New Technologies

NEW TECHNOLOGIES

To stay within the targeted limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming, scientists insist that we need to reduce the carbon that’s already in the atmosphere as well as dropping new emissions to net-zero. In so far as fossil fuels—including coal, oil, and natural gas-- still supply 80% of the world’s energy needs (2020 numbers), it is clear that those emissions have to be cut at least in half by 2030.

The good news is that, according to the IPCC report (April, 2022), we can do it. Renewables are now significantly undercutting fossil fuels as the world’s cheapest source of energy, according to a new report. In a 2022 piece by Umair Irfan in Vox covering the final instalment of the IPCC report which examined tactics to mitigate climate change, the price of solar electricity has dropped 89% between 2009-2019. Onshore wind energy has also dropped in the past decade – by 70%. Of the wind, solar and other renewables that came on stream in 2020, nearly two-thirds – 62% -- were cheaper than the cheapest new fossil fuel. It is no surprise then, that projections from the EIA suggest solar power will account for 46% of new U.S. electric generating capacity, with wind at 17% and nuclear @ 5% in 2022.

The challenging news is that meeting that goal will, however, require major transitions in the energy sector. Existing clean energy technologies were, as recently as 2020, evaluated by the International Energy Agency (IEA) and four main decarbonization approaches were identified as significant if we were to reach our goals: electrification of end usage (particularly heating and transportation); carbon capture, utilization, and storage; low-carbon hydrogen and hydrogen fuels; and bioenergy. This is because, even if we cut most of our carbon emissions down to zero, the carbon dioxide that is already in the atmosphere can affect climate for hundreds to thousands of years.

So, even as keeping fossil fuels in the ground is the surest known way to prevent further warming, the search is clearly on for other solutions. Scientists say we will not meet targets to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius without removing some of the CO2 we have already emitted. The IPCC projects between 100 billion and 1 trillion tons of CO2 would need to be removed this century.

The unsettling news is that, of the more than 400 technologies within those four categories identified by the IEA, few are on track to meet the necessary goals:

