December 2021 - Zureli

Search for any green Service

Find green products from around the world in one place

Window cleaning

Singapore Safety Glass

S’pore, US scientists create bacteria-killing, biodegradable food packaging material

Posted on December 29, 2021 by dishanth

Perishables such as fruit and meat are often at the mercy of harmful bacteria, especially when left for a long time outside the refrigerator.

To salvage such food items, scientists have created a biodegradable packaging material that can kill harmful bacteria and fungi that sprout on fresh produce.

The packaging also extends the lifespan of strawberries by up to a week. Berries kept in ordinary boxes stay fresh for only four days.

The material – which resembles plastic – was created by researchers from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in the United States.

The material is made from corn protein, starch and other naturally derived substances, and is infused with a cocktail of natural antimicrobial compounds such as the oil from thyme, and citric acid.

Lab experiments found that when the material detected rising humidity levels and enzymes from harmful bacteria, its fibres released minuscule amounts of the antimicrobial compounds that got rid of the bacteria.

The compounds can kill bacteria or fungi growing on both the food and the material. Dangerous microbes that thrive in food include E.coli and listeria, which causes one of the most serious forms of food poisoning.

The packaging is suitable to hold food items such as raw meat, fish, fruit, vegetables and ready-to-eat meals, said Professor Mary Chan, the director of NTU’s Centre for Antimicrobial Bioengineering who co-led the project.

She added that the team’s aim is to replace conventional plastic packaging with the new material that will also double the shelf life of produce.

“Vegetables are a source of wastage because even if they are refrigerated, they will continue to respire, leading to spoilage after a week or two. With the anti-microbial packaging, there is a chance to extend their shelf life… and also make the vegetables and fruits look fresh with time,” she said.

Prof Chan noted that while there is anti-microbial packaging already available in the market, the team’s material is believed to be the only one that is both biodegradable and able to release the bacteria-killing compounds only when needed, such as when there is a rise in humidity.

This means that the food will not be overly exposed to anti-microbial compounds.

A comparison of strawberries that have been protected by the packaging (left) and those which have not. The packaging was found to extend the lifespan of strawberries by up to a week. ST PHOTO: ALPHONSUS CHERN

The new material was made through a process called electro-spinning – where the corn protein, the antimicrobial compounds with cellulose and an acid are drawn into tubes using electric force, and turned into fibres.

Harvard T.H. Chan School’s Adjunct Professor Philip Demokritou, an environmental health expert, noted that the new packaging would help to manage the triple threats of food safety, food waste and unsustainable packaging.

The research team’s project was published in October in the peer-reviewed journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.

Packaging waste, including plastics, makes up about one-third of domestic waste in Singapore, and is a key waste stream.

As part of the nation’s efforts to reduce packaging waste, producers of packaged products and retailers, such as supermarkets with an annual turnover of more than $10 million, will be required to submit data and develop plans to reduce, reuse or recycle their packaging materials by March 31 next year.

The researchers hope to scale up their technology with an industrial partner, and to commercialise their food packaging within two years.

They are currently working to fine-tune and optimise the material’s manufacturing process and its functionality. They are also looking into other types of biopolymers – beyond corn protein – to create different forms of sustainable packaging.

NTU’s School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering principal research fellow Suresh Kumar Raman Pillai and Centre for Antimicrobial Bioengineering director Mary Chan. ST PHOTO: ALPHONSUS CHERN

Prof Chan said their material will cost about 50 per cent more than ordinary plastic packaging.

ComCrop – a local company that pioneered urban rooftop farming – had assessed the viability of the scientists’ packaging material.

ComCrop chief executive Peter Barber said: “As ComCrop looks to ramp up products to boost Singapore’s food production capabilities, the volume of packaging we need will increase.

“The wrapping’s antimicrobial properties could potentially extend the shelf life of our vegetables.”

He added that the new packaging has to be made cost effective.

“The first three things Singapore supermarket consumers will check are: price, price and price,” said Mr Barber.

Source The Straits Times

U.S. can get to 100% clean energy with wind, water, solar and zero nuclear, Stanford professor says

Posted on December 27, 2021 by dishanth

Key Points

Stanford professor Mark Jacobson sees a way for the U.S. to meet its energy demands by 2050 with 100% wind, water and solar.
His models use no fossil fuels, carbon capture, direct air capture, bioenergy, blue hydrogen or nuclear power.
Jacobson’s roadmap is different from many clean-energy proposals, which advocate using all technologies possible.

A prominent Stanford University professor has outlined a roadmap for the United States to meet its total energy needs using 100% wind, water and solar by 2050.

Mark Jacobson, a Stanford professor of civil and environmental engineering and the director of its Atmosphere/Energy Program, has been promoting the idea of all renewable energy as the best way forward for more than a decade. His latest calculations toward this ambitious goal were recently published in the scientific journal Renewable Energy.

Transitioning to a clean-energy grid should happen by 2035, the study advises, with at least 80% of that adjustment completed by 2030. For the purposes of Jacobson’s study, his team factored in presumed population growth and efficiency improvements in energy to envision what that would look like in 2050.

Jacobson first published a roadmap of renewable energy for all 50 states in 2015.

This recent update of that 2015 work has a couple of notable improvements.

First, Jacobson and his colleagues had access to more granular data for how much heat will be needed in buildings in every state for the coming two years in 30-second increments. “Before we didn’t have that type of data available,” Jacobson told CNBC.

Also, the updated data makes use of battery storage while the first set of calculations he did relied on adding turbines to hydropower plants to meet peak demand, an assumption that turned out to be impractical and without political support for that technology, Jacobson said.

Reliability of four-hour batteries

In the analysis, Jacobson and his team used battery-storage technology to compensate for the inherent intermittency of solar and wind power generation — those times when the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow.

The Achilles’ heel of a completely renewable grid, many argue, is that it is not stable enough to be reliable. Blackouts have become a particular concern, notably in Texas this year and during the summer of 2020 in California.

That’s where four-hour batteries come in as a way to generate grid stability. “I discovered this all just because I have batteries in my own home,” Jacobson told CNBC. “And I figured, oh, my God, this is so basic. So obvious. I can’t believe nobody has figured this out.”

