Happy Good News!!
Researchers can now cheaply turn Atmospheric CO2 back into coal & French Store Uses Honeywell Refrigerant as Grocers Strive for Low-Emission Cooling
Happy Monday, Earthfriend! ??
Enjoy the recent news happening all around the world!????
Researchers can now cheaply turn Atmospheric CO2 back into coal
Researchers at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology have worked out a cheap and efficient way to convert atmospheric carbon dioxide into solid particles of carbon. This new carbon-capture technology could be key to reducing the amount of this dangerous greenhouse gas in our atmosphere.
Most approaches to remove CO2 focus on compressing the gas into a liquid and then injecting it underground. Doing this has significant challenges and there is the possibility that it might eventually leak out from storage sites. The new approach, reported in Nature Communication, could be more sustainable and prevent unwanted leaks. It is designed in a way that means it could be applied on a large scale and the researchers have been able to resolve previous issues encountered when attempting to turn carbon dioxide into coal.
“While we can`t literally turn back time, turning carbon dioxide back into coals and burying it back in the ground is a bit like rewinding the emission clocks,” Co-author Dr Torben Daeneke said in a statement.”?To date, CO2 has only been converted into solids at extremely high temperatures making it industrially un viable. By using liquids metals as a catalyst, we have shown its possible to turn the gas back into carbon at room temperature, in a process that's efficient and scalable.
The only by-products of the process are carbon flakes and pure oxygen. The carbon could just be burned back in the ground or used to produce carbon fiber materials, for example.
“A side benefit of the process is that the carbon can hold electrical charge, becoming a supercapacitor, so it could potentially be used as a component in future vehicles,”?Lead author Dr Dorna Esrafilzadeh explained. The research is the first realistic step towards solid storage of atmospheric carbon. And it is sorely needed. Since the Industrial Revolution, we have injected over 1,300 billions tons of CO2 into the atmosphere, about a third of which has been released since the year 2000.
If you want to read more about how researchers?can now cheaply turn Atmospheric CO2 back into coal, please click?here.
French Store Uses Honeywell Refrigerant as Grocers Strive for Low-Emission Cooling
A grocery store in France has installed a commercial refrigeration application to help it say ahead of European Union regulations as the food industry looks for sustainable ways to keep products cold.
Using Honeywell's low Global Warming Potential (GWP) refrigerant, endorsed by Climalife Dehon, enables the retailer to comply with EU fluorinated greenhouse gas regulation while meeting sustainability targets.
Honeywell says it has invested more than 1 billion dollars in research, development, and new capacity for its Solstice technology, and anticipated the need for GWP system a decade ago. The product helps lower greenhouse gas emissions and improve energy efficiency in refrigeration. It includes refrigerants for supermarkets, air conditioners for vehicles, blowing agents for insulation, and solvents for cleaning solutions.
Honeywell says its Solstice technology has helped avoid the equivalent of more than 295 million metric tons of carbon dioxide. The company says the application used in France can provide other benefits such as keeping refrigeration systems working during high temperatures.
“We intended to find an alternative refrigeration with high performance that is compatible with our existing infrastructure and keeps us in compliance with recent legislations put in place”says Régis Plet, technical manager for E.Leclerc in Moissac.
If you want to know more about French Store Uses Honeywell Refrigerant as Grocers Strive for Low-Emission Cooling, please click?here.
Meet the woman running 200 marathons in one year to fight the water crisis
For most people, running a single marathon would be an incredible achievement.?On March 22 – World Water Day – 52-year-old?Mina Guli?laced up for the first run of her epic #RunBlue challenge to raise awareness of the global water crisis. Since then, she has completed 127 marathons, each 42.195 kilometer's long. By the time she completes the final stage in 2023, Guli will have walked 8,439 kilometer's – the equivalent of walking from Morocco to northern Estonia and back.
Guli- a former World Economic Forum Young Global Leader- is CEO of the??Thirst Foundation, a non-profit organization driving action on the water crisis. She first became interested in the issue while working as a lawyer in Melbourne, but quickly became frustrated at the lack of attention the subject received.
“I was interested in water. I was absolutely appalled that we have such a huge global crisis on our doorstep, affecting literally billions of people... and nobody is talking about it!” she says. "Why isn't water making headlines? Deforestation is, and yet our wetlands are disappearing three times faster than our forests.”?
“The one thing we all have in common is that we all need water to survive,”?she says, speaking from Sharm el Sheikh, the Egyptian resort town hosting COP27.But the determined businesswoman decided to use marathons as a way to force people to sit up and take notice of the water crisis.
In 2016, she ran 40 marathons across seven deserts on seven continents over seven weeks. In 2017, she ran 40 marathons across six rivers in 40 days. In 2018, she attempted 100 marathons in 100 days, but broke her leg on Marathon 62.
During her runs, Guli has met women who walk miles to fetch water, Kenyan children who stay home from school to wait for water truck deliveries, and Bedouin herders who have gone?“days without access to water".
“I fear that my children will become the first water refugees,"?These are real people's lives,”?she says.
If you want to read more about?the woman running 200 marathons in one year to fight the water crisis, please click?here.