  • In low-carbon electricity, where we have made important progress in solar, wind, geothermal, and nuclear generation, our infrastructure and use in industry is lagging. The development of long duration storage as a solution to extend the reach of renewable energy --otherwise limited by the amount of time the sun shines and the wind blows -- is not where anyone wants it to be--yet. Battery storage is critical in the transportation sector as the race is on to accelerate the speed by which electric vehicles can be charged AND accelerate the longevity of those batteries. This matters as individuals and communities search for ways to protect themselves from economic impacts and power outages. It matters to utilities as they search for solutions to provide reliability, integrate clean energy into the grid, and reduce the cost of energy. Lithium-ion batteries, which are both improving and becoming cheaper ( 97% in the past three decades ) are vital to the transportation sector because, as they become less expensive and more efficient, so do electric vehicles. Graphene aluminum-ion batteries are promising ever more improvements and cost efficiencies although not ideal for long-duration energy storage --yet. Adden Energy, a Harvard spinoff, announced in September 2022 a “game changing” new solid-state battery which promises, among other things, a 3-minute charge for electric vehicles.
  • As far as carbon capture is concerned, there are two carbon removal strategies:
    • One is biological and looks to the natural world for solutions, amplifying the carbon-capturing qualities of the ocean, forests, and sedimentary rocks, creating underwater kelp farms, planting trees, and expanding soil carbon sequestration. “Greening up agriculture” is a term entrepreneurs are using as they look to develop floating solar, the “air gen” system which makes electricity out of moisture in the air, and “perovskite-silicon cell which converts sunlight into electricity. There are even various large-scale schemes to intervene in the earth’s oceans, soils, and atmosphere being explored through climate geoengineering.
    • The other is more technological or chemical. Direct air capture is designed to eliminate carbon, either by sucking it out of the air and storing it deep underground (sometimes called “carbon mineralization”) or by converting it into something else (fuel, for example). This technology has caught the attention of the business world and the government. For example, the Inflation Reduction Act offers massive tax credits to companies per ton of carbon they capture. At the end of the day, given carbon capture, removal, and storage’s long-term importance for the decarbonization of energy-intensive industries and reduction of historical emissions, the challenge lies in making them commercially viable, at scale, and swiftly.
  • Another way to store renewable energy is by using electrolyzers to extract hydrogen from water. In this technology, engineers run an electric current through water and collect the hydrogen molecules that break off. These can be burned for heat, stored in fuel cells or turned into chemicals such as methane for processes that require fossil fuels. When the electrolyzer system is used to produce hydrogen as a fuel, the only emission is water vapor. This concept is better known as ‘Power-to-X’ --taking grid electricity (power) and turning it into something else. In this case the ‘X’ is hydrogen fuel. Hydrogen is also being looked at to decarbonize heavy industry --a high-polluting sector that has mostly been overlooked. The high heat needed to process industrial materials — such as concrete, iron, steel, and petrochemicals — is responsible for about 10 percent of global CO2 emissions, according to a report from the Centre on Global Energy Policy. Zero-carbon hydrogen is attracting attention not just for use in industrial transportation but also as chemical energy for industry.
  • And, then there is bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) -- whereby plants are burned for energy at a power plant, which then captures and stores the resulting emissions so that the CO2 previously absorbed by the plants is removed from the atmosphere. It can then be used for enhanced oil recovery or injected into the earth where it is sequestered in geologic formations.
  • Technologies and ventures that turn methane into biogas, known as renewable natural gas (RNG) are also taking off. Vanguard Renewables is, for example, partnering with companies like Unliever and Starbucks to turn their food and agricultural waste (including manure) into renewable natural gas and by-products such as fertilizer. Some of these investments will no doubt be controversial with climate activists, who are likely to argue (legitimately) that they perpetuate natural gas extraction processes.
  • There is no doubt, however, that regulating methane gas is critical for advancing President Joe Biden’s goal to slash U.S. emissions in half from 2005 levels over the next decade and achieve a net-zero economy by 2050. In the challenge to cut gas leaks a number of companies are developing emission tracking tools:
    • A new initiative called Climate TRACE, for example, is working on an app that can track all human-produced pollution and trace it to its source. TRACE’s goal to promote radical transmission transparency through publicly available, comprehensive data, could drive accountability on emission reductions as well as more accurately alert corporations, municipalities, and countries where they can cut emissions. They are not alone in working to harness satellite data into actionable information.
    • The DoE has already awarded $5 million to LongPath Technologies, which is developing a methane gas detection network in the Permian Basin.
    • Another high-profile project is Methane SAT, a satellite operation being launched by the Environmental Defense Fund. The organization’s launch partner is Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocket company, and the hope is to put a satellite into orbit in fall 2022. Infrared detection technology from Ball Aerospace will be on board.
    • Another satellite network to watch is Carbon Mapper, which includes climate-tech firm Planet and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The first launch in its “constellation” of satellites for monitoring methane and CO2 is anticipated in 2023. (More on methane detectives.)
  • And what of the group of industrial chemicals known as hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)? Used primarily for cooling and refrigeration, they are 3,790 times more damaging to the climate than carbon dioxide (CO2) over a 20-year period. Cooling accounts for more than 7% of global GHG emissions and is expected to triple as the earth heats up. In response, the Biden administration passed the AIM Act in 2021 directing the EPA to phase down production and consumption of HFCs in the U.S. by 85% over the next 15 years. While emerging methane innovations mainly seem to be about capturing, monitoring and reusing, there are dozens of entrepreneurs developing entirely new approaches to cooling --that sidestep HFCs.

Time is of the essence.

Overview of climate mitigation options and their estimated ranges of costs and potentials in 2030

Courtesy Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

CURRENT NEWS

Revolutionary solar tower can create jet fuel out of thin air — and it may be the key to cleaning up the aviation sector

By Ben Raker 09/18/23
It’s not rocket science, but instead “carbon-neutral” jet-fuel science. It’s simply a method for pulling carbon pollution and water from the air and using the sun’s energy to turn these into fuel for an airplane.
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Big Oil’s Climate Fix Is Running Out of Time to Prove Itself

By Stephen stapczynski 09/13/23
Get within a few dozen meters of one of the world’s biggest carbon capture projects on Australia’s remote Barrow Island, and normal conversation quickly becomes impossible.Emanating from the dense maze of pipes and towers the…
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New Consortium to Make Batteries for Electric Vehicles More Sustainable

