It is inevitable that new technologies will be the tools we need to solve the energy and environmental crises. Human ingenuity and innovation has provided us the ability to overcome all of nature’s obstacles so far. While conservation and lifestyle changes during these times are a must, what consumers are really demanding are new toys that can solve the problem for us!
Global warming, environmental pollution and the need for alternative energy are all tough nuts to crack, but who doesn’t believe, deep in their hearts, that the human spirit of invention, a little elbow grease and, yes, the desire to make a buck, won’t produce the solutions to these important problems?
Here are my top picks for technologies that promise save the planet from ourselves. There are many reasons to be worried about carbon dioxide emissions. It degrades air quality and is the main suspect behind man-made global climate change. Luckily, the experts are all over this one. Klaus Lackner of Columbia University has already developed a machine that removes carbon dioxide from the air. He claims that within two years, he will have developed a prototype that will be able to capture about a ton of the gas each day. While it would take millions of these machines to make a dent in the atmosphere, it certainly looks promising.
Well, ok, but what to do with the carbon once its scrubbed out of the atmosphere? Carbon Sciences, a California-based company, has one answer: They’ve developed a biocatalytic process that can take carbon dioxide streams, like the output of factory smokestacks, and turn it into fuel. This is a form of fuel recycling that can help recoup losses. The chemistry isn’t new and Carbon Sciences is just one company that’s trying to figure out efficient ways to implement it. As fossil fuels become more scarce, recycled sources will become more valuable. Factories will rue the day they let all that valuable CO2 just go up into the atmosphere, into the public domain!
The desire to cut down on fuel usage is leading us to innovative ideas. Artemis Intelligent Design is a company that says their converted BMW 530 saloon uses half the fuel of a normal car and releases 30 percent of the CO2 emissions. The secret is a hydraulic drive system that captures the energy from waves. When the care brakes, that good frictional energy that would normally be lost is stored and used to help accelerate the car. The really good part: the technology promises to be cheaper that hybrid cars already on the market. Biofuels created from corn has been criticized as being uneconomical, but “algaculture” may prove itself to be a promising alternative.
According to the company Solix Biofuels, replacing all of the United States’ diesel with biomass fuels would require only one half a percent of all the land that is currently used for farm production. And, unlike most agriculture, algae grows perfectly fine in the desert. Algae growth requires lots of CO2, so we would be killing two birds with one stone.
We’re several years away, at least, from large scale production, but geneticists and engineers are on the task. Trying to improve biomass output from algae and creating higher efficiency. According to Kiplinger’s Biofuels Market Alert, algae is the cheapest and most environmentally-friendly way to produce liquid biomass fuel. Biologists are using small organisms is all sorts of ways. Genetically-engineered bacteria, which are cheap to create and reproduce, are already being used to take care of pollution problems, from sensing to cleanup. Foreign DNA can be inserted into bacteria and can be induced to have all sorts of tricks, from enzymes that break down oil spills and contaminants to bacteria that glow in the presence of a specific pollutant. Aside from their function, the bacteria are harmless to the environment and people.
These, and many other new technologies, promise to help solve the environmental problems we face. If human technology, implemented by the natural desire for economic growth, contributed to some of these problems, surely new technologies can help get us out.
