Anthropogenic Global Warming

[Kung Wu]

Maybe I was just out of the loop, but this is for the weather nerds like me out there. I just found this website. Kind of fun and interesting to watch weather patterns this way.

https://www.windy.com/77.089/104.392?27.645,-80.947,4

Wow pretty stunning! Put in Orlando, Florida in the search bar at the top for interesting hurricane views. Especially the "Wind" view.

[JVShocker]

Maybe I was just out of the loop, but this is for the weather nerds like me out there. I just found this website. Kind of fun and interesting to watch weather patterns this way.

https://www.windy.com/77.089/104.392?27.645,-80.947,4

[SubGod22]

This definitely falls into an all of the above category. I like the resourcefulness.

Spain's Olive Oil Producers Turn Tons of Their Pits into Fuel - For homes, Planes and Industry

In a rather unique story from Reuters, the Spanish olive oil market is profiled for what it can do to power Spain’s homes, not just its economy and kitchens.

Accounting for half the production of olive oil in the EU, growers are now getting to sell olive pits as a valuable ingredient for biofuel. Hundreds of thousands of tons of olive pits are now being consumed in Spain every year to heat homes, power oil mills, and even airplanes.

Pits make up between 8% and 10% of an olive crop by weight. During the pressing stage in the oil production process, the pits are squeezed out and separated before being washed and dried to create fuel similar to wood pellets used in certain domestic stoves, grills, and fireplaces.

In the past, cultivators didn’t have a good idea of what to do with the olive pits, says Pablo Rodero, an affiliate with the Spanish biomass association, Avebiom. Avebiom estimates that 400,000 tons of olive pits are produced every year in Spain. That’s a lot of material to not know what to do with.

“Now everything is used,” Rodero told Reuters. “Olives are like pigs: Nothing goes to waste.”

According to Reuters, the energy shock from the Russian invasion of Ukraine that caused domestic heating prices to soar led directly to a further development of the olive pit industry as a fuel product.

One-third of all pits are now refined to remove as much moisture as possible and sold for around 300 euros per ton, which equates to around 6 cents per kilowatt-hour for home heating.

[SubGod22]

The potential in this is crazy. I've seen something similar in the past about some sort of 3D printed batteries that would be lighter and could be shaped however necessary to make it bigger than a typical battery without the weight. This seems similarish.

New Carbon Fiber Batteries Could Form the Actual Framework of Cars and Airplanes

Cars and planes could soon be built from the world’s strongest batteries, thanks to a ground-breaking innovation from Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden.

Researchers detailed the advance of so-called massless energy storage—and a structural battery that could cut the weight of a laptop by 50%, make mobile phones as thin as a credit card, or increase the driving range of an EV by up to 70 percent on a single charge.

Structural batteries are materials that, in addition to storing energy, can carry loads. Stiff, strong carbon fibers could store electrical energy chemically and, in this way, the battery material can become part of the actual construction material of a product.

And, when cars, planes, ships, or computers are built from a material that functions as both a battery and a load-bearing structure, the weight and energy consumption are radically reduced.

“We have succeeded in creating a battery made of carbon fibre composite that is as stiff as aluminum and energy-dense enough to be used commercially,” says Chalmers researcher Richa Chaudhary, the first author of a paper recently published in Advanced Materials. “Just like a human skeleton, the battery has several functions at the same time.”

When it comes to vehicles there are high demands on the design to be sufficiently strong to meet safety requirements. There, the research team’s structural battery cell has significantly increased its stiffness, or more specifically, the elastic modulus, which is measured in gigapascal (GPa), from 25 to 70. This means that the material can carry loads just as well as aluminum, but with a lower weight.

“In terms of multifunctional properties, the new battery is twice as good as its predecessor – and actually the best ever made in the world,” said research leader Leif Asp, professor at the Department of Industrial and Materials Science at Chalmers.

[WstateU]

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C9QQ0lJSvu9/?igsh=bDkyeGwzcWFnNWtk

[SubGod22]

I look forward to seeing how well this goes. I like the potential of hydrogen.

This Sleek New LA Commuter Train Is Pollution-Free

In Los Angeles County, a new, low-emissions commuter train is helping combat local and global smog by powering itself with hydrogen fuel cells.