By Theresa Duque 09/11/23
A consortium of the nation’s best battery scientists, led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), will accelerate the commercialization of a new family of battery cathode materials called DRX or “disordered rock salt.”
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Oil company plans to have machines suck carbon from the sky — as it still makes oil

By Camila Domonoske 09/05/23
The American oil company Occidental Petroleum is building machines to suck carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and inject it underground. Is the technology meant to save the planet or the oil industry?
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Scientists Find Success With New Direct Ocean Carbon Capture Technology

By Ananya Chetia 09/02/23
As human activity and climate change increase the amount of carbon dioxide in the ocean, harming coral reefs and marine life, researchers have designed a new technology using aqueous sodium hydroxide and sodium carbonate to…
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An “Unabated” Disaster

09/02/23
Last month, COP28 president, oil CEO Al Jaber unveiled his "action plan" for this year's climate summit. Amidst a lot of big talk about fossil fuel phase down was one little word that puts the…
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Carbon capture is bad climate policy

By Wenonah Hauter 09/01/23
White House officials and Democratic lawmakers spent weeks celebrating the one-year anniversary of the Inflation Reduction Act, a legislative package that has been dubbed the most ambitious climate legislation of all time.
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Startups Are Inventing Cooling Clothes for a Hotter Future

By Coco Liu 09/01/23
Every morning, thousands of construction workers in Qatar start their day by soaking their uniforms in water. The two-minute ritual kickstarts an important process: When the workers are toiling outside — often at summer temperatures…
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Billions are being invested in carbon removal strategies to fight global heating. Will they work?

By Elizabeth Hlavinka 08/26/23
In August, the Biden Administration granted $1.2 billion in federal funding to kickstart a project intended to vacuum carbon dioxide up from the atmosphere to offset global warming.
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Geoengineering sounds like a quick climate fix, but without more research and guardrails, it’s a costly gamble − with potentially harmful results

By David Kitchen 08/21/23
When soaring temperatures, extreme weather and catastrophic wildfires hit the headlines, people start asking for quick fixes to climate change. The U.S. government just announced the first awards from a US$3.5 billion fund for projects…
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Stop Giving Big Oil a Carbon Fig Leaf

By Dr. Jonathan Foley 08/17/23
Record heat waves. Widespread fires. Devastating storms. The tragic toll of climate change is becoming more evident every day. To avoid even more severe impacts in the future, we must quickly and dramatically cut greenhouse…
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The Midwest Is Ground Zero for the Fight Over Carbon Capture Pipelines

By Coco Liu 08/16/23
Deadly rupture. Groundwater contamination. Earthquake triggers. One after another, residents from across Iowa fired off their concerns at a meeting with federal and state representatives to discuss a technology that could help protect the climate…
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KEY RESOURCES

We are building technologies to permanently remove carbon from the atmosphere.

07/13/23
The Carbon Removal Alliance unites the innovators working to build the next trillion-dollar industry. Together, we work to advance policies that support a diverse set of permanent carbon removal technologies.

Fossil fuel executives hope you’ll believe in their newest scheme — “CCS.”

05/29/23
Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is the fossil fuel industry’s biggest scheme yet to persuade people that the climate crisis can be solved while still depending on what they’re selling.

An Atlas of Direct Air Capture

03/06/23
Carbon Solutions LLC is a low-carbon energy startup using cuttingedge research and development and software and services to

Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles

03/06/23
Fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) are powered by hydrogen. They are more efficient than conventional internal combustion engine vehicles and produce no tailpipe emissions—they only emit water vapor and warm air. FCEVs and the hydrogen…

We are building technologies to permanently remove carbon from the atmosphere.

02/27/23
The Carbon Removal Alliance unites the innovators working to build the next trillion-dollar industry. Together, we work to advance policies that support a diverse set of permanent carbon removal technologies. Our goal is to catalyze…

WIPO Launches New Flagship Report “Green Technology Book”; First Edition Focuses on Climate-Change Adaptation

11/10/22
WIPO today launched the first edition of its “Green Technology Book” focusing on climate-change adaptation – placing these measures on equal footing with mitigation measures.

Sixth Assessment Report

09/22/22
The Working Group I contribution was released on 9 August 2021. The Working Group II and III contributions were released on 28 February and 4 April 2022 respectively.