Mark Jacobson’s garage where his four batteries are located. Two cars are currently charging, too. Photo courtesy Mark Jacobson

Jacobson said that he observed his batteries stayed charged if they weren’t plugged in when they are off.

To get more than four hours of charge, multiple four-hour batteries can be stacked to discharge sequentially. If a battery needs more charge output at one time than the battery can provide, then the batteries need to be used simultaneously, Jacobson told CNBC.

With this observation, Jacobson and his colleagues at Stanford produced scenarios showing it is possible to transition to a fully renewable system without any blackouts or batteries with ultra-long-duration battery technology.

That’s key because technology for ultra-long-duration batteries that would hold energy for several days have yet to be commercialized. Start-ups like Form Energy are working to bring such batteries to market.

Planning, of course, is also key to keeping the grid stable. “Wind is variable, solar is variable,” Jacobson said. “But it turns out, first of all, when you interconnect wind and solar over large areas, which is currently done, you smooth out the supply quite a bit. So it’s because, you know, when the wind is not blowing in one place, it’s usually blowing somewhere else. So over a large region, you have a smoother supply of energy.”

Similarly, wind and solar power are complimentary. And hydropower “is perfect backup, because you can turn it on and off instantaneously,” he said.

Also, there needs to be changes in pricing structures to motivate customers to do high energy demand activities at off-peak times.

“Demand response is a very big component of keeping the grid stable,” Jacobson said. “It’s used some today. But a lot of places a lot of states in the US right now, the electricity price is constant all day … and that’s a problem.”

Calculating the breakdowns

So far, Jacobson and his team have run simulations for the all renewable, four-hour battery roadmaps for six individual states – Alaska, Hawaii, California, Texas, New York and Florida, and the contiguous 48 states taken together. (For the rest of the states, Jacobson has approximate simulations, which are available here.)

According to his models, California’s energy mix would include 14.72% on-shore wind energy, 18.28% off-shore wind, 21.86% solar panels on roofs, 34.66% solar panels operated by a utility, 5.32% hydropower, 2.91% geothermal electricity and 0.25% wave energy.

Texas would be 37.66 on-shore wind, 14.77% off-shore wind, 20.87% roof solar, 23.85% solar panels operated by a utility, 0.1% hydropower and 0.19% wave energy.

Jacobson and his colleagues use three types of models for the calculations.

First, they use a spreadsheet model to project business-as-usual energy demand in each sector in each state to 2050 and then to convert the business-as-usual energy demand in 2050 to electricity provided by wind, water and solar.

Second, they use a weather model to predict the wind and solar fields in each state every 30 seconds. This weather-prediction model runs on a supercomputer and is written in Fortran computing language.

And the third component of his modeling matches the 2050 energy demand with the weather modeling of energy that can be supplied from wind, water and solar every 30 seconds. The third component is also written in Fortran, but this portion of the process can run on virtually any computer.

The resulting models use no fossil fuels, carbon capture, direct air capture, bioenergy, blue hydrogen or nuclear power.

And in that, Jacobson’s roadmaps are different from many clean-energy proposals, which advocate for using all technologies possible.

“So we’re trying to eliminate air pollution and global warming, and provide energy security. So those are the three purposes of our studies,” Jacobson told CNBC. And that “is a little different than a lot of studies that only focus on greenhouse gases. So we’re trying to eliminate air pollution as well, and also provides energy security.”

Addressing all three issues has been Jacobson’s focus for more than a decade. His first major work in the area was published in 2009 in Scientific American magazine, and four years later he appeared on NBC’s “Late Night with David Letterman” to promote his renewable-only approach. Jacobson and longtime progressive political candidate Bernie Sanders co-authored a clean-energy op-ed in The Guardian in 2017.

Combating fears of blackouts

Jacobson knows that his viewpoint is not the loudest. The promise of next-generation nuclear power plants, for example, has gotten government and private funding of late.

Nuclear innovation is “pushed mostly by the industry people, people like Bill Gates, who has a huge investment in small modular reactors,” Jacobson said. “He has a financial interest. And he wants to be known as somebody who tries to help solve the problem.”

Gates addressed the criticism that he’s a “technocrat” looking to solve climate change with new innovations, instead of with political legislation supporting technology like wind and solar which already exists, in an interview with Anderson Cooper on CBS’ “60 Minutes” earlier in the year. “I wish all this funding of these companies wasn’t necessary at all. Without innovation, we will not solve climate change. We won’t even come close,” Gates said.

Also, the timeline for getting some of these technologies to commercialization is too long to be useful. Gates’ advanced reactor company, TerraPower, announced in November that it has chosen the frontier-era coal town Kemmerer, Wyoming, as the preferred location for its first demonstration reactor, which it aims to build by 2028.

“Even if it’s seven years, that’s just a demonstration plant,” Jacobson said. “That’s not even close to a commercial plant and on the scale we need.”

TerraPower CEO Chris Levesque said the technology, specifically the Natrium nuclear reactor, will make a meaningful difference in combating climate change.

“The Natrium technology was chosen as the first mover of TerraPower’s technologies because we believe it will be operational in time to offer significant benefit toward the country’s decarbonization goals,” Levesque said in a statement.

Winning over clean-energy skeptics afraid of blackouts is a challenge, but Jacobson believes he can convince people to accept that a future like he has modeled is possible.

Renewable solutions for long-distance ships and aircraft are not available yet, he said. “But those are on the drawing board. And we know technically it can be done just as those haven’t been commercialized.”

Education is a key hurdle, as Jacobson sees it. “I am optimistic. But the thing I find that’s the biggest difficulty is the fact that it is an information issue, because most people are not aware, most people are not aware of what’s possible,” he said.

Source CNBC

Huge floating wind farms are being planned off the coast of Australia

Posted on December 27, 2021 by dishanth

Key Points

At this moment in time, Australia has no offshore wind farms.
Floating offshore wind turbines are different to bottom-fixed offshore wind turbines that are rooted to the seabed. One advantage of floating turbines is that they can be installed in deeper waters compared to bottom-fixed ones.
The Global Wind Energy Council estimates that over 235 GW of offshore wind capacity will be installed across the next decade.

