Tag: energy

ENERGY: Oppenheimer

Posted on by Building The World
J. Robert Oppenheimer. Portrait from student days in Göttingen, Germany. Image: Public Domain. Included with recognition.

Summer blockbuster movies are meant to entertain, but the film Oppenheimer presents more than an opportunity for three hours in an air-conditioned theatre to escape the record-breaking summer heatwave. The film, about a scientist who for many is the face of the Manhattan Project, is a lesson in hindsight. And maybe a hope for future foresight.

Roosevelt and Churchill could have made a very different decision. Image: Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, 18 January 1943. U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. Public Domain. Included with recognition.

There was a moment in time when, after learning from Albert Einstein and other scientists, that nuclear power as a new form of energy was not only possible but could also be used to destroy the world, a different decision could have been made. In the midst of a troubling war, American President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill met. Churchill sent a team to work with the Americans. General Leslie Groves, military head of the Manhattan Project, selected J. Robert Oppenheimer as scientific director to develop nuclear energy – in the form of a weapon. This was only part of Einstein’s communication, but it was the first on which action was taken. The Manhattan Project was launched. But the key decision still had not been made.

Manhattan Project’s Trinity test of “Gadget” 16 July 1945. Image from USDE, public domain. Included with recognition.

Roosevelt worried about the decision. He considered informing a war enemy country, perhaps Japan, that there would be a bombing and that all citizens should be evacuated. Then, the bomb would have been dropped, demonstrating the horror and power, and the shock would be sufficient to stop the war. Why was this course of action not followed? After considering the decision, Roosevelt feared the bomb might indeed fall but not detonate, thereby leaving on the field of war a full-scale model to reverse-engineer, improve, and return fire against its creators. Tragically, the decision to move forward was taken by successor President Truman, and terrible injustice rained upon unsuspecting residents of Japan. Oppenheimer, who developed the bomb and witnessed its power when tested, quoted the Bhagavad Gita: “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”

Tragic atomic bombing of Japan, 1945. Image: “Bombs detonating over Hiroshima (left) and Nagasaki (right),” by photographer Sergeant George R. Caron, 1945. Caron was the first person to see the bomb from the air upon detonation. A military officer on the mission, Caron also happened to be a photographer. Public Domain. Included with recognition.

While its purpose was military, the Manhattan Project also demonstrated that people can come together to work on something of great importance, coordinated across geography and through sectors of society, with remarkable speed and efficacy. Tragically, the Manhattan Project, and Oppenheimer’s team, achieved a level of terror and destruction never before seen. But it also developed a new form of energy. What are we to do with this, now?

In 1946, the Atomic Energy Act introduced guidelines for the safe and beneficial use of this potent new form of energy. In Section I, a, the Atomic Energy Act states “It is hereby declared to be the policy of the people of the United States that…the development and utilization of atomic energy shall…be directed toward improving the public welfare, increasing the standard of living, strengthening free competition in private enterprise, and promoting world peace.” The Peace Symbol, created by Gerald Holtom in 1958 by combining semaphore letters (Semaphore is signal system using visuals that can be read at a distance. In the 19th century, ships began to communicate via semaphore flags – it this system that Holtom used.) “N” and “D” to signal nuclear disarmament, remains an important and inspirational icon, reaching beyond the original meaning to a broader call to peace. But its source and heart developed from the very issue that the Oppenheimer film explores.

The Peace Symbol created by Gerald Holtom combines the semaphore letters “N” (Nuclear) and “D” (Disarmament). Image: Gerald Holtom. Public Domain. Included with appreciation.

What should the future of nuclear energy be? Oppenheimer’s last words on the subject remain controversial but include “the peacetime applications of atomic energy will have in them all that we think, and more.” The original atomic energy was achieved through fission – dangerous then and still troubling now. Small modular reactors (SMR) are bringing fission energy to a new and less dangerous scale. Reuse and recycling of nuclear waste is similarly changing energy practice. Many energy experts state that we may need nuclear power as a supplement to other forms of renewable energy like solar, wave, and wind. But it is also true that nuclear plants, even SMRs, are still vulnerable, as recent military history in Ukraine warns. Recently, fusion energy may soon offer a capability that could achieve the dual goals of carbon-free energy and world cooperation. Fusion energy advances in ITER in France and in the United States, among others, may produce options in the near future.

Nuclear power is a major energy source in France. Image: “Nuclear plants map of France” by Eric Gaba, based on NASA satellite data, public domain. Included with recognition,

Nuclear capability remains with us, but the stain of nuclear tragedy also remains, as the Oppenheimer movie reminds us. Oppenheimer is often called the “American Prometheus,” after the fire-stealing Greek Titan, whose brother was Epimetheus. Prometheus means “forethought;” Epimetheus means “hindsight.” What is your view of nuclear energy? How can we use what we know, through hindsight, to lead a future informed by foresight? 

Prometheus means “foresight.” Epimetheus means “hindsight.” Image: Nevit Dilmon. Creative commons 3.0. Included with recognition.

Bird, Kai and Martin J. Sherwin. American Prometheus. 2006. ISBN: 0375726268

Bobin, Jean Louis. Controlled Thermonuclear Fusion. 2014. ISBN: 9789814590686

Davidson Frank. P, and K. Lusk Brooke. “The Manhattan Project and the Atomic Energy Act,” pages 477-514, Building the World. Volume 2. ISBN: 0313333742.

Gates, Bill. “Interview with Bill Gates on Nuclear Energy and Reaching Net Zero.” 21 October 2022. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). VIDEO. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4pDyQzguJE

ITER. https://www.iter.org

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) National Ignition Facility. “Fusion ignition breakthrough hailed as ‘one of the most impressive scientific feats of the 21st century'” 5 December 2022. https://www.llnl.gov/news/shot-ages-fusion-ignition-breakthrough-hailed-one-most-impressive-scientific-feats-21st

Nolan, Christopher interviewed by Dennis Overbye. “Christopher Nolan and the Contradictions of J. Robert Oppenheimer,” 20 July 2023. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/20/movies/christopher-nolan-oppenheimer.html

Oppenheimer, J. Robert. “Now I am become Death,” speaking of the bomb. VIDEO. Atomic Archive. https://www.atomicarchive.com/media/video/oppenheimer

Oppenheimer, J. Robert. “Farewell Speech,” 2 November 1945, Association of Los Alamos Scientists. Atomic Heritage Foundation. Nuclear Museum. https://ahf.nuclearmuseum.org/ahf/key-documents/oppenheimers-farewell-speech/

Rhodes, Richard. The Making of the Atomic Bomb. 1986. ISBN: 9780671657192

United States Congress “Atomic Energy Act of 1946” Public Law 585, 79th Congress, Chapter 724, Second Session S. 1717. https://www.atomicarchive.com/resources/documents/deterrence/atomic-energy-act.html

Great appreciation to Jean-Louis Bobin and Lucien Deschamps for sharing research.

