RENEWABLE ENERGY'S ROLE IN ENVIRONMENTAL CLEEN-UP PROCESS

Human activity is overloading our atmosphere with carbon dioxide and other global warming emissions. These gases act like a blanket, trapping heat. The result is a web of significant and harmful impacts, from stronger, more frequent storms, to drought, sea level rise, and extinction. Most of global warming emissions come from our electricity sector. Most of those emissions come from fossil fuels like coal and natural gas.

Sulfur dioxide (SO2), which cause acid rain, comes from electricity generation.
Nitrogen oxides (NOx), which react with sunlight to create ground level ozone and smog, come from electricity generation.
Ozone (O3) occurs naturally in the upper atmosphere where it is beneficial.
Particulate matter is a type of air pollution more commonly referred to as soot.
Carbon dioxide (CO₂) is a greenhouse gas that contributes to global climate change.
Mercury is a highly toxic metal that is released from coal-fired power plants.

In contrast, most renewable energy sources produce little to no global warming emissions [1].

Renewable energy, often referred to as clean energy, comes from natural sources or processes that are constantly replenished. For example, sunlight or wind keep shining and blowing, even if their availability depends on time and weather [2].

Environmental and economic benefits of using renewable energy include: Generating energy that produces no greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels and reduces some types of air pollution. Diversifying energy supply and reducing dependence on imported fuels.

Figure 1 This proposed that renewable energy sources protect environment issues [3].

United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommends that local governments can dramatically reduce their carbon footprint by purchasing or directly generating electricity from following clean, renewable sources [4].

The most common renewable power technologies include:

(photovoltaic, solar thermal)
Wind
Biogas (e.g., landfill gas/wastewater treatment digester gas)
Geothermal
Biomass
Low-impact hydroelectricity
Emerging technologies - wave and tidal power

The International Energy Agency (IAE) estimate that total global use of renewable energy will rise by about 1% in 2020. Despite supply chain disruptions that have paused or delayed activity in several key regions, the expansion of solar, wind and hydro power is expected to help renewable electricity generation to rise by nearly 5% in 2020. The IAE mentioned that renewable energy has so far been the energy source most resilient to Covid‑19 lockdown measures. Renewable electricity has been largely unaffected while demand has fallen for other uses of renewable energy [5].

The chemical sciences have a critical role to play in developing energy solutions that will support society’s move from an economy based on fossil fuels to a more sustainable energy mix.

Scientists around the world are working towards the goal of developing technologies to harness energy from the sun to produce fuels for transport, industry and electricity generation. Fuels produced using solar energy would transform our energy options in the future by providing an alternative to fossil fuels. The United States, the Netherlands and South Korea have seen recent investment in dedicated programmes for solar fuels research and innovation, and there are also renewable energy research centres in China and Japan [6].

The need to take immediate action has been underscored by the International Energy Agency’s World Energy Outlook 2011 which concluded that ‘There are few signs that the urgently needed change in the direction of global energy trends is underway, and that ‘We cannot afford to delay further action to tackle climate change.

Scientists and engineers are needed not only to find more efficient ways of producing, refining and using fossil fuels, but also to develop renewable energy solutions [7].

Figure 2 The schematic picture of future solar fuels station look like [7].

Currently, most fuels for transport, electricity generation and many raw materials for industry (feedstocks) are produced from coal, oil or natural gas. But an alternative route to producing liquid and gaseous fuels could be using technologies that harness sunlight. See Figure 2.

The challenge of moving from laboratory prototype systems to commercial technologies is significant. However, if this new route to producing fuels is achieved on a large scale, it would transform our sustainable energy options by providing alternatives to oil, gas and coal as sources of fuel for transport, industry and electricity generation.

References

[1]. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). 2011. IPCC Special Report on Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation. Prepared by Working Group III of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [O. Edenhofer, R. Pichs-Madruga, Y. Sokona, K. Seyboth, P. Matschoss, S. Kadner, T. Zwickel, P. Eickemeier, G. Hansen, S. Schlömer, C. von Stechow (eds)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA, 1075 pp. (Chapter 9).