Plans for three major offshore wind developments in Australia have been announced, with two of them set to incorporate floating wind technology.

In a statement Wednesday, Madrid-headquartered BlueFloat Energy said it was looking to develop the projects with advisory firm Energy Estate, which has a presence in the Australian cities of Sydney, Canberra and Adelaide.

The proposed facilities are the 1.4 gigawatt Hunter Coast Offshore Wind Project, which would be in waters off Newcastle, New South Wales; the Wollongong Offshore Wind Project, set to have a capacity of 1.6 GW and be spread across two sites off Wollongong, New South Wales; and the 1.3 GW Greater Gippsland Offshore Wind Project, planned for waters off Victoria’s Gippsland region.

According to BlueFloat Energy, the Hunter Coast and Wollongong projects will utilize floating wind technology. The Greater Gippsland wind farm will be a bottom-fixed development.

“Offshore wind energy is booming globally and now it is Australia’s time,” Carlos Martin, BlueFloat Energy’s CEO, said in a statement.

“We are excited by the prospect of introducing the two types of offshore wind technology … into Australia, as this will enable us to harness some of the best offshore wind resources globally.”

It comes after a report from the Global Wind Energy Council revealed that 6.1 GW of offshore wind capacity was installed in 2020, a small decrease compared to 6.24 GW in 2019.

The GWEC’s report, published earlier this year, forecasts that over 235 GW of offshore wind capacity is set to be installed across the next decade, however, with overall capacity hitting 270 GW by the year 2030.

Australia currently has no offshore wind farms. Toward the end of November its parliament endorsed laws which authorities said would “support the development of Australia’s offshore energy industry and deliver new jobs and investment in offshore windfarms and transmission projects.”

In a statement at the time, Angus Taylor, Australia’s minister for industry, energy and emissions reduction, said the legislation would “accelerate a number of key projects already under development.”

These include Star of the South, another offshore wind farm that’s been proposed for waters off the coast of Gippsland. Those behind the project say if Star of the South is “developed to its full potential” the facility will power roughly 1.2 million homes in the state of Victoria.

Over the past few years, a number of firms have become involved with floating offshore wind projects.

Back in 2017 Norway’s Equinor opened Hywind Scotland, a 30 megawatt facility it calls “the first full-scale floating offshore wind farm.”

Then in September 2021, another Norwegian company, Statkraft, said that a long-term purchasing agreement related to a floating offshore wind farm dubbed “the world’s largest” had started.

Elsewhere, RWE Renewables and Kansai Electric Power announced in August that they had signed an agreement that will see them look into the “feasibility of a large-scale floating offshore wind project” in waters off Japan’s coast.

Floating offshore wind turbines are different to bottom-fixed offshore wind turbines that are rooted to the seabed. One advantage of floating turbines is that they can be installed in deeper waters compared to bottom-fixed ones.

RWE has described floating turbines as being “deployed on top of floating structures that are secured to the seabed with mooring lines and anchors.”

Source CNBC

Miners experiment with hydrogen to power giant trucks

Posted on December 22, 2021 by dishanth

Mining trucks are monstrous machines that guzzle fuel at a scarcely believable rate.

Weighing 220 tonnes, they can get through 134 litres of diesel every hour.

Little wonder then that mining companies are focusing their attention on these vehicles as the first step to reducing their carbon footprint.

Anglo American, in collaboration with several partners, is retrofitting a mining haul truck with hydrogen power technology.

A first of its kind, the monster mining vehicle is being piloted in Limpopo, South Africa, at the firm’s Mogalakwena platinum mine.

Due to be launched in early 2022, the truck will be hybrid, with a hydrogen fuel cell providing roughly half of the power and a battery pack the other half.

Instead of having a tank of diesel that powers the motor, hydrogen enters the fuel cell and mixes with oxygen to create water in a chemical reaction catalysed by platinum, which generates the electricity needed to power the motors that drive the wheels.

It only emits water vapour and the company says it has the potential to reduce on-site diesel emissions by up to 80%.

By rolling out this technology across its global truck fleet, Anglo American says it will be “taking the equivalent of half a million diesel cars off the road”.

Mining trucks can get through 134 litres of diesel an hour

The trucks also harvest regenerative energy created when driving downhill and braking, which is stored in the battery and extends the range of the vehicle.

Anglo is developing the truck along with partners Engie, NPROXX, First Mode, Williams Advanced Engineering, Ballard, ABB, Nel and Plug Power.

However, reducing the carbon footprint of the mining industry is a formidable task.

The construction sector, which includes mining, accounted for 36% of global final energy use and 39% of energy-related CO2 emissions in 2017, according to Davide Sabbadin, senior policy officer for climate and circular economy at the European Environmental Bureau (EEB).

He says the sector will need to reduce its energy consumption by a third if it hopes to be compatible with the Paris Agreement.

Hydrogen-powered trucks are a good start but need closer inspection, says Diego Marin, associate policy officer for environmental justice at the EEB.

“While electric-powered vehicles, generally speaking, are less damaging to the environment than internal combustion engines on a life cycle analysis, this does not mean that they are green,” he says.

Mr Marin points out it all hinges on how the hydrogen is produced. Some hydrogen is created using fossil fuels, which of course means there are substantial emissions as a result.

Hydrogen is not the cure-all for mining’s environmental problems, says Davide Sabbadin

Anglo American says it is pulling out all the stops in an attempt to attain carbon neutrality by 2040.

Its hydrogen-powered hauler uses green hydrogen, which is made by splitting water atoms into oxygen and hydrogen, through electrolysis.

Even that is treated with caution by the EEB.

“We should refrain from presenting hydrogen as a technological solution to all problems… all forms of hydrogen come at an environmental cost – water use, impacts on nature,” says Mr Sabbadin.

The EEB also points out that hydrogen power has a shorter storage life than other renewables and is substantially more expensive to produce.

Whether it be investment for the mining industry’s green goals or hydrogen power as a broader power solution, the issue of cost is definitely a pertinent one in South Africa.

Jarrad Wright, an energy consultant and principal engineer for the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) explains.

“Hydrogen for power production is still quite expensive and unlikely to compete for some time.”

This is largely due to a lack of supporting infrastructure for the new forms of energy to be created, distributed or stored.