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G. Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 U

 

WATER/ENERGY: Deep Seabed Mining – Part 2

Posted on by Building The World
Deep Sea Mining will affect marine life in the largest continuous marine habitat on Earth. What do you think? Make your voice heard now.  Image: “Fluorescent Coral” by Erin Rod, 2019. Creative Commons 4.0. Included with appreciation.

In July 2023, the Legal and Technical Commission of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) will discuss a possible mining code framework. While autonomous bulldozers would not begin to scrape the deep until 2026, it is not too soon to take steps – before it is too late. Which should we value: energy or water? Part 1 of this discussion focused on energy: minerals like copper, cobalt, lithium, manganese, nickel, platinum, and rare earths are needed for batteries to store renewable energy. These minerals are present, in abundance, in the seabed. Part 2 of this topic brings the focus to the water environment in which these minerals are found. It is the largest continuous marine habitat on Earth. Many feel we should not undertake seabed mining too quickly, if at all. Mining disasters on land are evidence of potential damage: what would happen underwater, where currents could expand the problem?

Dr. Sylvia Earle, marine scientist, and founder of “Mission Blue” to preserve ocean life. Image: NOAA, 1970. Public domain. Included with appreciation.

Champions bring issues to life. Enter “Her Deepness”: Sylvia Earle. Earle’ organization Mission Blue has proposed Hope Spots to preserve the ocean environment. Enter Lewis William Gordon Pugh, often called “Sir Edmund Hillary in a Swim Suit,” the first person to swim every ocean including Antarctic waters to promote awareness of the Ross Sea –  now largest Marine Protected Area (MPA) in the world. Enter Rena Lee: leader of the Intergovernmental Conference on Marine Biodiversity, who chaired 36 hours of nonstop negotiation that produced the agreement for the High Seas Treaty to protect 30% of Earth’s water and land by 2030. Marine Protected Areas offer a chance to save enough to sustain the ocean environment. Related to that concept is the campaign of 50 Reefs to protect some of the world’s most sustainable coral reefs with the hope of regenerating neighboring reefs over time.

Global Marine Protected Areas (as of November 2022). Image from Marine Protection Atlas, Marine Conservation Institute; graphic by Yo. Russmo. CC 4.0. Included with appreciation.

ISA has initiated a few marine protected areas of their own. They call these “Areas of Particular Environmental Interest” or APEI. Recently, ISA approved four new ones in the CCZ totaling 200,000 square miles (518,000 square kilometers). Just as a comparison, the CCZ is 1.7 million square miles (4.5 million sq km). Next to be determined: how will exploited versus protected areas be compared to track environmental changes if or when mining begins?

Deep Sea Mining may soon begin in the Pacific between Hawaii and Mexico. Image: “Polymetallic Nodules Exploration Area in the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone” by International Seabed Authority (ISA), 2016. Public Domain. Included with appreciation.

ISA “DeepData” began in 2002 as a way to collect and centralize all data on marine mineral resources. Will the APEIs be included? Comparing and measuring an initial mined area with a protected area could monitor effects before opening permits to other projects.

Some companies, and countries, have called for a moratorium on deep sea mining. Once it begins, there may be consequences we have not anticipated. Image: “Mid-ocean ridge topography” graphic by United States Geological Survey, 2011. Public domain. Included with appreciation.

Some business users of minerals like cobalt have declared they will not purchase or use any materials obtained by deep sea mining. Some countries have signed a moratorium including Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Federation States of Micronesia, Fiji, France, Germany, New Zealand, Palau, Panama, Samoa, and Spain, among others. More than 700 scientists joined with the European Academies Science Advisory Council (EASAC) to warn about potential damage. Sir David Attenborough advised a moratorium and the UK offered a opportunity to sign a petition (if you are a UK citizen or resident). Some experts state we can reduce mineral demand by 58%,  thereby avoiding a need for deep sea mining. When all ISA members (the USA is not among them) meet in July 2023, a precautionary pause discussion is on the agenda. But there are states, including Nauru, that want to proceed.

Climate disasters closer to home take our immediate attention. The Cerberus heatwave of 2023 may be even hotter than that of 2022, shown here from Copernicus Sentinel satellite data. Image: “Surface Air Temperature Anomaly July 2022” by ESA/Copernicus Sentinel. Public Domain. Included with appreciation.

Why don’t we hear more about sea bed mining on the news? Present climate disasters are closer to home. The Cerberus heatwave scorching southern Europe made headlines. Copernicus Sentinel satellite data showed land temperatures in Spain’s Extremadura region climbed to 60C (140F) this week. Across the southern United States, a “heat dome” blanketed states from Texas to Florida. Torrential rains (warmer water retains more moisture) engulfed Vermont. New York State closed sections of the Erie Canal due to severe flooding. Japan’s Shinkansen train system came to a halt as the country coped with a once-in-a-millennium rainfall. Environmental disasters where we live understandably deflect focus from what is out of sight, like the deep sea.

The ocean is the largest continuous marine habitat on Earth. Image: “Dumbo Octopus, Opisthoteuthis agassizii” by NOAA, 2019. CC 3.0. Included with appreciation.

The issue of deep sea mining is critical to the future. But, importantly, it has not yet begun. Some say it may be inevitable, but it should not be unnoticed, and certainly must be carefully undertaken. There is time for you to become involved, to offer your ideas and your suggestions. You can find out more, and sign a petition to vote on this issue here.

Let your voice be heard on deep sea mining as ISA gathers to decide. Image: “Your Vote Counts” by NAACP, Creative Commons 3.0. Included with appreciation.