Armstrong Flight Research Center

09/22/22
NASA is researching ideas that could lead to the development of electric propulsion-powered aircraft, which would be quieter, more efficient and environmentally friendly than today's commuter aircraft.

Carbon capture has a long history. Of failure

09/01/22
Carbon capture and storage is an old technology, first commercialized in the 1970s. Back then it was called enhanced oil recovery, because the carbon dioxide recovered from oil and gas production was injected into depleted…

Why Big Tech Is Pouring Money Into Carbon Removal

06/28/22
The market for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is expanding rapidly, as major tech companies are funneling nearly a billion dollars to early-stage startups that are experimenting with various methods of carbon capture and…

This is what we need to invent to fight climate change

05/06/22
The world now has many of the tools needed to keep climate change in check, the United Nations’ climate research team reported last month. But humanity will still need to invent newer and better ones…

Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS)

10/18/21
Carbon capture and storage (or sequestration)—known as CCS—is a process that involves capturing man-made carbon dioxide (CO2) at its source and storing it permanently underground. CCS could reduce the amount of CO2—an important greenhouse gas—emitted…

Cooling Solutions Challenge

09/28/21
Protecting the public from heat-related illness and death during extreme heat events or in connection with other disasters is an important part of disaster preparedness and resilience and the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) mission.…

The Gallery of Clean Energy Inventions

07/08/21
The Gallery of Clean Energy Inventions exhibits profiles of 25 Larger Generators, 34 Smaller Generators, 26 Advanced Self-Powered Electric Vehicle Innovations, 29 Radioactivity Neutralization Methods, 30 Space Travel Innovations, 21 Technical Solutions to Water Shortages,…

Mapping the way to climate resilience

07/05/21
Key takeawaysAs the deleterious effects of climate change threaten to disrupt business globally, plans to counter them are making their way into corporate agendas. Case in point: telecom AT&T is using spatial data analysis and…

Renewables were the world’s cheapest source of energy in 2020, new report shows

07/05/21
Renewables are now significantly undercutting fossil fuels as the world’s cheapest source of energy, according to a new report.

Setting the Record Straight About Renewable Energy

05/28/21
As analysts and observers of the transition to a lower-carbon and workable energy economy, we don’t normally write about films. But we’re venturing into the realm of cultural commentary in light of the recent release…

What is Solar Geoengineering and Why is it Controversial?

05/28/21
The fact is the CO2 is in the atmosphere. Without a time machine, we can't make it go away. We want to, in the long run, do carbon removal. But during the time that concentrations…

GEOENGINEERING MONITOR

05/28/21
Climate geoengineering refers to large-scale schemes for intervention in the earth’s oceans, soils and atmosphere with the aim of reducing the effects of climate change, usually temporarily.

Climate Trace

05/28/21
Climate Trace exist to make meaningful climate action faster and easier by mobilizing the global tech community—harnessing satellites, artificial intelligence, and collective expertise—to track human-caused emissions to specific sources in real time—independently and publicly.

Resilience

05/28/21
Discover the resilience technologies helping countries and municipalities with preparedness, responsiveness and recovery for a more secure world.

Biomimicry Institute

05/28/21
Biomimicry offers an empathetic, interconnected understanding of how life works and ultimately where we fit in. It is a practice that learns from and mimics the strategies used by species alive today. The goal is…

Carbon Capture Coalition

05/28/21
The Carbon Capture Coalition is a nonpartisan collaboration of more than 80 businesses and organizations building federal policy support to enable economywide, commercial scale deployment of carbon capture technologies, which includes carbon capture, removal, transport,…

Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage

05/28/21
The role of carbon capture, utilization, and storage continues to grow as we recognize that our climate targets will be harder and harder to reach. Recent IPCC studies have demonstrated the critical importance of carbon…

The world’s leading CCS think tank

05/28/21
The Global CCS Institute is an international think tank whose mission is to accelerate the deployment of carbon capture and storage (CCS), a vital technology to tackle climate change and deliver climate neutrality.

A Round-up of Carbon Capture Projects Around The World

05/28/21
2021 will be a year of climate commitments. On the fifth anniversary of the Paris Agreement, the pressure is mounting for nations to raise their ambitions and set firm commitments to reach net-zero by 2050.…

10 technologies that could combat climate change as food demand soars

07/13/20
A new study from the World Bank and UN finds we’ll need ways to boost yields faster than ever before to prevent agricultural emissions from soaring.