But, Mr Wright adds that it is possible to migrate to hydrogen in specific applications.

There is a plan to make Mogalakwena mine the centre of a hydrogen production network

At the moment South Africa’s hydrogen power infrastructure is still sparse.

But the government and private partners are exploring ways to transform the country’s platinum belt into a “hydrogen valley”, with a focus on producing green hydrogen.

Anglo American is one of the private partners in this hydrogen infrastructure plan, which aims to create a regional renewable energy ecosystem.

The starting point for this ecosystem is due to be built at the Mogalakwena mine itself, through the construction of a hydrogen production and storage complex. It incorporates the largest electrolyser in Africa, a solar power field, and will generate approximately 140MW of green power.

Initially, it will be to support the 24-hour operation of the new truck, but once operational, the aim is for numerous complexes such as this one, to serve as local and regional hubs for the emerging hydrogen economy.

“The ecosystem would not only help us reduce our… emissions, but would also provide the foundation for green hydrogen production, facilitating the roll-out of hydrogen-powered haul trucks across South Africa,” Anglo says.

Source BBC

Air NZ could take delivery of its first zero emissions aircraft as early as 2025

Posted on December 21, 2021 by dishanth

Air New Zealand has outlined what it needs from zero emissions aircraft and is asking new generation aircraft companies to build and deliver one by as early as 2025.

This month the national carrier issued a zero emissions aircraft “product requirements document (PRD)” which outlines specifications and requirements for new generation aircraft.

The PRD says Air New Zealand aims to find long term partners in developing “novel propulsion” which encompasses emerging technology including hydrogen/battery electric, hydrogen combustion or hybrid.

The focus of the PRD is on its domestic turboprop fleet which produces about 7 per cent of total emissions.

One option the airline is exploring is retrofitting existing turboprop aircraft with novel propulsion technology.

Air New Zealand currently operates 52 turboprops made up of 23 Q300 aircraft and 29 ATR72-600 aircraft. These are the likely candidates for replacement with novel propulsion technology.

Air New Zealand’s ATR aircraft could be retrofitted with zero emissions “novel propulsion” technology. JOHN ANTHONY/STUFF

Air New Zealand had a goal of having a firm order placed on a one to nine seater zero emissions aircraft by 2023 and taking a delivery in 2025, the PRD said.

“This option covers technology that is currently in development, likely at the ground testing phase, but moving quickly towards first flight in the next 24 months with commercial certification underway.”

These aircraft could be used for freight, training and single lines of flying, it says.

In September Air New Zealand and Airbus signed a memorandum of understanding to analyse the impact hydrogen aircraft may have on the airline’s network, operations and infrastructure.

By 2026 to 2030 it aims to have “supplementary” zero emissions aircraft ranging from one to 50 plus seats.

“The types of missions will ideally be passenger services however freight concepts are also of interest especially if the aircraft progression is targeted at a later passenger version.”

By 2031 to 2035 it would look to buy a new technology replacement fleet.

“We have an ambition to be a global leader in driving a shift to novel propulsion aircraft with an entry to service before 2030,” the PRD says.

The airline has a goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and sees electric or hydrogen powered aircraft as a key pillar in its sustainability strategy.

However, the airline acknowledged that even with the full deployment of aviation decarbonisation technologies, including electric, hybrid and hydrogen powered aircraft, and sustainable aviation fuel, there was no current technology mix that could enable the industry to absolutely decarbonise by 2050, the PRD said.

On top of this, the industry’s share of emissions would continue to increase in coming decades as other sectors decarbonise more quickly, it said.

The PRD said Air New Zealand was well-placed for the early deployment of novel propulsion aircraft because it had a large turboprop fleet operating in a domestic network.

The maximum range for a turboprop on its current domestic network was 768 kilometres. But 60 per cent of its turboprop flights were less than 350km.

Air New Zealand head of fleet strategy Baden Smith said its existing memorandum of understanding with Airbus was for larger aircraft and had a relatively long timeline.

Smaller companies would likely be leaders in zero emissions technology initially, he said.

Before releasing the PRD Air New Zealand had been “inundated” with enquiries about operating new generation aircraft from both small and large companies wanting to partner with it, he said.

The PRD was a way of detailing what Air New Zealand was looking for in a new generation aircraft and setting out a realistic timeline to make it a reality, he said.

He said it was also Air New Zealand’s way of taking some leadership on the issue and telling manufacturers what it needed rather than waiting for them to come to it.

Historically, selecting an aircraft type came down to choosing from either Boeing or Airbus, but with new generation aircraft there was a range of startups to choose from, he said.

“This new technology doesn’t necessarily just come from the incumbents.”

In assessing tenders Air New Zealand would look at where a company’s technology was at, what the commercial state of the technology was, and whether the roadmap of the company could meet Air New Zealand’s expectations, he said.

“We’re really wanting to understand where everyone is going with the technology.”

Air New Zealand would likely select a handful of candidates that had the potential to deliver on the criteria it had set, he said.

“While we might not be signing an order immediately off the back of it, that’s ultimately where we want to get to.”

He said the technology initially focused on regional routes because the range and demand was more suited, he said.

The PRD notes that Air New Zealand has in the past operated a breadth of domestic markets and smaller aircraft, including a fleet of 19 seat Beechcraft 1900.

Smith said this was to highlight that it was open to operating smaller aircraft than what it had now.

“We’re realistic that the technology will slowly build over time and if we want to get there quickly we probably have to recognise that these smaller aircraft are where it’s going to start.”

Suppliers have until March 1 to get their proposals in.

Correction: An earlier version of this story said Air New Zealand could take delivery of a zero emissions aircraft as early as 2023. That is when the airline expects to have a firm order placed. Delivery is expected by 2025.

Source Stuff

The coolest sustainability innovations of 2021

Posted on December 21, 2021 by dishanth

In a year beset with environmental and social problems made worse by a pandemic that refused to go away, scientists, engineers and other types of clever people found solutions to the world’s most pressing problems.

From lab-grown furniture to net-zero alcohol, Eco-Business highlights the sustainability innovations that gave humanity a bit of hope in another troubling year.

