOE (Department of Energy). The focus of the partnership will be to determine the most suitable technologies, regulations, and infrastructural needs for carbon capture. Started in 2008, large-volume sequestration tests have shown the potential to store hundreds of years of CO2 emissions. Several technologies are being tested at various sites in the United States and Canada. Data collected from these tests will determine the effectiveness of long term high volume below ground storage of carbon emissions.
In Conclusion
Although it seems that, on the surface, we as a planet are doomed, nothing could be further from the truth. With these new high tech environmental techniques, along with the dawn of the Post Petroleum Era, we can look forward to cleaning up our environment. The key component to success will of course be that we all work together on a global scale.
Other articles by Bren Parks include:
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17 Responses to “High Tech Environmental Techniques That are Saving Our Planet”
On October 22, 2008 at 5:18 pm
Very interesting and infomative article
On November 18, 2008 at 9:42 pm
Great article! Thanks for sharing it!
Blessings.
Sincerely,
-Liane Schmidt.
On March 13, 2009 at 2:08 am
wonderfully written i wish everyine would stop for a moment and really THINK about what will happen if we don’t smarten up now.
On March 13, 2009 at 11:18 pm
This is excellent stuff! We all need to learn about this.
On March 14, 2009 at 6:42 am
We all need to take responsible actions on our planet. Great article.
On March 14, 2009 at 5:36 pm
very interesting and informative:)
On March 14, 2009 at 10:42 pm
There are so many ways to solve our problems- I have never even heard of these. Great work, Bren.
On March 15, 2009 at 12:40 am
Great work! very informative piece. Must read article. Thnx 4 sharing
On March 15, 2009 at 12:57 am
Excellent article, Bren!
On March 15, 2009 at 5:54 am
Really Interesting Article! It’s nice to know that there are many techniques to save Earth! Thumbs up!
On March 15, 2009 at 8:16 am
Fascinating – some of this was completely new to me.
On March 15, 2009 at 10:43 am
Great article, some of the possable solutions are new ones to me.
On March 15, 2009 at 11:54 am
these should be used by every nation.. thanks for sharing..
On March 15, 2009 at 3:15 pm
Thanks for sharing this wonderful news, Bren. I agree with Glynis, we need to take responsibility. These are positive steps in the right direction.
On March 15, 2009 at 11:10 pm
Interesting article. It is always good to see new ways to impmprove things in the environment.
On March 20, 2009 at 4:14 am
Thanks for this! Science rocks!
On May 20, 2009 at 8:32 pm
Bren, thanks for this info. I’m interested in that algae process, but am skeptical about the other two procedures. I can see that CO2 would assist in harvesting oil, thus saving other energy, but my question is one of degrees. Is is THAT much more effective? And as for pumping and storing carbon into the ground…what about our water? Plants? That sounds pretty scary to me.
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