Liquid or gaseous hydrogen is considered the best green alternative to the heavy fuels that power society’s largest machines, and this ZEMU train is just a few months away from starting routine service from San Bernadino and Redlands to LA proper.

ZEMU stands for zero-emissions multiple units, and possesses several advantages over other decarbonized rail transport. Electric trains recharge via overhead powerlines, but these require millions in funding to install and maintain and aren’t practical for long distances.

“The reality is it can be used anywhere existing rail happens now,” says Tim Watkins, chief of legislative and public affairs at the San Bernardino County Transit Authority, the agency behind the project. “It doesn’t require a new capital investment into infrastructure.”

Manufactured by the Swiss company Stadler, ZEMU trains take on hydrogen fuel that is split into hydrogen molecules, generating energy that recharges an electric battery that powers the train’s motors. The battery is also recharged by breaking, and the only emission of any sort is water vapor.

“I think it’s going to enable a lot of places to decarbonize without having to make extremely expensive investments in infrastructure,” Watkins told Fast Company Magazine.

[SubGod22]

Maybe some progress in energy storage.

World's Largest Battery to Revolutionize Renewable Energy Storage in Maine with 'Reverse Rusting'

In northern Maine, a company is planning the largest battery ever made by humans with 8,500 megawatt-hours of storage.

The purpose is to store renewable energy like solar and wind, produced but not needed, for times when the Sun isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing.

The batteries store and discharge energy via a novel process called “reverse rusting.” Inside the battery is iron, and as the battery stores electricity, it takes in oxygen from the air turning the iron inside into iron oxide—or rust. When it discharges, the oxygen is released and the oxide is removed, leaving the iron pure again.

While unusable for everyday electronics, this method works at scale and is around one-tenth of the running and manufacturing costs of using lithium-ion batteries.

Form Energy, the firm behind the project, received over $380 million in grants from the Department of Energy for projects all over the North Atlantic, of which $147 will go to the Maine battery project.

With 8,500 megawatt-hours of power at maximum capacity, the battery bank could power up to 85,000 homes for 100 hours. The battery system will have the most energy capacity of any announced in the world, Mateo Jaramillo, CEO and co-founder of Form Energy, said in a statement.

The amount of power it contains would allow an electric car to circumnavigate the world 1,288 times. The batteries stand 3 feet tall, are about the size of a side-by-side washer-dryer unit, and 50 will make them the station, according to Live Science.

[pinstripers]

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/foreign-automaker-lays-off-thousands-of-michigan-workers-after-pocketing-hundreds-of-millions-in-biden-ev-subsidies/

typical green

[asiseeit]

Two very good posts. You could give the politicians unlimited amounts of money and they would only make things worse while making themselves and their friends/benefactors even richer. Let free markets work.

[Atxshoxfan]

100% agree with sub on this.
I hate the name of this thread, it implies we have some sort of major control on the climate, which I totally disagree with. Climate change is nothing more than a money grab for companies willing to pay off the politicians who push the narrative.
Keeping our environment preserved and clean, is a different story, that I agree with, as do about 100% of humanity. Just keep the politicians out of the money loop though.

[SubGod22]

Also..:Nuclear energy is the most dense energy source available to humanity. Petroleum is second. We should continue to exploit these resources to their maximum capacity and increase human flourishing.

You won't find a bigger supporter of nuclear energy than I. I have no major issue with petroleum, but I fully support research and efforts to move away from it as it isn't the cleanest of energies and anything we can do to clean up our air, water, and environment without crushing the economy and the people. Petroleum will always have a place if it's for energy or other things.

With that said, wind and solar have limited capabilities in most areas and have other concerns that many environmentalists ignore. They're not bad on their own, but it is bad when government forces it on people. There are certain areas where each might be more efficient and make more sense than other areas and it should be a part of the grid in such places.

I'm generally not a fan of solar farms. Seems to be a waste of good land. I am intrigued by some of the work done along rivers in drought areas where they use solar panels above the river to help reduce loss of water. I need to look into results on how that's going, but in theory it seemed like a way to not take away potentially valuable land and produce energy while also potentially save some water. I am a big fan of utilizing solar on tops of buildings, storage units, and even as cover in parking lots. That space is already being used and you can potentially use the same land twice and produce energy and keep cars a little cooler while they sit outside. There's also been some interesting research into ways to get them more efficient, durable, and lighter.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'm for an all of the above approach as long as it doesn't come at the expense of the consumer. We have it hard enough as it is.