Milk pants

Underwear made from waste milk doesn’t sound particularly hygienic. But United States-based sustainable fabric brand Inner Mettle claims to be able upcycle underwear from surplus milk. The underwear is natural, breathable and super-soft, according to the manufacturer, which also makes shoes from recycled lycra and vegan suede.

Lab-grown furniture

Loggers take note. Furniture could soon be produced in a laboratory. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) boffins say they can rear in a lab what would take decades to grow in nature. They could even engineer the wood tissue to grow into the specific shape of the chair or table. “Trees grow in tall cylindrical poles, and we rarely use tall cylindrical poles in industrial applications,” Luis Fernando Velásquez-García, a principal scientist in MIT’s Microsystems Technology Laboratories, told Fast Company about his research paper, published in Journal for Cleaner Production. “So you end up shaving off a bunch of material that you spent 20 years growing and that ends up being a waste product.” Though the research is still in its infancy, MIT’s researcher say this could be the beginning of a new way of producing biomaterials that could also help to replace single-use plastics.

Net-zero booze

Producing a single bottle of vodka emits an average of 6 kilogrammes of carbon, according to New York-based carbon-neutral alcoholic spirits startup Air Company. The company produces carbon-negative vodka, making their alcohol from recaptured CO2 and takes an extra 45 grammes of carbon from the air in the process. Air Company’s carbon-neutral booze clinched a prize at Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas Awards this year.

Surfing to save the ocean

A surfboard that measures water acidity, temperature and wave movements could be used to find out more about the declining health of the ocean. “The reason these parameters are important is because they’re changing directly as a result of climate change,” says Dr Andrew Stern, founder of Smartfin, in a video interview with Great Big Story. “We have detailed information about the deep ocean, but very limited accurate information about the near shore.” Data is collected from an implant in the surfboard’s fin and sent the user’s phone for analysis.

Tyler Cyronak, post-doctoral fellow at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography. Image: YouTube

Coffee capsules that die

The sort of invention that should have been invented ages ago and before disposable coffee capsules made from aluminium and plastic began lining landfills: coffee capsules that actually breakdown in the environment. The Nexe Pod, developed by plant-based materials design firm Nexe Innovations, is for people who want to drink half-decent coffee instantly, without worrying as much about the packaging footprint of such convenience (because they’re already worrying about the deforestation footprint of the coffee). Nexe Pods are plant-based, compostable in just over a month, non-toxic in soils and and can apparently fit more coffee than a standard single-serve Nespresso capsule. “We are chasing the compostability side of the market,” said Nexe Innovations president Ash Guglani in an interview with Proactive in May. “There’s a lot of recyclable alternatives out there. But recycling requires work. We’re bringing convenience back to single-serve.”

Landfill-friendly coffee capsules. Image: Nexe Innovations

Gum wheels

Skateboard wheels made of recycled chewing gum. Design students Hugo Maupetit and Vivian Fischer, from Nancy in France, found a way to collect discarded chewing gum, encouraging people to stick their used gum on a sign board rather than drop it on the floor. Once 10-30 used gums had been collected, they were melted down and moulded into wheels.

Early versions of chewing gum were made from tree sap, but most modern gum is made from the same stuff as car tyres, a synthetic rubber called polyisobutylene. Image: Dezeen

Batteries from trees

The material most often used for the anode in lithium-ion batteries is synthetic graphite, which is non-renewable. Finish pulp and paper manufacturer Stora Enso says it can replace synthetic graphite with lignin, the sturdy stuff found in the cells and bark of trees, for use in the batteries found in electric vehicles, mobile phones and laptops.

Homes from shipping containers

There’s a growing surplus of shipping containers that have reached the end of their lives. German architects and developers the Schween family teamed up with real estate expert Sean Woolley to create aesthetically pleasing and affordable homes made from used containers in Marbella, Spain.

A home made from used shipping containers. Image: Sean Woolley

Eau d’Industrie

German chemicals giant BASF has found a way to create the fragrance found in perfume and the flavours found in food from industrial waste. Called n-octanol, the stuff, which is made from a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, is sourced from steel industry waste. Using this technology, companies will be able to make any product containing n-octanol from municipal and industrial waste gases, replacing fossil fuels in the production process and also preventing them from getting into the atmosphere.

Waterless beauty

Freeze-drying used to be a popular technique for preserving food for astronauts. Now beauty brands such as Korean brand Saro de Rúe and Beijing-based biotech company Weibo Hi-Tech Cosmetics are using the method for skincare products. Freeze-drying helps the product last longer, as there is no water for bacteria to multiply on, so no need for preservatives, and the product’s ingredients can be transported in vacuum-sealed bags rather than liquid containers, saving on space. If there is a drawback, they still use plastic packaging.

Rael’s moisture melt snowball. Image: Wunderman Thompson

Photovoltaic pavement

The city of Barcelona is on a mission to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. To help it do this, it has starting laying solar panels on pathways. The first installation is 50 square metres of photovoltaic panels in a park in the Glòries district. The path will generate 7,560 kWh a year, enough to supply three households. “We’ll have to assess the wear and tear because obviously it’s not the same as putting panels on a roof, although they are highly resistant,” Eloi Badia, who is responsible for climate emergency and ecological transition at Barcelona city council, told The Guardian newspaper.

PV pavement. Image: Ayuntamiento de Barcelona

Washing with waste

Personal care giant Unilever teamed up with biotech company LanzaTech and green chemical company India Glycols to manufacture laundry capsules made from recycled carbon emissions. Launched in China in April, the capsules are made from recaptured industrial emissions which are repurposed into surfactants, a product normally made using fossil fuels.

OMO capsules, made from industrial waste. Image: Unilever

Electric steps

Footsteps can be converted into enough electricity to power LED lightbulbs or other small appliances, by attaching an energy-harvesting device to wooden flooring. Called a nanogenerator, the device is based on sandwiching two pieces of wood between electrodes.

Vegan diamonds

Diamonds are typically dug up or produced in labs. Both methods are environmentally-intensive. US firm Aether claims to make the world’s first diamonds that “help reverse the historical damage done to ecosystems and the environment by the diamond industry.” The company’s atmospheric collectors suck carbon dioxide from the sky, pulling it into specialised filters. The CO2 is then synthesised into the right hydrocarbon for growing diamonds. The raw materials are placed into powerful reactors for the diamonds to be grown. The energy used comes from “renewable and low-emissions sources”, the company told Forbes. The product is now vegan certified.