Brooke, K. Lusk. “Nauru and Deep Sea Mining” 30 June 2023. https://blogs.umb.edu/buildingtheworld/2023/06/30/energy-water-deep-seabed-mining-part-1/

Deep Sea Conservation Coalition. “The Race to Defend the Deep Heats Up in Kingston.” 10 July 2023. https://savethehighseas.org/2023/07/10/the-race-to-defend-the-deep-heats-up-in-kingston/

Greenpeace International. “Petition on Deep Sea Mining.” greenpeace.org/…/act/stop-deep-sea-mining/

Greenpeace International. “Governments leave door open to deep sea mining starting this year.” 31 March 2023. https://www.greenpeace.org/international/press-release/59018/governments-leave-door-open-deep-sea-mining/

Heffernan, Olive. “Seabed mining is coming – bringing minerals, riches, and fears of epic extinctions.” 24 July 2019 Nature. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02242-y

Humphreys, John and Robert W.E. Clark. “A  Critical History of Marine Protected Areas.” 2020. Marine Protected Areas: Science, Policy, and Management, pp. 1-12. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780081026984000010

International Seabed Authority (ISA). https://www.isa.org.jm

Khan, Yusuf. “Deep-Sea Mining Is Close to Reality Despite Environmental Concerns” 22 August 2022. The Wall Street Journal. https://www.wsj.com/articles/deep-sea-mining-is-close-to-reality-despite-environmental-concerns-11661162400

Mission Blue. VIDEO. Netflix. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1wp2MQCsfQ

MIT. “Deep Sea Mining.” https://youtu.be/Lwq1j3nOODA

Rabone, M., et al., “A review of the International Seabed Authority database DeepData from a biological perspective,” 30 March 2023. DATABASE: The Journal of Biological Databases and Curation, Volume 2023. https://doi.org/10.1093/database/baad013

Simas, Moana, Fabian Aponte, Kirsten Wiebe. “The Future is Circular: Circular Economy and Critical Minerals for the Green Transition.” 15 November 2022. Project number 102027433. SINTEF. https://wwfint.awsassets.panda.org/downloads/the_future_is_circular_sintefmineralsfinalreport_nov_2022_1_1_pdf

United Nations. “High Seas Treaty.” https://www.un.org/bbnj/sites/www.un.org.bbnj/files/draft_agreement_advanced_unedited_for_posting_v1.pdf

World Wildlife Fund. “Future mineral demand can be met without deep seabed mining as innovative technology can cut mineral use by 58%.” 28 November 2022. https://wwf.panda.org/wwf_news/?7087466/Future-mineral-demand-can-be-met-without-deep-seabed-mining-as-innovative-technology-can-cut-mineral-use-by-58

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G. Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 U

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ENERGY: Peridotite – Philosopher’s Stone for Carbon Removal

Posted on by Building The World
Peridotite, found abundantly in Oman, may be the philosopher’s stone of climate change. Image: “Muscat, capital of Oman” by photographer Safa Daneshuar, 2022. Creative commons 4.0. Included with appreciation.

Humans have long dreamed of magical transformations. Jabir ibn Hayyan, 8th century alchemist, and Albertus Magnus, colleague of fellow Dominican Thomas Aquinas, who wrote of the lapis philosophorum or “philosopher’s stone” that turned base metals into gold, are among those who foresaw what may be natural magic that could help to transform climate change, altering carbon dioxide before it can harm the atmosphere. Can we turn CO2 into a new form of gold?

Alembic: Drawing and Description by Jabir ibn Hayyan, 8th century. An alembic is an alchemical still. Image: creative commons, public domain. Included with appreciation.

At Iceland’s Hellisheidi power station, a company called Carbfix captures CO2, pumps it with water, channels it underground into basalt where it soon becomes rock. Basalt contains calcium, magnesium, and iron – elements that bind easily with C02. Basalt is the most common rock type on the planet. In fact, the ancient Romans used a type of volcanic basalt in constructing their legendary roads. More than 90% of all volcanic rock is basalt. It is estimated that the amount of global basalt could store all the CO2 emissions now driving climate change. Carbfix’s motto: “We turn CO2 into Stone.” Sounds promising, but there’s a catch. It takes 25 tons of water to transform one ton of CO2 via basalt. When you realize that human activity emits 35 gigatons (a gigaton is one billion tons) of CO2 per year, that’s a lot of water to drain from an already-thirsty world. Carbfix will have a role to play in carbon removal, and water use may improve through advanced technologies, but basalt is not the only magical stone.

Carbfix uses basalt to turn carbon dioxide into permanent stone. The process requires use of water in significant amounts. Image: “Hellisheidi Geothermal Power Plant, site of Carbfix.” Photograph by Sigrg, 2008. Creative Commons 4.0. Included with appreciation.

Basalt is just one option. Another is peridotite. A new company named 44.01, referencing the molecular mass of carbon dioxide, has discovered a way to use peridotite to fuse carbonated fluid into seams of the rock. Co-founded by Talal Hasan and Karan Khimji, 44.01 is located in Oman where one of the world’s largest deposits of peridotite can be found. Oman’s deposit is close to the surface, offering advantageous access.

One of Carbfix’s founders, Juerg M. Matter, professor at the University of Southampton, and also Columbia University’s Climate School and Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, is now a team member of 44.01. Another team member is Peter B. Kelemen of the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences (DEES) at Columbia University, and of Columbia Climate School, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, guiding 44.01 on chemical and physical processes of reaction between rocks and fluids.

Peridotite can, when combined with water, absorb and permanently remove carbon dioxide. Image: “Classification diagram for peridotite and pyroxenite” adapted from Bodinier and Godard (2004) by Tobias1984, 2013. Creative Commons 3.0. Included with appreciation.

The magic alchemical formula is peridotite (containing olivine and pyroxene) combined with CO2 and water. Peridotite mineralization already occurs in nature: for example, when rainwater lands on peridotite, CO2 is dissolved. But it’s a slow process, taking decades. The team of 44.01 has found a method to accelerate mineralization of CO2, gathered via direct air capture (DAC), in less than one year. In 2022, 44.01 received the Earthshot Prize.

The Earthshot Prize was awarded to 44.01 in the category of “Fix Our Climate.” Image: courtesy of The Royal Foundation, 2021. Public Domain Creative Commons. Included with appreciation.

Carbon dioxide emissions are a difficult problem that the world must solve before climate change, caused by CO2 and other greenhouse gases, becomes irreversible. In 2015, the Paris Agreement of COP21 brought pledges to reduce and halt use of fossil fuels. But even when and if those goals are met, we’ll still have carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and some sectors of the economy might still use fossil fuels. That’s why carbon sequestration and carbon storage technologies have begun to increase in importance. Storage is, by nature, either temporary or troubled: the CO2 is stored as CO2, not gone, just hidden. A leak would release it back into the atmosphere. Carbon removal through mineralization is better because it is permanent. No insurance, no monitoring, no escape. The CO2 molecule is gone. Alchemy!

Where else can we find rock that can absorb and transform CO2? “Map of World Geologic Provinces,” by USGS. Public Domain. Included with appreciation.