Climate – Data.gov

06/11/20
Here you can find data related to climate change that can help inform and prepare America’s communities, businesses, and citizens. You can currently find data and resources related to coastal flooding, food resilience, water, ecosystem…

Climate Solutions: Technologies to Slow Climate Change

04/22/20
But experts say there is no silver bullet to protect the climate — and that keeping fossil fuels in the ground is the surest known way to prevent further warming.

5 tech innovations that could save us from climate change

04/22/20
So he, along with some of the world’s richest people, have launched a fund to invest in solutions driven by technology. It will bring together governments and research institutions and billionaire investors who will try to limit…

Carbon Capture Technology Explained

10/24/19
Today, mankind’s collective activity deposits about 50 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year. All of this carbon dioxide traps heat from the sun and warms the entire planet, creating new conditions…

MORE NEWS

The US is investing more than $1 billion in carbon capture, but big oil is still involved

By Andrew Paul   08/15/23  
Investing in carbon capture technology will be necessary for a sustainable future, but environmental advocates frequently stress that this alone is not a cure-all for pollutants. The DOE, for example, estimates between 400 million and…
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Federal tax incentives create gold rush for nascent carbon capture projects in Louisiana

By Pam Radtke   08/13/23  
Millions of dollars of investments in new carbon capture projects in Louisiana — with more announced this past week — are unwelcome developments to some environmental activists in the state.
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Why lasers could help make the electric grid greener

By Julia Simon   08/13/23  
Jon Marmillo is looking up at a box sitting about 20 feet up the tower, full of laser sensors. He says he spends too much time staring up at transmission lines – including when he's…
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Can vacuums slow global warming? Administration bets $1.2 billion on it.

By Evan Halper   08/11/23  
The Biden administration is betting big on giant carbon-sucking vacuums as a climate solution, announcing that it will help jump-start two mammoth projects in Texas and Louisiana that will be a global testing ground for…
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Biden-Harris Administration Announces Up To $1.2 Billion For Nation’s First Direct Air Capture Demonstrations in Texas and Louisiana

08/11/23  
As part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced up to $1.2 billion to advance the development of two
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Biden Bets Billions on Tech That Sucks Carbon Out of the Air

By Ari Natter and Brian Kahn   08/10/23  
The Biden administration is throwing its weight behind technology that sucks planet-warming carbon dioxide out of the air, selecting the first winners of a $3.5 billion fund dedicated to developing the machines scientists say will…
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The U.S. Government Will Pay to Remove Carbon from Atmosphere

By Robinson Meyer   08/04/23  
The federal government is preparing to pay companies to remove carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere, launching a first-of-its-kind program that could transform the market for the nascent climate technology, according to people familiar with…
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U.S. and UAE oil producers strike carbon capture agreement

By Corbin Hiar and Sara Schonhardt   08/01/23  
The state-owned oil producer of the United Arab Emirates and a U.S. oil company on announced Tuesday that they are looking to develop projects that could suck carbon dioxide from the sky and smokestacks in…
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Bill Gates Is Backing A Secretive Startup Drilling For Geologic Hydrogen

By Alan Ohnsman   07/19/23  
It’s been 37 years since a subterranean coal fire forced Tom Darrah’s family to flee their home in Centralia, Pennsylvania. Decades later, the fire that started in the Kennedy era still burns underground through fractured…
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Department of Commerce, NOAA launch fund for ocean tech accelerators

By Leah Garden   07/17/23  
Last week, it was announced that the Department of Commerce and the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) launched the Ocean-Based Climate Resilience Accelerator program with $60 million focused on accelerating the blue economy.
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As carbon capture heats up, old questions reignite

By Jesse Klein   07/17/23  
Businesses seeking to lead on sustainability and meet net-zero commitments should be working to decarbonize their Scope 3 emissions. These include fossil fuel, steel and fertilizer companies with hard-to-reduce emissions.
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International negotiators just missed a deadline to regulate deep-sea mining. Now what?