[2]. https://www.nrdc.org/stories/renewable-energy-clean-facts#sec-whatis

[3]. source: https://www.reliableenergy.com/

[4]. https://www.epa.gov/statelocalenergy/local-renewable-energy-benefits-and-resources

[5]. https://www.iea.org/reports/global-energy-review-2020/renewables

[6]. Alan J Heeger, Solar Fuels and Artificial Photosynthesis Science and innovation to change our future energy options, January 2012, RSC Advancing Chemical Sciences, www.rsc.org/solar-fuels

[7]. World Energy Outlook 2011, International Energy Agency http://www.iea.org/weo/

Blog Written By

Dr. A. S. GANESHRAJA

National College

Thiruchirappalli, Tamilnadu, India

Comments

PROSPECTS ON PHOTOBIOREFINERY

Very recently, Prof. Dr. K. Faungnawakij and his research group have summarized a mini review report on an emerging renewable technique of Photobiorefinery . This is one of the beyond technique of Artificial Photosynthesis (AP) [1] . Despite great promises, AP technologies for solar H2 production and CO2 reduction are far uncompetitive to other promising technologies at the current stage . However, despite an enormous effort, time, and budget paid on AP-related researches throughout several decades, AP technologies have struggled to strive beyond laboratory demonstration except a very few exceptions [2] . This bitter reality makes the translation of this excellent science to practical application questionable [3] . Technoeconomic analysis shows that without achieving the aggressive technology targets, this technology will not be commercially viable. This has directed the research community towards the development of highly efficient yet expensive devices. While tremendous p...

Impact on Climate and Land Use Changes Around Ganga River

In India, Ganga is the largest river and also famous spiritual river, in meantime pollution issue in Ganga river is considered to be one of the most discussed topics on river water quality in the past decades . The river gets s everely polluted with untreated industrial and human wastes, and the river crossed around 11 states in India and provides water for about 40% of India's population, approximately 500 million people, we couldn’t find more than any other river in the world [ 1, 2 ]. Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has mentioned that 764 grossly polluting industries were discharging into the Ganga river, 487 industries are from the Kanpur region. Therefore, the Kanpur region was treated as the main polluted spot and immediate action should be taken for further recovery of water quality. The Kanpur region is one of the most important industrialized place in India. It is the most polluted stretch of the Ganga River, because of its excessive pollutant discharge from the i...

Electric Vehicle: Public Health and Climate Benefits

A research team led by Daniel Peters at Northwestern University has investigated that if we introducing electrifying vehicles in the streets of the United States could annually prevent hundreds-to-thousands of premature accidental deaths.This work highlights the potential of a synergistic solution to reduce CO 2 emissions by hundreds to millions of tons annually. The estimate of economic damages induced by introducing electrifying vehicles (EV) adoption is substantial. With current infrastructure, about 25% of electrifying vehicles adoption in the US can save approximately $16.8 billion annually, has been told in the study entitled"Public Health and Climate Benefits and Trade offs of U.S. Vehicle Electrification," in GeoHealth on 13 th August 2020 [1] . Vehicle electrification in the United States could prevent hundreds to thousands of premature deaths annually while reducing carbon emissions by hundreds of millions of tons. This highlights the potential of co-beneficial...

Plasmonic Gold Nanoparticles as Designing Caps

Plasmonic nanomaterials have attracted significant interest because of its wide variety of applications such as sensing, energy conversion, photothermal therapy etc. Among the various plasmonic inorganic metals (Ag, Cu, Al, and Au) Au shows the excellent biocompatibility, chemical stability, and rich surface functionality. It can be seen that some new approaches have include the construction of metal shells on dielectric nanoparticles, and the control of island growth on nanoparticles and nanorods over the design of narrow gaps via nanoplates or nanoshells. Also, the conventional modulation of plasmonics via the control of shape, size and the aspect ratio of nanomaterials. The structural control have also arises from the active surface growth. As a result, the dynamic competition between ligand absorption and metal deposition occurs [ 1 ]. The properties of plasmonic nanostructures are highly dependent on its surface morphology, however, there are a very few methods for a...