Source Eco Business

New York City banned gas in new buildings. Here’s what you need to know

Posted on December 17, 2021 by dishanth

The City Council on Wednesday passed a bill making New York the largest city in the United States to effectively ban the use of gas in new buildings and to turn to electricity for power.

More than 50 municipalities in California have all-electric building codes, and other cities, including Seattle and Ithaca, are advancing electrification in new buildings. But no other American city has a dense building stock like New York, which faces colder seasonal temperatures compared to most places that have adopted similar legislation.

The New York bill, which establishes a threshold for how much carbon a building can emit, limiting the use of gas, could set an example for the rest of the country, environmental advocates said.

“To think that every new iconic skyscraper on the New York City skyline will soon be built without any fossil fuel use — I think it’s a game-changing moment for the climate movement,” said Jenna Tatum, director of the Building Electrification Institute.

Mayor Bill Blasio is expected to sign the bill or let it lapse into law.

Here’s what you need to know:

What’s the point of prohibiting gas in new buildings?

Buildings are responsible for about 70% of the city’s greenhouse gas emissions, which warm the planet and threaten health.

“Furnaces, boilers and hot water heaters emit more carbon in New York City than all uses of electricity combined today, so electrifying those systems becomes our biggest way to fight climate change,” said John Mandyck, CEO of the Urban Green Council.

This measure has the potential to save about 2.1 million tons of carbon emissions by 2040, according to an estimate by the Rocky Mountain Institute. That’s equal to taking nearly half a million cars off the road.

“New Yorkers will look back years from now and say that it had a major positive impact on public health,” said LJ Portis, environmental policy and advocacy coordinator at WE ACT for Environmental Justice.

I’m planning to move to a newly built place soon. Does this mean my building won’t have gas?

Nope — the ban doesn’t take effect right away. The ban would apply to new buildings with fewer than seven stories by 2024. That extends to July 2027 for buildings with seven or more stories.

Any gut renovation that requires a new building permit would also be subject to the law. Affordable housing would be subject to the ban in 2026 and 2028, depending on whether they’re below or above seven stories.

Not every building makes the grade when it comes to energy efficiency. Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY

Dozens of all-electric buildings are already in the works around the city, providing models for future developments.

How will this affect my current apartment?

New York City is aiming to reduce carbon from existing buildings through Local Law 97, which requires owners to meet certain emissions limits starting in 2024.

Based on how quickly the state can green the grid, most building owners, especially in the commercial sector, won’t have to do much to comply. But retrofits to electrify will help other buildings meet those targets.

This policy, as well as the looming gas ban, will help to “prove the market for energy efficient and electric building technologies and develop the workforce that is needed to install and service them,” according to Amy Turner, a senior fellow at the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia Law School.

That means building owners are likely over time to find more — and more affordable — electrical options for appliances if they want to upgrade their heating systems.

So in the future, new buildings won’t have gas stoves?

That’s right (as long as the law isn’t repealed). Buildings won’t be able to use any fossil fuel-powered appliances, like gas boilers and stoves. Instead, they’ll incorporate electric or induction stoves and incorporate heat pumps that move cold or warm air into a home.

These swaps will make residents more comfortable and healthier, according to Russell Unger, a principal and co-leader of the Building Electrification Initiative at the Rocky Mountain Institute.

“The stuff coming off of these open flames is not all that different from having a car idling in your kitchen,” Unger said. “Over time, there’ll be notable improvements in air quality. There’ll be less ozone. There’ll be lower levels of particulate matter, which will reduce cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, asthma, premature mortality.”

How much will this cost me? How much will it cost my landlord?

Studies have predicted lower utility bills as a result of all-electric development — but it’s unclear what the effect would be on bills for those living in multi-family housing in New York City, which sees higher than average electricity costs.

Even with increased electric use, the average New Yorker is bound to save money on paying for new fossil fuel infrastructure like pipelines.

Some studies have shown it’s less expensive for developers to build efficient, all-electric homes than it is to build using fossil fuels, and that electric space and water heating and air conditioning results in lower costs to owners over the lifetime of the appliances.

“These policies are hugely important because they save us future costs so we don’t have to go back and fix the buildings in the future,” Samantha Wilt, a senior policy analyst focused on clean energy at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Who backed the new measure?

Local environmental and climate justice advocates pushed the measure, saying it would tamp down on the carbon released into the atmosphere, leading to a healthier planet — and healthier neighborhoods. Con Ed, the utility supplying electricity and some gas to city dwellers, also backed the bill, as did businesses that help to reduce the carbon footprint of buildings.

Environmental activists held a “die-in” outside City Hall to advocate for passage of a bill banning the use of fracked gas in new developments, Sept. 23, 2021. Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY

Supporters pointed to climate science that shows the need to eliminate dependence on fossil fuels to prevent further damage to the earth. They’re looking to pass a bill in Albany that would make New York the first state in the nation to mandate all-electric buildings.

Who opposed it?

Some big players in the real estate industry and National Grid — which provides gas to many New Yorkers — lobbied against the timeline. They warned power might not be reliable in the winter, when heat is needed, and argued it would be difficult for developers to construct large, all-electric buildings. Those interests ultimately won a longer timeline for the ban to take effect, foiling ban supporters who wanted the no-gas rule in place by 2023.

Can New York’s grid handle this change?

While Con Ed says it doesn’t expect blackouts, New Yorkers have lived through past power outages, which could take a bigger toll on people in all-electric buildings. Still, a report by the Urban Green Council found the city electric grid won’t need upgrades to handle the increased reliance on it until after 2035, when, the organization predicts, more than a third of all the building stock citywide is expected to have been electrified.

Source The City

NTU team invents biodegradable paper battery 10 times cheaper than lithium batteries

Posted on December 17, 2021 by dishanth

Local scientists have invented a cheap, rechargeable, and a fully biodegradable paper battery that can someday be used to power wearables of the future.

This battery is made by screen printing an ink layer of manganese on one side of a sheet of strengthened paper, and a layer of zinc and conductive carbon on the other.

