The methanol economy

At Silent-Power, our endeavors are fueled by the principles of the methanol economy championed by George Olah, Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1994. As we mark the 30th anniversary of his prestigious accolade this year, we are thrilled to introduce this newsletter as one of the initiatives within our planned series of activities and events.

In this first part, we aim to lay the groundwork with a concise introduction and set the stage for a more in-depth exploration of the subject in subsequent sections.

Since our ancient forebears first kindled fire for essential purposes, human survival has been intricately linked to an ever-growing need for energy. Evolving from burning wood, vegetation, and peat moss to embracing subsequent energy sources, we have thrived by utilizing natural resources, in particular fossil fuels. "The term 'fossil' refers to 'something which has been dug up,' representing preserved remains, impressions, or traces of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Fossil fuels are derived from the decomposition of plants and animals buried underground millions of years ago. When these fuels are ‘unearthed’ and burned, carbon dioxide (CO2), which had been stored beneath the Earth for millions of years, is released into the atmosphere. Once CO2 is added (back) to the atmosphere, it acts as a greenhouse gas and hangs around for a long time… between 300 and 1’000 years!

According to the Geological Society in the UK, the world’s oldest geological group, the extent to which we have unearthed and added CO2 into the atmosphere is unprecedented, surpassing even the massive injections that triggered a major thermal event 55 million years ago. This underscores why global warming cannot, and will not, be prevented solely by reducing our CO2 emissions.

In an increasingly technological society, the world's resources struggle to meet our growing demands. Balancing the satisfaction of our society's needs with the imperative to safeguard the environment, ensuring future generations can continue to enjoy our planet as a hospitable home, stands as one of the major challenges we face today. The escalating rate at which we burn fossil fuels to generate energy, coupled with diminishing reserves and sharp price increases, intensifies the urgency to explore viable alternatives sooner rather than later.

The methanol economy introduces a novel approach to diminishing and ultimately eliminating our reliance on fossil fuels, concurrently addressing the global warming challenges arising from the carbon dioxide released during their combustion. It is founded on the efficient chemical recycling of CO2 emissions from fossil-fuel burning power plants and other sources, as well as the catalytic or electrochemical conversion of CO2 extracted from the atmosphere into methanol. Methanol is already a pivotal industrial chemical, and it is now emerging as a fundamental material for replacing oil-based products across various sectors, including transportation fuels, heating gas/oil. Methanol can be utilized also for energy and carbon storage. Therefore, methanol has the potential to serve as a bridge fuel and facilitate the transition from a fossil-fuel-dominated present to a sustainable tomorrow. The methanol economy thus has a broad and promising future, in the eyes of George Olah and also in ours.

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