Efficient Bio-Diesel Synthesis: Reusable Magnetic Catalysis

Prof. Anping Wang et al., with his research collaborative team from china ( 1. Guizhou University, China; and 2. Guizhou Normal University, China) and India (National Chemical Laboratory, India) have reviewed the research over views on the preparation methods, physicochemical properties, stabilization/functionalization, and the catalytic applications of magnetic materials, including magnetic acids, bases, enzymes, and acid-base bifunctional materials for the synthesis of bio-diesel. Here, we discuss only the preparation of efficient bio-diesel with merits and applications of magnetic nanocatalyst for the bio-diesel preparation . Bio-diesel products are mainly attain from bio mass feed stocks, which gives more attention in the biorefinery research affairs [1]. A green way of renewable liquid biofuels are emergency required one in present atmosphere. Among the various classes, best one is renewable diesel fuel, the chemical content of long-chain fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) or ethy...

Scientific Research Focus on “To End Hunger”

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO UN), Hunger Report, Ending hunger is a major objective of the United Nations’ (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), hunger is the term used to define periods when populations are experiencing severe food insecurity - means that they go for entire days without eating due to lack of money, lack of access to food, or other resources [ 1 ]. Hunger is strongly interconnected with poverty, and it involves interactions among an array of social, political, demographic, and societal factors. An attention is must in the following topics to put an end card for poor hunger: Global Hunger Index (GHI). World Food Program’s 2020. Global Report on Food Crises. Smallholder-farming. Ceres2030. The two main international institutions are the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) , joined forces to estimate what it would cost to ...

Detection of Cancer via New Nano-Based Imaging Agents

New imaging agents were developed by physicians to detect cancer with better specificity and sensitivity. Further, they have the potential to significantly improve patient outcomes. It could offer enhanced premature cancer cells detection during routine screening and help the surgeons to identify tumor margins for surgical resection. Figure 1. In vivo visualization of 200 nm G8-liposomes imaged following intravenous injection [ 1 ]. Notice the bright accumulation and homogenous appearance of liposomes encapsulated with G8 dye (green). The vasculature region depicted here is of the mouse ear where real time flow video was taken at 30 fps. Scale bar represents 50 μm. Recently, Helen R. Salinas et al ., has evaluated the optical properties from a colorful class of pigments and dyes that humans routinely encounter [ 1 ]. These selective dyes and pigments are approved by Food and Drug Administration (FDA) which have utilized for the coloring of foods, drugs, and cosmetics. The authors...

A Biomimetic Eye with Perovskite Nanowire

The term “Biomimetics” derived from Ancient Greek, refers to life imitation. It is an interdisciplinary field in which comes from biology, engineering, and chemistry concepts. Biomimetics is applied to the synthesis of machines, or devices, which have functions that mimic real-life biological processes. Prof. Fan Zhiyoung , Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong SAR, China, and his team (from the University of California and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA) has reported on the effective biological eye results with a new development “Biomimetic Eye” with supportive components such as hemispherical shape retina and perovskite nanowires [1] . Our eyes possess exceptional image and sensing nature, which selectively express the wide field of view, resolution, and sensitivity [2] . A specialty of biomimetic eye parts with such highlighted characteristics is a desirable one, speci...

Detection and Diagnosis: Heavy Toxic Metals

Prof. Youzhi Li, from Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha, China and his research team have recently published, “Total concentrations and sources of heavy metal pollution in global river and lake water bodies from 1972 to 2017”. They discussed on heavy metals like lead (Pb) cause a severe threat to living beings because of its toxicity and bioaccumulation. Heavy metals like lead (Pb) cause a severe threat to living beings because of its toxicity and bioaccumulation. Amongst the heavy metals, lead (Pb) is the well-known one for its historical use in paints, petrol, and fuse joints in water pipes. Though the tradition of using Pb has been considerably decreased in recent years, Pb in drinking water still remains to be a problem for many societies around the world [ 1 ]. Hence, it is one of the supreme importance to monitor the levels of Pb in drinking water, so that contamination can be promptly identified and moderated. The World Health Organization (WHO) mentions a guideline l...

Search This Blog