Developed by a team from Nanyang Technological University (NTU), it can hold a substantial amount of charge. For instance, a 4cm by 4cm printed paper battery about 0.4mm thick can power a small electric fan for at least 45 minutes.

Bending or twisting the paper battery does not interrupt the power supply.PHOTO: NTU

Bending or twisting the battery does not interrupt the power supply, and larger battery sheets can be printed and cut up and used as individual, smaller batteries of different sizes and shapes for different uses.

Professor Fan Hongjin from the NTU School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences and the study’s co-lead author, said: “(The versatility of use, durability and efficacy of these batteries) make our paper batteries ideal for integration in the sorts of flexible electronics that are gradually being developed.”

Beyond the potential ergonomics of these batteries, the researchers said these batteries cost at least 10 times less to manufacture in the lab as compared with lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries, the world’s standard for rechargeable batteries.

The paper batteries are made up of electrodes screen-printed on to both sides of a piece of cellulose paper reinforced with hydrogel.PHOTO: NTU

This is because the primary electrodes use manganese and zinc, which are much cheaper and more common metals than lithium.

The entire battery can be safely degraded underground within a month, with the metals contributing to the mineral culture in the soil.

Assistant Professor Lee Seok Woo from the NTU School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering and the study’s co-lead author said: “We believe the paper battery we have developed could potentially help with the electronic waste problem, given that our printed paper battery is non-toxic and does not require aluminum or plastic casings to encapsulate the battery components.”

These batteries serve as an improvement over current Li-ion batteries that are commonly used.

Li-ion batteries contain toxic substances that when crushed, may leak and contaminate water sources. Furthermore, exhausted Li-ion batteries need to be disposed of safely because they can cause fires in the event of a leak.

The team is now focused on optimising the battery, which is in its early stages of development and sees the battery is integrated with printed-on sensors at scale.

The scientists from NTU who developed the batteries are (from left) Dr Li Jia, Assistant Professor Lee Seok Woo, Professor Fan Hongjin and Dr Yang Peihua. PHOTO: NTU

Prof Fan said: “As we move towards the future of the Internet of Things, many more of our everyday objects will need to be embedded with sensors that need to be powered in order to communicate with other objects.

“We believe that our battery is contributing to that future.”

Three devices that may benefit from paper batteries

1. Electronic medical skin patches

Sufferers of chronic health conditions can wear a skin patch with sensors to measure vital signs or a drug delivery system that supplies medication when necessary.

For instance, an asthma patient’s breathing patterns can be monitored round the clock by a medical patch that keeps track of wheezing. The patch can inform its wearer that they are about to get an asthma attack and remind them to use their inhaler.

Other uses might be insulin patches that can administer insulin at regular intervals based on blood glucose levels measured. Paper batteries can keep these patches thin and unobtrusive to wear.

2. GPS-tracking stickers

Although tracking devices, such as Tile and Apple’s Airtags, are becoming more mainstream, they are relatively bulky additions and can trace only objects large enough to hold them, such as bags or wallets.

In the future, small GPS-tracking stickers integrated with thin paper batteries can be stuck onto small items – such as pens.

3. Thinner wearables

Most smartwatches today are relatively bulky as they require higher-capacity rechargeable lithium-ion batteries that can be the size of an SD memory card or bigger.

If powered by thin, flexible paper batteries, smartwatches can have more creative configurations, such as batteries fitted into watch straps.

And as the metaverse, a 3D virtual environment, becomes increasingly important, demand for thinner and lighter virtual reality headsets and augmented reality glasses for everyday use will rise.

Source The Straits Times

Government announces biofuel mandate for transport sector

Posted on December 16, 2021 by dishanth

The Government has announced it will mandate the use of biofuels for cars, trucks, trains and ships to reduce emissions in the transport sector.

Energy and Resources Minister Megan Woods announced on Wednesday a Sustainable Biofuels Mandate will take effect from April 1, 2023.

“Biofuels offer a practical, low-emissions solution to reduce New Zealand’s transport sector emissions and will be scaled up over time resulting in greater emissions reductions from transport fuels,” Woods said.

Fuel wholesalers – those who first import or refine fuels – must cut their total greenhouse gas emissions for transport fuels they sell by 1.2 per cent in 2023, then 2.4 per cent in 2024, and then 3.5 per cent in 2025, by replacing part of their supply with biofuels.

Biofuels will offer a practical, low-emissions solution to reduce New Zealand’s transport sector emissions and will be scaled up over time. (File photo)

“Land transport accounts for almost half of all of our national carbon dioxide emissions and we need to take action to start to mitigate transport’s impact on climate change,” Woods said.

She predicted the mandate would prevent around one million tonnes of emissions over the next three years.

“Biofuels mandates are common overseas with more than 60 jurisdictions having them; we had one on the cards more than a decade ago but it was repealed before it came into effect,” Woods said.

Transport Minister Michael Wood said that would reduce emissions from the transport sector emissions while the rest of the Clean Car Package “revs up”. This includes rebates for electric vehicles, more chargers along state highways, and a push to import more climate-friendly cars.

“We need to transition to low-emission vehicles, and biofuels will help reduce emissions while we make that transition,” he said. “Biofuels have the potential to boost economic recovery through encouraging a local industry and creating jobs.”

A separate mandate for aviation will be announced in 2022. (File photo) RICKY WILSON/STUFF

A separate mandate for aviation fuel would be developed next year; The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) was working with Air New Zealand on a study to determine the potential for producing sustainable aviation fuel domestically.

Statistics NZ data shows domestic aviation greenhouse emissions in 2018 were up 12 per cent from 2017, and up 17.7 percent from 1990. They made up 3.2 per cent of all carbon dioxide emissions in 2018.

However, there are concerns the mandate will hike the price of fuel. An MBIE report from June says: “A biofuels mandate will, however, increase fuel prices as biofuels cost more to produce.”

“If the Sustainable Biofuels Mandate is implemented as proposed, in 2025 it would result in a 0.2 per cent (0.4 cents per litre) increase in baseline petrol prices, a 5.8 percent (7.1 cents per litre) increase in baseline diesel prices.”

Minister Woods has been approached for comment.