Peridotite is also found in Asia, Australia, Europe, and North and South America. Oman-based research will continue, in part because the peridotite is easily reached due to its surface proximity. Next steps for testing may be in California but peridotite deposits there would still require drilling. Meanwhile, peridot, green gemstone made from peridotite’s olivine component, associated with the month of August, said to reveal magic, could become a jewel that signifies a better climate.

The gemstone Peridot, said to reveal magic, is made from peridotite. Image: “Gem Peridot,” by photographer Michelle Jo, and dedicated to the public domain. Included with appreciation.

Rather than drilling (with its environmental disturbance and potential destruction), carbon removal via mineralization may be explored by using rocks already drilled, in the form of waste tailings from certain kinds of mines. Diamond, nickel, and platinum are mined from rock that has carbon mineralization promise. De Beers, company that coined the phrase “A diamond is forever,” is beginning trials.

Carbon mineralization could be explored with used rocks left over from diamond mining. Image: “Computer reconstruction of the Hope Diamond, earlier form in the French Blue or Diamantbleu” by Francoisfarges. Creative commons 3.0. Included with appreciation.

A diamond is forever, but diamond mine tailings could help carbon dioxide disappear forever. Other options include basalt, and now peridotite. In myths of ancient times, rock turned into gold was the dream. Now, in the time of climate change, turning carbon dioxide into rock may be the alchemical dream we seek and shall find.

44.01. https://4401.earth/how-it-works/

Albertus Magnus. “De mineralibus” in On the Causes of the Properties of the Elements translated by Irven M. Resnick. Milwaukee: Marquette University Press, 2010.

CarbFix. https://www.or.is/carbfix

Earthshot Prize. “Fix Our Climate Winner: 44.01” 2022. https://earthshotprize.org/winners-finalists/44-01/

Fountain, Henry. “How Oman’s Rocks Could Help Save the Planet.” 26 April 2018. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/04/26/climate/oman-rocks.html

Harvard Business School. “Karan Khimji, Co-Founder of 44.01” https://www.hbs.edu/environment/blogpost/44.01

Hasan, Talal. “Interview with Earthshot Prize Winner.” VIDEO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v-n30_dKvCcLg

International Monetary Fund (IMF), prepared by Jorge Iván Canales Kriljenko. “On the road to carbon neutrality, fishing for energy exchange and carbon absorption” 2022. https://www.elibrary.imf.org/downloadpdf/journals/002/2022/194/article-A002-en.pdf

Kraus, Paul. Essai sur l’histoire des idées scientifiques dans l’Islam/ Mukhtār Rasā’il Jābir b. Hayyān. Paris/Cairo: G.P. Maisonneuve/Maktabat al-Khānjī.

PDIE Group. “Nominating 44.01 for the Earthshot Prize.” https://pdiegroup.com/

Perasso, Valeria. “Turning carbon dioxide into rock – forever.” 18 May 2018. BBC News. www.bbc.com/news/world-43789527/

Planet A Ventures, GmbH. “Permanent Carbon Sequestration: 44.01 – Life Cycle Assessment & Sustainability Potential.” 2022. https://planet-a.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/4401-lca-summary-1.pdf

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G. Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 U

WATER: Is the Drought OVER?

Posted on by Building The World
Droughts and floods will continue. Now we can predict them with GRACE. Image: “GRACE globe animation” by NASA. Public Domain, included with appreciation.

Atmospheric rivers: 11. Snow: 55 feet (16.76 meters). Rainfall: thus far in 2023, more than all of 2022. Conservation mandates and restrictions: eased. Outdoor watering: again permitted. Reservoirs: many refilled. Is California’s drought officially over? Conditions are better, but concerns remain. The issues are not restricted to California, but the state serves as a case example.

While 2023 brought relief and refilled many California reservoirs, drought is cyclical. Image: “Drought area in California” graphic by Phoenix7777, based on U.S. Drought Monitor Data. Creative Commons 4.0. Include with appreciation.

GROUNDWATER – On the surface, things certainly look better. But California’s underground aquifers are still in trouble, some at lowest levels ever recorded. After previous droughts (2007-2009, 2012-2016), California’s groundwater in the agriculturally important Central Valley recovered only 34% (2007-2009 drought) to as little as 19% (2012-2016). During drought periods, groundwater supplied 60% of California’s water, so maintaining underground aquifers is critical.

How is groundwater formed, replenished, and sustained? Image: “Groundwater.” Graphic by Dr. Andrew Fisher, California Agricultural Water Stewardship Institute, 2018. Creative Commons 4.0. Included with appreciation.

In irrigated agricultural regions with limited surface water supply, drought can have severe effects on groundwater. Recent innovations for storing floodwater underground in “water-capturing basins” hold promise. What kinds of future innovations will collect rain and flood water for future use? The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), passed in 2014, requires local agencies to form and fund groundwater sustainability agencies for high priority areas to control overuse of water by 2034. The United Nations raised awareness of the importance of groundwater by dedicating World Water Day 2022 to that resource with the motto: “Making the Invisible Visible.”

California obtains a portion of its water from the Colorado River. Image: “Colorado River at Horseshoe Bend” by Charles Wang, 2023. Creative Commons 4.0. Included with appreciation.

COLORADO RIVER – Surface water and underground aquifers are not the only sources. Water supplies from the Colorado River flow, at some distance, to cities and towns in Southern California. That river is still suffering through a two decade long drought that depleted reservoirs like Lake Powell and Lake Mead. Seven states, as well as many indigenous sovereign nations and also Mexico, share in the water according to rules set in the Colorado River Compact 0f 1922. If the seven states cannot come to agreement on water usage cutbacks, the federal government will step in. In April 2023, the U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation introduced options. 

Floods devastated Sindh Provice, Pakistan in 2022. Image: “Pakistan floods August 27 2021 versus August 27 2022.” By NASA. https://worldview.earthdata.nasa.gov/. Image in public domain. Included with appreciation.

FUTURE  OF WATER– Satellite data confirm what we know all too well when 12 inches of rain in one day sweep through Ft. Lauderdale, Florida closing schools and highways, or floods drench Sindh Province, Pakistan,dislocating millions of people. We know and feel it when drought plagues land, dries up agricultural fields, drains reservoirs, and threatens hydroelectric facilities like those on the Po River of Italy, or  Snowy Mountains Hydroelectric of Australia or Hoover Dam of the Colorado River in the United States.

Hydroelectricity depends upon abundant water. Drought has threatened energy production on the Colorado River’s Hoover Dam. Image: “Hoover Dam” by photographer Ansel Adams, 1941. Public Domain, National Archives and Records Administration image #519837. Included with appreciation.