By Maddie Stone   07/13/23  
This month, a small group of diplomats is meeting to hash out a plan that could affect the future of nearly half of Earth’s surface — including regions containing metals that are vital for the…
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Cement warms the planet. This green version just got a key nod of approval

By Dino Grandoni   07/13/23  
Companies are finding more environmentally friendly ways to make cement, which accounts for about a twelfth of global carbon dioxide emissions, making it worse for the climate than flying.
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The Real Problem With Deep-Sea Mining Is It Won’t Make Money

By David Fickling   07/13/23  
As if the world wasn’t in enough trouble from the warmest week ever measured and record-low sea ice around Antarctica, big business is already gearing up to ransack yet another unspoiled corner of the globe:…
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Pilot project uses volcanic ash to make cement

By YCC Team   07/12/23  
Heavy volcanic ash blanketed much of the island, covering streets, yards, and farm fields. And it caused structural damage to thousands of homes.
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To Help Cool a Hot Planet, the Whitest of White Coats

By Cara Buckley   07/12/23  
Xiulin Ruan, a professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue University, didn’t set out to make it into the Guinness World Records when he began trying to make a new type of paint. He had a…
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Climate change to drive increasing overlap between Pacific tuna fisheries and emerging deep-sea mining industry

By Diva J. amon   07/11/23  
In ocean areas beyond national jurisdiction, various legal regimes and governance structures result in diffused responsibility and create challenges for management. Here we show those challenges are set to expand with climate change driving increasing…
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Seafood industry calls for a moratorium on deep-sea mining

By Robin Hicks   07/11/23  
As negotations get underway to establish the rules for mining minerals from the ocean floor, a coalition of seafood industry organisations has called for a moratorium on seabed extraction.
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Carbon Capture Faces a Major Test in North Dakota

By Dan Gearino   07/06/23  
Energy companies have talked for years about how carbon capture technology will preserve their ability to burn coal and natural gas in a world that needs to drastically cut carbon emissions.
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SpaceX-backed Bay Area startup gets green light to test its flying cars

By Ricardo Cano   07/05/23  
A Bay Area startup has won permission from federal regulators to test what it says is a fully electric car that can fly and travel on roads. Alef Aeronautics, based in San Mateo, received a…
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‘It was an accident’: the scientists who have turned humid air into renewable power

By Ned Carter Miles   07/02/23  
In the early 20th century, Serbian inventor Nikola Tesla dreamed of pulling limitless free electricity from the air around us. Ever ambitious, Tesla was thinking on a vast scale, effectively looking at the Earth and…
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Wyoming, Colorado to partner on developing carbon capture technologies

By Sharon Udasin   06/28/23  
The governors of Wyoming and Colorado signed a memorandum of understanding Wednesday for interstate collaboration on the development of carbon capture technologies.
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Crucial Mojave Desert Water System to Rely on Microgrid Power

By Cathy Hitchens   06/14/23  
The Cadiz Water Conservation, Supply and Storage Project covers thousands of acres in the Mojave Desert. It’s designed to store water underground during wet periods, making the region’s water supply more resilient during extreme droughts.
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This New Scientific Breakthrough Could Help Evs Drive 10 Times Longer Before They Need A Recharge — Here’s How

By Laurelle Stelle   06/11/23  
Big news in the world of batteries: Researchers have discovered how to increase battery storage tenfold — perfect timing for the increasingly booming electric vehicle (EV) industry.
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This unlikely fuel could power cleaner trucks and ships

By Casey Crownhart   06/08/23  
Last Friday, I hoisted myself up a ladder and plopped down into the seat of a bright green John Deere tractor. There wasn’t a cornstalk or a soybean sprout in sight—my view through the windshield…
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Inside the controversy and profitability of solar geoengineering

By Leah Garden   06/07/23  
So do you remember in my previous article when I promised we’d dive into the controversies surrounding solar geoengineering? Well, you can officially stop holding your breath because today is that day.
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This startup is zapping seawater to tackle climate change

By Justine Calma   06/06/23  
A new California-based startup is trying to take on climate change by simultaneously taking carbon dioxide out of the ocean and air while creating hydrogen as an alternative fuel. Boeing has already inked an agreement…
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New Tool Tracks Military Deployments to Climate Disasters

By Daniel Cusick   06/05/23  
The nonpartisan Center for Climate and Security will try to fill that void with a new web-based data tool that allows internet users to track military deployments — nationally and internationally — in response to…
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Scientists develop mega-thin solar cells that could be shockingly easy to produce: ‘As rapid as printing a newspaper’