But in the shorter term, we really do need more nuclear in this country. A while back I shared some articles on smaller nuclear plants that can still produce a lot of energy and take up less space that are cheaper and faster to build and operate than the more massive plants we're used to. And they've even found ways to reuse the little waste that is produced in the process. There's really no reason to fear nuclear energy at this point. It's the cleanest and most reliable option available and takes up the least amount of space as well compared to all the other alternatives.

[Kung Wu]

Also..:Nuclear energy is the most dense energy source available to humanity. Petroleum is second. We should continue to exploit these resources to their maximum capacity and increase human flourishing.

wufan sighting!

[wufan]

Also..:Nuclear energy is the most dense energy source available to humanity. Petroleum is second. We should continue to exploit these resources to their maximum capacity and increase human flourishing.

[SubGod22]

Aesthetically pleasing and helps reduce energy costs. Definitely interesting.

Tuscany's New Airport Terminal Will Have a Vineyard on the Roof, Obviously

With more visitors than ever before, the new airport terminal in Florence will have a green roof and sport a vineyard.

The Italians are passionate about greening their buildings, with the famous Bosco Verticale in Milan being the flagship example.

To celebrate its heritage as one of the wine capitals of the world, the Amerigo Vespucci International Airport in Florence will feature an eight-hectare (19-acre) vineyard on top of its long, sloping roof.

A local, prestigious wine company will harvest the grapes and manage the green vineyard roof, and the vinting will also be done on-site in a cellar on the airport grounds.

The creative minds behind the project are Rafael Viñoly Architects, an American firm that was tasked with redesigning the international terminal as part of renovations to reorient the existing airport runway which is inadequately short and adversely affected by nearby hills.

Linear structures of precast concrete contain the soil and irrigation to sustain the vineyard and are held aloft by a network of branching columns, inspired by the vines they hold up.

The columns shade most of the terminal areas, which will help reduce energy from heating. Skylights will flood these areas with natural light.

“This enormous surface, which hides the airport terminal when viewed from Brunelleschi’s Duomo and other prominent vantage points in the city, will not only serve as a new landmark for the city’s sustainable future, but also as a symbol of the traditions, history and innovative spirit that continue to drive the Italian economy into the 21st century,” the firm wrote on their website.

[SubGod22]

Recycling plastics could get cheaper and more efficient and reduce the amount of new plastic needed.

New Process 'Vaporizes' Plastic Bags and Bottles to Help Make Recycled Materials

An innovative chemical procedure turns ubiquitous waste plastic items in our society into hydrocarbon building blocks for use in making new plastics.

The scientists behind the project explained that the process works “equally well” with the two dominant types of consumer plastic waste: polyethylene, the component of most single-use plastic bags; and polypropylene, the stuff of hard plastics, from microwavable dishes to luggage—which together are called polyolefins.

It also efficiently degrades a mix of the two types of plastics, according to the findings published in the journal Science.

The research team says the catalytic process, developed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, could help bring about a circular economy for many throwaway plastics, with the plastic waste converted back into the monomers used to make polymers, thereby reducing the fossil fuels used in making virgin plastic.

“We have an enormous amount of polyethylene and polypropylene in everyday objects, from lunch bags to laundry soap bottles to milk jugs—so much of what’s around us is made of these polyolefins,” said research leader Professor John Hartwig, of University of California, Berkeley.

Hartwig and his collaborators in a public sector-academia partnership developed a chemical process that employed three different bespoke heavy metal catalysts: one to add a carbon-carbon double bond to the polyethylene polymer and the other two to break the chain at this double bond and repeatedly snip off a carbon atom. However, the catalysts broke down in the liquid reaction and were rarely recoverable, making the process difficult to scale.

That was two years ago. Today, as part of a new process, the expensive, soluble metal catalysts have been replaced by cheaper solid ones commonly used in the chemical industry for continuous flow processes that reuse the catalyst, including sodium on alumina, and tungsten oxide on silica.

“You can’t get much cheaper than sodium,” Hartwig said, “and tungsten is an earth-abundant metal used in the chemical industry in large scale, as opposed to our ruthenium metal catalysts that were more sensitive and more expensive.”