Hydroelectric power plants on rivers throughout the world are subject to changing water levels. If a river suffers drought, some hydroelectric facilities must be switched off. A recent study sounded the alarm. By 2050, 61% of all hydropower dams will be at high risk.

It takes two – GRACE and GRACE-FO. Image: “Gravity anomalies on Earth” by NASA, 2012. Public Domain. Included with appreciation.

Climate change will make rains more intense and droughts more frequent. The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment satellite duo, known as GRACE and GRACE-FO will reveal a big picture in a long view. Dr. Matthew Rodell, Deputy Director for Hydrosphere, Biosphere, and Geophysics, Earth Sciences Division, NASA, and Dr. Bailing Li, of Goddard’s Hydrological Sciences Laboratory, led a team that studied over 1,000 weather events during the period 2002-2021. Rainfall extremes were noted in sub-Saharan Africa, North America, and Australia. Intense droughts were seen in South America, the United States, and elsewhere. Droughts outnumbered rain events by 10%.  It’s costly: 20% of the USA’s annual economic loses were due to floods and droughts. Is there a solution? Using floodwater to recharge aquifers and irrigate agricultural land will be an area of innovation.

Water Futures Index – is water a trading commodity or a human right? Image: “Nasdaq” by xurde, 2007. Creative commons 2.0. Included with appreciation.

WATER FUTURES –  Another development? Water Futures trading contracts such as the Veles California Water Index (NQH20) that launched on NASDAQ in 2018. Prices have fluctuated from below $300 per AF (acre-foot which equals 325,851 gallons or 1,233,480 liters) to 18 August 2022’s price of $1,134. At today’s post date, the price is $855. Is water a commodity or a right? Some say that commodity trading makes it possible for those who use quantities of water to plan, and plant, with more certainty.

Water: human right and right of nature. Image: “Whanganui River between Pipiriki and Jerusalem” by photographer Prankster, 2012. Dedicated by the photographer to the public domain. CC 1.0. Included with appreciation.

WATER RIGHTS – But others might question water trading. On 28 July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly passed Resolution 64/292 that recognizes water and sanitation as a human right. In 2022, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights adopted General Comment No. 15, with Article 1.1 stating “The human right to water is indispensable for leading a life in human dignity. It is a prerequisite for the realization of other human rights.” Some would say that the right to sustainable, healthy water goes beyond human rights. New Zealand’s Whanganui River recently received personhood legal status, granting the river its own rights.

We are the water planet. How do we protect and sustain water rights? Image: “Frozen water droplet” by photographer Aaron Burden, 2017. Dedicated by the photographer to the public domain. Included with appreciation.

California Department of Water Resources. “Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). Includes VIDEO.https://water.ca.gov/programs/groundwater-management/sgma-groundwater-management

Charles, Dan. “Water is scarce in California. But farmers have found ways to store it underground.” 5 October 2021. All Things Considered, NPR. Includes AUDIO. https://www.npr.org/2021/10/05/1037370430/water-is-scarce-in-california-but-farmers-have-found-ways-to-store-it-undergroun

Insights Editorial Team. “What Investors Should Know About Trading Water in the Futures Market.” 12 January 2021. Boston University. https://insights.bu.edu/what-investors-should-know-about-trading-water-in-the-futures-market

NASDAQ. “Nasdaq Veles California Water Index Fture (H20). https://www.nasdaq.com/market-activity/futures/h20

New Zealand. “Te Awa Tupua – Whanganui River Claims Settlement Act of 2017.” https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2017/0007/latest/whole.html

O’Malley, Isabella. “Scientists confirm global floods and droughts worsened by climate change.” 13 March 2023. PBS. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/scientists-confirm-global-floods-and-droughts-worsened-by-climate-change

Rodell, Matthew. and Bailing. Li. “Changing intensity of hydroclimatic extreme events revealed by GRACE and GRACE-FO.” Nature Water. 1 (3): 10.1038/s44221-023-00040-5 and https://www.nature.com/articles/s44221-023-00040-5

Rohde, Melissa M. “Floods and droughts are intensifying globally.” 13 March 2023. Nature Water 1, 226-227 (2023). https://www.nature.com/articles/s44221-023-00047-y

Sommer, Lauren. “3 reasons why California’s drought isn’t really over, despite all the rain.” 23 March 2023. Morning Edition, NPR. Includes AUDIO. https://www.npr.org/2023/03/23/1165378214/3-readons-why-californias-drought-isnt-really-over-despite-all-the-rain

United Nations. “Human Right to Water and Sanitation.” https://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/human_right_to_water.shtml

Wada, Yoshihide., et al., “Global depletion of groundwater resources.” Geophysical Research Letters 37,1.  https://agupubx.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2010GL044571 and https://doi.org/10.1029/2010GL044571

Weir, Bill. “Thousands of acres are underwater in California, and the flood could triple in size this summer.” 15 April 2023. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/15/us/tulare-lake-california-flood-climate/index.html

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CITIES: Cheesy fries – fuel of the future?

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One of the joys of city living is availability and variety of take-out food. From cheesy fries to pizza by the slice, urban snacks are legendary. But most of these treats come in plastic containers that eventually end up in landfills.

“Chili cheese fries served in a foam containers with a plastic fork.” Photograph by Charles Severance. Creative Commons 2.0. Included with appreciation.
“Landfill” by Michelle Arseneault. Creative commons 3.0. Included with appreciation.

Cities are filled with discarded plastic, from single-use containers to bottled water. Every year, 400,000,000 tons of plastic are produced; that’s equivalent the weight of all the people on the planet.

Every year, the amount of new plastic produced is equivalent to the weight of all the people on the planet. Photo: “London’s Liverpool Street Station” by photographer Roger Carvell, 2012. Creative Commons 3.0 Included with appreciation.

Only 15% of plastic is recycled; most sits in urban landfills. One of the world’s largest landfills is the Apex Regional in Las Vegas, Nevada, not far from the Colorado River and Hoover Dam, stretching over 2,000 acres. Apex is filled with take-out food containers and many other kinds of plastic.

Apex Landfill near Las Vegas, Nevada, is one of the world’s largest. Image: “Las Vegas Skyline at night North,” by Curimedia. Creative Commons 2.0 Included with appreciation.

Time (and money) at slot machines may go fast, but landfill plastics have a long life. Plastic is designed to be durable. It degrades very slowly; it can take over 1,000 years. Even if we pull plastics out of landfills, not all are recyclable. Plastics containing even a bit of food (take-out fries, plastic forks) are not recyclable. And most people who toss food containers into trash, or even into recycling bins, do not, or cannot, wash them first.

