There’s enough uranium dissolved in the oceans to power the world for 100,000 years and more. The good news is that there’s a known chemical reaction and method for capturing it, albeit at a cost ($200/kg) about twice that of getting U-238 from mining uranium ore on land. This post summarizes four recent announcements.
New fusion announcements and next-generation fission reactors appear to be viable sooner than expected. (1) See “Microsoft Bets That Fusion Power Is Closer Than Many Think” and (2) Andreesen-Horowitz leads Series B for Radiant Industries (air-cooled, 1-megawatt nuclear reactors, the size of a shipping container). See also Aalo. The promise: non-interruptible, clean power at 3 cents / kwh.
Note: We at CCL are working hard to speed the transition to clean energy. Getting to NET ZERO (and even to negative emissions to move back from the brink) requires removing CO2 from the air. Here are two projects to keep an eye on.
[Editor: When private companies bet on tech that not supposed to be ready until the 30’s (or 40’s), I pay attention!] Scientists have been dreaming about nuclear fusion for decades. Microsoft thinks the technology is…
Here is a DAC project under contruction with service date of 2025 and scaling to remove up to a million tons/year of CO2 and store it underground. Subsidies from the IRA help, and Occidental plans…
This is an excellent explanation of the technologies (capturing CO2 from flue gasses and “direct air capture”), the policy arguments and the incentives (with the IRA subsidies). Very clear, nicely summarized.
by Good News Network | Feb 5, 2023 Researchers in Australia, an island nation, have successfully split seawater to produce green hydrogen without pre-treatment. An international chemical engineering team, led by the University of Adelaide’s…
from Singularity Hub, By Vanessa Bates Ramirez | December 27, 2022 As the sense of urgency around climate change intensifies, most of the focus is on shifting energy production away from fossil fuels and electrifying…
We’ve already done a fair amount of damage to our ecosystem. And even with new, clean sources of energy, we’ll need to clean up the mess we’ve already made. That’s where carbon removal comes into play. See these three 3-minute videos of startups tackling the issue.
Floating turbine swaps out the single large pole for four thinner ones angled in a pyramid shape. This distributes the weight of the turbine’s pieces, allowing the structure to be lighter. Constructed in a shipyard, its towed into place.
Note: We know that getting to net zero GHG emissions by 2050 requires transitioning the grid to 100% clean energy and then electrifying everything else: EVs for transport; heat pumps for building HVAC; etc. Hard-to-abate sectors (like air travel!!) will still create GHGs. Trees, oceans and other “carbon sinks” will remove some CO2 naturally. Can tech remove more? Here’s a state-of-the-art summary.
Here is a two-fer: process fast-growing hemp into a building material with great thermal insulating qualities. 1) The hemp is a carbon sink, and 2) the insulation cuts down energy needed to heat/cool the building. The remaining question: cost? And can it come down to compete with alternatives like concrete? (Can “green premium” –> zero or negative?)