Source Stuff

Students for sustainability… Thryft founders Eddie Lim, Chow Jia Yu and Tan Ye Kai

Posted on December 15, 2021December 16, 2021 by dishanth

What started as a weekend passion project between friends, Thryft is now established as Singapore’s first sustainable online bookstore.

Thryft is an online site that allows people to trade in second-hand books in exchange for credits that can be spent on the platform. A group of students, Eddie Lim, Choy Jia Yu and Tan Ye Kai conceived the idea while studying at the National University of Singapore (NUS). The founders hope that by encouraging people to resell books and buy pre-loved ones, it will minimise waste. Old books gain a new lease of life while avid readers can create space for exciting new reads. Thryft has resold over 12,000 second-hand books since it began operating two years ago.

The platform uses algorithms to determine the trade-in value based on the current first-hand retail price, popularity and market saturation. Thryft’s community commitment operates on a 10, 50, and 100 per cent model. Ten per cent of their profits go to non-profit organisations on a quarterly basis to support tackling urgent environmental and social issues. Fifty per cent of their profits are donated to various social organisations. Non-profit organisations are able to list their books on the platform at no cost and take back 100 per cent of the profits from what they manage to sell.

Eco-Business sat down with the three bookworms to learn more about Thryft, their personal experiences in running a business, and the advice they would give to other budding entrepreneurs looking to make a name in the sustainability sphere.

Eddie: To add on to that, I don’t think many people know that we’re still students. Customers can be very demanding because they expect a full-time team to be behind Thryft. Even still, we try to be closely aligned to professional standards.

With the surge of e-books in recent years, why did you choose to focus on physical books?

Ye Kai: If you look at the statistics in the past five years or so, after the initial surge of e-books in 2014-2016, we saw a steady decline and instead it was more ‘trendy’ to have print books. In the United Kingdom alone, 200 million physical books were sold last year. But, where do all the books end up? That was an important question we wanted to answer.

Eddie: There’s also an alarming statistic that every Singaporean household has an average of 52 books. With over 1.3 million households, that’s over 68 million books just lying around. So what can we do about all these resources? According to data, the trend is still increasing. These are key questions that we are trying to address.

What are your thoughts on the sustainability scene in Singapore?

Jia Yu: There’s a growing urgency where people are beginning to realise there is a need to reduce their plastic usage. People are also looking for more sustainable options when they shop. Especially in the past three years, there are more brands offering sustainable clothing or household items. There are more secondhand stores too. It’s encouraging to see this mindset gain popularity.

Do you think that the Asian/Singaporean stigma towards second-hand items is changing?

Eddie: Unfortunately, there aren’t many statistics or a lot of data in Singapore. However, the largest online second-hand fashion retailer in the United States, ThredUp, has said that it is outgrowing the traditional retail market by 11 times. There’s a general acceptance of second-hand items, particularly by millennials who are slowly reaching the stage where they have purchasing power. In that sense, the trend is likely to continue. Although there aren’t many robust reports available here, there are many sustainability-focused businesses popping up, so it definitely carries on in Singapore as well.

What advice would you give to young entrepreneurs looking to start a sustainable organisation like Thryft?

Jia Yu: One piece of advice would be to think about systems. Everything is interlinked and for us, because we’re trying to facilitate the movement of second-hand goods, our focus is placed on building a system that works for people. For entrepreneurs looking to start their own company, they should explore how their ideas can link systems together too.

You have to see meaning in what you do too. Owning a business is often difficult, and it’s very easy to get lost in all the operational or logistic challenges. Our motivation is making a circular economy of books within Singapore and Southeast Asia, as well as opening up opportunities for people who don’t have access to second-hand books. It helps push us and keeps us focused on what we’re really doing here.

Ye Kai: My advice is to be aware that you’re in it for the long term. Building a business doesn’t take one or two years, it’s more of a 10 year or more journey. A lot of people our age start with weekend projects just to see where it goes, but it’s important to keep the end in mind. When it shifts from a passion project to an actual business, that is when things get hard.

What does 2022 look like for Thryft?

Eddie: We started having monthly book fairs this year, but because of the pandemic it had to be switched from physical to virtual. Now that things have settled down, we are excited about hosting fairs again next year.

We also recently received the SG Eco Fund grant to run a sustainability fair. The idea is to host it a convention centre where like-minded vendors can set up booths and customers can bring items from their homes to trade them in. It’s a fun way for people who are quite new to sustainability to dip their toes in and try it out.

How did the idea for Thryft come about?

Eddie: I previously worked at a big data and Artificial Intelligence-related startup and I would get at least two cups of coffee every day. Three months into the job, I realised I had amassed over 100 cups. Just the thought of all those cups struck something in me; that an individual can make such a significant impact on the environment. That was when I started getting concerned about sustainability issues.

Our school has a small Facebook group where students can list and sell second-hand textbooks within the community. It got me thinking about what made this idea work compared to my own personal experience on public platforms (like Carousell) which are branded as marketplaces for buyers and sellers. The difference lies in the fact that all us students stay in the same student accommodation which offers great convenience. This allows us to move lower value goods easily and efficiently.

Trying to replicate this on large online marketplaces introduces inconveniences such as location and price negotiation. So, I began brainstorming ways to change the process of moving our pre-loved books quicker. By using data, we have created an algorithm that helps us arrive at a fair value for these second-hand books. This idea started out as a weekend project with friends, where we tested the first version of the algorithm to see how well we predicted prices. It continued from there.

Jia Yu: I started a thrift shop with a few friends when I started college in 2019 and we operated on a point system, whereby people could trade-in clothing for points depending on the quality of the donated item. One of the disadvantages I observed was that it was logistically and operationally challenging. For example, it is difficult to determine the actual value of the clothing, so even if someone traded in a high-end luxury item, it would be priced the same as a cheaper garment. When Eddie came to me with his algorithm, we realised we could help each other out.

What are some challenges you have faced growing this company?

Ye Kai: Aside from the obvious technical aspects that we had to learn, I would say our biggest challenge was just juggling work, school, and personal life. We are all still full-time students, and we started Thryft in Year 2. Trying to build a successful business forced us to learn how to better prioritise our responsibilities.

Source Eco Business