What if landfill plastic, especially food containers, were actually buried treasure?ReisnerLab at Cambridge University may have found a way to turn discarded plastic into fuel; the process is powered by sunlight, and produces syngas. Much syngas currently produced requires non-renewable energy, but the ReisnerLab process uses solar. Another benefit? Cambridge University’s nascent system can handle recycled plastic with food waste stuck to the containers. It’s a problem for most recycling, but the Cambridge system uses the leftover food as a substrate, making the process work even better. ReisnerLab’s innovation is at an early stage, and shows promise. Some investors tracking developing innovation may take note.

Syngas can use the same infrastructure but is cleaner than traditional fossil fuels. Image: “Pumping Gas” by photographer Airman 1st Class Lee. Photographed at Vandenberg Airforce Military Base, 2009. Public Domain. Included with appreciation.

Benefit of syngas – it can be pumped. Professor Erwin Reisner observes that “effectively plastic is another form of fossil fuel, rich in energy.” Unlocking that energy to use as fuel could replace traditional fossil fuels and yet not pose the extent of pollution and emission problems caused by coal, oil, and gas. Being able to use the same distribution and delivery infrastructure, plastic-produced syngas could be helpful in fueling the future. One of the difficulties that slows down energy transition is switching to new delivery and distribution systems from existing infrastructure. Re-using gas pipelines, delivery trucks, pumps, and hoses for syngas is a great advantage. And getting rid of food-coated un-recyclable plastic clogging city landfills? A bet as good as Las Vegas.

Biofuel. “What is Syngas?” https://biofuel.org,uk/index.php?p=what-is-syngas

Bhattacharjee, Subhajit, Motiar Rahaman, Erwin Reisner. “Photoelectrochemical CO2-to-fuel-conversion with simultaneous plastic reforming.” 9 January 2023. Nature Synthesis 2, 182-192, 2023. https://www.nature.com/articles/s44160-022-00196-0

Reisner Lab. http:/www-reisner.ch.cam.ac.uk/research.html

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G. Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Un

ENERGY: Hydrogen windfall

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Water flowing over iron rock releases hydrogen. The process takes place in Earth’s crust. Image: “Waterfall” Alps, by Jiri Bubenicek. Creative Commons 4.0. Included with appreciation.

Water is the most abundant element not just on Earth but in the universe. Water contains hydrogen – an energy source that is not only powerful (think rocket fuel) but clean: when you burn it, the only emission is water, because water is H2O.

Water is H2O. Image: “Water Molecule,” by Booyabazooka, 2006. Dedicated by the artist to the public domain, CCO 1.0, and included with appreciation.

In the quest for clean energy, hydrogen has not quite led the pack because it is currently produced in ways that are not so clean. We can generate hydrogen from water, but that process takes a lot of electricity. We can generate hydrogen from methane, but CO2 escapes.

Graphic of industrial process showing inputs into electrolysis to produce one ton of hydrogen and other outputs. By Parent55, 2020. Dedicated by the artist to the public domain, CCO 1.0, and included with appreciation.

Now, geologists and scientists may have found a way to access hydrogen in the same way we now drill for oil. There is hydrogen in the Earth’s crust. Some estimates indicate millions of megatons of hydrogen. It is true that, for distribution, hydrogen would have to be liquified to flow through conduits like the Alaska pipeline: there are some problems with that approach, but proposals to mix it with other substances might work. Another option is compression. The great benefit from mined hydrogen is that we could use the same equipment we already have, the same technologies, the same trained specialists. The fossil fuel industry’s existing infrastructure would be reused, renewed, and reborn.

“An elevated section of the Alaska Pipeline” 2007. U.S. Department of Transportation Public Domain. Included with appreciation.

Hydrogen may be the ultimate renewable energy. Geologists find that hydrogen is constantly being generated by Earth’s normal interaction of water with iron-laden rock. As water flows past rock, iron grabs the oxygen and the result is hydrogen. That’s why hydrogen may always be renewing through Earth’s natural processes.

“Banded iron formation at Dales Gorge, Karijini National Park, Western Australia,” 2013, by photographer Graeme Churchard. Creative commons 2.0. Included with appreciation.

And, also, good news for NASA. Because water and iron-rock are present in other areas of the universe, like planets and asteroids, hydrogen may be accessible in space.

“The Celestial Zoo” by Pablo Carlos Budassi, 2022. Infographic listing 210 notable astronomical objects on a central logarithmic map of the observable universe. Wikimedia commons 4.0. Included with appreciation.

Hydrogen formed by Earth’s interaction of water and rock is as old as waterfalls and aquifers and as new as rockets. We may be standing on the ultimate source of renewing the world.

Image by Caleb Ralston, 2015. Dedicated to the public domain CCO 1.0 by the photographer; included with appreciation.

Coy, Peter. “A Gold Mine of Clean Energy May Be Hiding Under Our Feet.” 27 February 2023. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/27/opinion/hydrogen-natural-climate-change.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

Ellis, Geoffrey, and Sarah E. Gelman. “A preliminary model of global subsurface natural hydrogen resource potential.” 12 October 2022. Geological Society of America. Paper: 215-5.  Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Volume 54, No. 5, 2022. doi: 10.1130/abs/2022AM-380270. https://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2022AM/meetingapp.cgi/Person/266148

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ENERGY: Rare Earths

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Rare earth elements are needed to power smartphones, and many other technologies. Image: “Foldable smartphones” by Ka Kit Pang. Wikimedia creative commons 3.0. Included with appreciation.

Smart phones are common but so-called “earths” that power these devices are rare. In fact, 17 elements termed rare earth elements or REEs supply everything from phones to electric vehicles, wind turbines, and military systems. That glowing light on your car dashboard? Rare earth chemistry in action.

“Rare earth oxides” by photographer, Peggy Greb. United States Department of Agriculture. Public Domain. Wikimedia. Included with appreciation.

Rare earths are obtained by mining, combined with extraction processing, because these oxides are not found in neat deposits but rather mixed in with other elements. REE mining is a specialty sector. China, land of the Grand Canal, is currently the world leader: both in mining and extracting, controlling 60% of the market. Recently innovations in rare earth element recycling could promote reuse and reduce mining.

“Rare earth oxides production graph” by D.J. Cordier, Haxel, et al., United States Geological Survey, 2013. Wikimedia. Public Domain. Included with appreciation.

Most rare earth elements used in Europe are imported. But, recently, mining company LKAB found more than one million tons of rare earth oxides in the far northern area of Kiruna. Sweden will have a ready market. However, it will be at least a decade before permitting, mining, and processing will reach European smart devices.

Sámi land and water resources are involved in rare earth mining. Image: “Three Sámi women” circa 1890. Wikimedia, public domain. Included with appreciation.

Sweden will have a nearby partner: the Northvolt battery factory is in development. Also in Sweden’s north: projects for green steel. Meanwhile, LKAB has been busy: in order to reach the deposit, the entire town of Kiruna had to be moved. There is also consideration of the Sámi people of northern Scandinavia who herd reindeer over the lands of Finland, Norway, Sweden, and the Kola Peninsula of what is now Russia, these are lands to which the Sámi have indigenous rights. Sámi once transported mined ore via reindeer to deliver material to the coast for shipping. A “cultivation line” was established by law to project Sámi herding lands, but conflicts and differences remain.

“Perite” by photographer David Hospital, wikimedia creative commons 3.0. The mineral is named after Per Adolf Geijer. Image included with appreciation.

Sweden’s newly discovered deposit now has a name: Per Geijer. It’s an homage to Per Adolf Geijer (1886-1976), Swedish geologist who also has a mineral, discovered in Sweden, named after him: perite.

The rare earth element market is expected to grow, estimated to be worth $9.6 billion by 2026. In the midst of this acceleration, mining rare earth elements can affect soil and groundwater, creating acidic conditions. How can rights to rare earth elements be protected, explored, and – when mined – shared? How should land and groundwater affected by rare earth mining be restored and renewed?

Bai, Jingling, et al., “Evaluation of resource and environmental carrying capacity in rare earth mining areas in China.” Scientific Reports, Nature. 12, Article number: 6105 (2022). https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-10105-2

He, Laura. “Sweden finds the largest rare earth deposit in Europe. It could help cut dependence on China.” 13 January CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/13/tech/sweden-biggest-rare-earth-mine-china-dependence-intl-hnk

Milne, Richard. “Reasons for scepticism over Swedish rare earths find.” Financial Times. https://www.ft.com/content/b9ec0bee-af4c-44a6=8b07-19786b780594

Sommer, Nikko. “The History of Mining and Inroads to Sámiland and Their Effect on the Sámi.” University of Texas. https://www.laits.utexas.edu/saami/dieda/hist/mining.htm

United States Department of Energy. “Rare Earth Recycling” https://www.energy.gov/science/bes/articles/rare-earth-recycling

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ENERGY: Here Comes the SUN

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Aten, sun religious symbol established by Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten. Image: “Aten” by AtonX, 2008. CC 2.5. Included with appreciation.

Every culture has myths about the sun: appreciating its life-giving warmth, marveling at its regularity turning night to day, recognizing – and sometimes fearing – its power.  In every tradition, the sun is seen as a force above humankind, even a deity. Composer Philip Glass wrote the opera “Akhnaten” in three acts centered on three visionaries: Akhenaten, Einstein, and Gandhi. But this month, humans reached an achievement that may require a new myth. Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory generated the sun’s energy  –  on Earth.

“Nuclear Fusion” by Haasrm, 2011. Creative Commons 3.0. Included with appreciation.

Nuclear fusion is the process of combining, or fusing, two atoms to generate the level of power of the sun. When 192 lasers fired at a cylinder the size of a jelly bean containing a grain of hydrogen (the same gas that powers the sun), the temperature of the hydrogen rose to exceed the heat of the sun, melting the nuclei of the hydrogen to fuse. Scientists have been trying to do this for decades, but now, for the first time in history, the process worked. More energy was generated than used to produce the effect. The future just got brighter.

The Manhattan Project: nuclear fission. Image: “Alpha 1 Racetrack for Uranium – at Oak Ridge” photographed by Leslie Grove. Public Domain. Included with appreciation.

Nuclear energy got off to an ominous start. The Manhattan Project split the atom to produce atomic energy, in the form of a deadly bomb, during World War II. Later, the Atomic Energy Act changed the purpose from war to peaceful and beneficial use for this new form of energy.  Nuclear medicine has saved lives; nuclear power plants (while suffering some accidents) generated energy that has helped many economies supplement and then phase out fossil fuels. Nuclear energy, from fission, has some problems, however: it is weaponable, and it produces toxic radioactive waste that is very difficult to store. Nuclear plants, be they fission or fusion, will always involve some danger, as targets in war or accidents in peace. But smaller is better, and fusion is cleaner. Science knew that nuclear fission could, theoretically, be replaced by nuclear fusion. Projects like ITER in France and JET in the UK have advanced the science, but it was at Livermore that the vision was proven and achieved. Nuclear fusion promises energy with infinite power, zero carbon emissions, and very little waste. But not soon.

Physicist Albert Einstein explained how nuclear energy is released in the now-famous equation: E=mc2.  Portrait by Orren Jack Turner, 1947. Library of Congress: cph.3b46036. Public Domain. Included with appreciation.

We need to reduce carbon emissions quickly to limit global warming and arrest climate change. Stopping the use of fossil fuels will be the problem. Harnessing renewable energy from wind, wave, geothermal, and the sun via solar energy will still be the solutions. But now, we can look to something more. Nuclear fusion is in our future. Here comes the sun.

“Sun Switchbacks” observed by Parker Solar Probe, 2021, NASA. Image by Adriana Manrique Gutierrez. Public Domain. Included with appreciation.

Atomic Energy Act of 1954. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/COMPS-1630/pdf/COMPS-1630.pdf

Bobin, Jean-Louis. Controlled Thermonuclear Fusion. World Scientific Publishing Company Illustrated edition, 2014. ISBN-10: 9814590681

Coy, Peter. “What Comes After a World’s First in Fusion Research.” 14 December 2022. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/14/opinion/nuclear-fusion-research-html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

Glass, Philip. “Akhnaten” https://philipglass.bandcamp.com/album/philip-glass-akhnaten-live-from-the-met

ITER. https://www.iter.org/

JET. https://ccfe.ukaea.uk/

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory FUSION IGNITION. https://www.llnl.gov/news/national-ignition-facility-achieves-fusion-ignition

Simon, Clea. “Why nuclear fusion is so exciting.” 13 December 2022. Harvard Gazette. https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2022/12/why-nuclear-fusion-is-so-exciting/

Stallard, Esme. “Nuclear fusion breakthrough – what is it and how does it work?” BBC. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-63957085

United States Department of Energy. “Fission and Fusion: What is the Difference?” includes VIDEO. https://www.energy.gov/ne/articles/fission-and-fusion-what-difference

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G. Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Un

 

ENERGY: the buzz on how bees generate electricity

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The electrical charge from a bee’s flight can help identify a flower with ample pollen. Image: “Bee-Apis” by Maciej A. Czyzewski, CC 4.0. Included with appreciation.

In an era when we seek to electrify many aspects of modern life, some of the most ancient life forms may teach us a thing or two. Bees, and other aerial insects, create an electrical charge. When a bee flutters its wings, the movement generates a positive electrical charge; you might compare this to the spark that can be raised by rubbing your stockinged feet across a carpet or a balloon on your arm. For bees, that electrical charge stays on their body and helps to pull pollen from a visited flower. An “echo” of the electrical signal is left behind, so the next bee hovering nearby can sense whether the flower has been recently visited and savored, or may offer a fresh serving of pollen.

What is the electrical effect of a swarm? Image: “Optical illusion disc with birds, butterflies, and person jumping.” 1833. Library of Congress: 00651165. Public Domain. Included with appreciation.

If one bee or butterfly can generate electricity, what’s the effect of a swarm or a group migration? Scientists have discovered that Earth’s atmosphere holds several kinds of electrical charges; these energy fields influence things like aerosols and dust. Recent studies have confirmed that insect swarms contribute to atmospheric electricity; the more dense a swarm, the more electricity enters the atmosphere. There’s a measurement protocol ranging from picocoulombs to nanocoulombs (one coulomb equals the quantity of electrical charge that passes a point in an electric circuit in one second by a steady current of one ampere. The term is named after Charles Augustin de Coulomb (1736-1806), physicist credited with discoveries in electricity and magnetism).

“A plague of locusts.” by SCIRO, Science Image 2007. CC3.0. wikimedia. Included with appreciation.

Honeybees, butterflies, and locusts are among aerial insects that produce significant atmospheric electrical charges. If a swarm is large enough (think Biblical descriptions of plagues of locusts), the insects’ electrical charge can equal that from weather events like storms. In current climate models, and observations by weather satellites by NASA and ESA, insect swarms are rarely included when assessing atmospheric dust, or interaction of radiation and particulate matter. Should we count insect swarms along with thunderstorms?

“Lightening Storm” by Jan Bambach, 2015. Wikimedia 3.0. Included with appreciation.

‘Save the honey bee’ campaigns rightly champion preserving pollinators on the ground; now there is evidence of influence a bit higher up. It’s one more way we are realizing that Earth’s climate is an interconnected system.

Hunting, E.R. et al., “Observed electric charge of insect swarms and their contribution to atmospheric electricity.” 24 October 222. Cell. iScience. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2022.1052

Savitsky, Zack. “Swarming bees stir up their own electric fields: Insect swarms can generate more volts per meter than thunderstorms.” 25 October 2022. Science. https://www.science.org/content/article/swarming-bees-stir-their-own-electric-fields

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ENERGY: Cutting down on Flare ups

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“North Dakota Flaring of Gas, Bakken Formation,” by Joshua Doubek, 2012. Creative Commons 3.0, wikimedia. Included with appreciation.

Shooting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere – as a matter of convenience? Drilling for oil releases gas, a side effect. In many drilling locations, gas is just burnt off to get rid of it quickly; this practice is so common that it is called “routine flaring.” In a few instances, gas build-up is sudden and severe, so it must be flared to avert explosion; this is called “safety flaring.”

Flaring is such a common practice that there are more than 10,000 gas flares active at any time. Flaring is harmful – in 2021, it sent 144 billion cubic meters into the atmosphere with a carbon dioxide input of 400 million tons – this is the same as 9 trillion miles of automobile rides.

Flaring causes emissions equivalent to 9 trillion miles of automobile rides. Image: “Driving cars n a traffic jam,” by epSOs.de, 2011. Creative commons 2.0, wikimedia. Included with appreciation.

Flaring sends more than carbon dioxide into the air; it also yields soot, or technically black carbon. According to the European Geoscience Union, 40% of the black carbon in the Arctic comes from gas flaring. Arctic ice cap melting increased because someone in a far-away oil field flared rather than saved gas. Flaring also sends other substances into the air: benzene – known to cause cancer; naphthalene, linked to eye and liver damage.

Who’s to blame? Algeria, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Russia, the USA, and Venezuela flared the most gas over the last decade, but now China, Libya, and Mexico have started flaring. Gas flared and lost in 2021 could have powered all of sub-Saharan Africa.

“Sub-Saharan Africa, as defined by United Nations.” Design by Jcherlet, 2010. Wikimedia. Included with appreciation.

Why not just stop flaring, as the World Bank’s Zero Routine Flaring Scheme (ZRF) proposes? The Scheme, introduced in 2015, now has 54 energy companies, and 32 national governments as supporters. There has been some progress. Norway taxes gas flaring; as a result, it has the lowest flaring rate. Kazakhstan introduced incentives in the local gas market that encouraged drillers to capture and sell gas, reducing flaring in the process.

Cost remains a factor: stopping routine flaring would cost an aggregate $100 billion. Why not just capture it and reuse it, or sell it? There are processing costs to remove some chemicals before the gas can be used. But the gas would be suitable for powering drilling sites, or perhaps useful for mobile electricity generation in the field. In the field, unwanted gas could be returned to the land rather than flared into the air. In fact, injecting the gas into the ground would raise pressure and in turn allow better flow of oil. Finally, gas might be treated to deliver to energy pipelines.

Pipelines circle the Earth: could gas, not flared but collected and treated, join the flow? Image: “West Coast Pipeline,” by DarrenBaker, 2005. Creative Commons, wikimedia. Included with appreciation.

Pipelines, like the Alaska Pipeline or West Coast Energy Pipeline, are ubiquitous: in December 2020, there were 2,381 oil and gas pipelines in 162 countries – the combined pipelines’ total length is enough to circle the globe 30 times. On drilling sites where gas is now flared, could ancillary supply lines conveying gas collected and treated, instead of flared, join that circle?

BBC, Science & Environment. “Gas flaring: What is it and why is it a problem?” 29 September 2022. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-63051458

Hussein, Mohammed. “Mapping the World’s Oil and Gas Pipelines.” 15 December 2021. Aljazeera. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/12/16/mapping-world-oil-gas-pipelines-interactive

Puliti, Riccardo. “Boost energy security and cut methane emissions by reducing gas flaring and venting.” 6 October 2022. World Bank Blog. https://blogs.worldbank.org/voices/boost-energy-security-and-cut-methane-emissions-reducing-gas-flaring-and-venting

World Bank. “Zero Routine Flaring by 2030 (ZRF)” https://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/zero-routine-flaring-by-2030

Building the World Blog by Kathleen Lusk Brooke and Zoe G. Quinn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Un