By Lajja Mistry   06/03/23  
Scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed paper-thin solar cells that can be attached to any kind of surface to convert it into a power source. Thinner than human hair, these cells…
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A new material creates clean electricity from the air around it

By Andrew Paul   05/24/23  
Researchers recently constructed a material capable of generating near constant electricity from just the ambient air around it—thus possibly laying the groundwork for a new, virtually unlimited source of sustainable, renewable energy. In doing so,…
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Is generative AI bad for the environment? A computer scientist explains the carbon footprint of ChatGPT and its cousins

By Kate Saenko   05/23/23  
Generative AI is the hot new technology behind chatbots and image generators. But how hot is it making the planet? As an AI researcher, I often worry about the energy costs of building artificial intelligence…
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EPA’s Dangerous Carbon Capture Gamble

By Wenonah Hauter   05/18/23  
As expected, the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed rules to reduce emissions from power plants rely on so-called ‘carbon capture.’ In theory, this would remove some climate pollution before it enters the atmosphere. There is still…
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Kerry challenges oil industry to prove its promised tech rescue for climate-wrecking emissions

By Ellen Knickmeyer   05/17/23  
Oil and gas producers talk up technological breakthroughs they say will soon allow the world to drill and burn fossil fuels without worsening global warming. U.S. climate envoy John Kerry says the time is here…
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Funding carbon removal in FY24

By Alyson Lee   05/16/23  
The federal government’s annual appropriations process is central to our efforts to fund carbon dioxide removal (CDR). Each year, Carbon180 submits requests to various congressional offices to help guide where next year’s dollars will flow.…
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NYC skyscrapers turning to carbon capture to lessen climate change

By Cathy Bussewitz   05/15/23  
From the outside, the residential high-rise on Manhattan’s Upper West Side looks pretty much like any other luxury building: A doorman greets visitors in a spacious lobby adorned with tapestry and marble.
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Biden counting on two little-used technologies to fight climate change

By Rachel Frazin   05/13/23  
The Biden administration this week proposed a new rule that could go a long way toward meeting the president’s ambitious climate goals. But it relies on two little-used technologies, which could make its targets challenging…
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Carbon Capture Is Hard. This Plant Shows Why.

By Eric Niiler   05/12/23  
A Canadian power plant holds lessons as the Environmental Protection Agency proposes new greenhouse gas rules for U.S. utilities. ...
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What is carbon capture? Some say it will help save the world, for others it’s a dangerous distraction

By Laura Paddison   05/11/23  
The window to prevent catastrophic climate change is closing. Concentrations of planet-warming carbon pollution in the air are at their highest level in more than 2 million years – and the world has yet to…
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Can we fight climate change by sinking carbon into the sea?

By Alison F. Takemura   05/11/23  
Two Israeli companies are betting that by trapping biomass deep underwater, they can keep gigatons of CO2 out of the atmosphere.
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What a responsible future for ocean carbon removal looks like

By Naim Merchant   05/11/23  
We continue to see growing interest in enhancing the ocean's ability to remove and store carbon dioxide. In the last month alone, we've seen the largest investment to date in an ocean-based carbon removal startup,…
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EPA Proposes New Carbon Pollution Standards for Fossil Fuel-Fired Power Plants to Tackle the Climate Crisis and Protect Public Health

05/11/23  
New proposed standards for coal and new natural gas fired power plants would avoid more than 600 million metric tons of CO2 pollution, while also preventing 300,000 asthma attacks and 1,300 premature deaths in 2030…
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Transcript Zero + The Big Take: Climate Tech Is The Economy

By Akshat Rathi   05/11/23  
It’s been eight months since US President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law. Already, the hundreds of billions of dollars allocated by the IRA to clean energy and climate change — alongside…
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Carbon capture key to Biden’s new power-plant rule: is the tech ready?

By Jeff Tollefson   05/11/23  
The administration of US President Joe Biden has proposed a landmark regulation that aims to curb emissions from the power sector in the United States over the next two decades. If it survives the legal…
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Disrupting Climate Change: 13 Tech Innovators Helping to Save the Planet

By Meghan Gunn and Others   05/10/23  
The latest in a series of dire warnings about the dangers of climate change came this March when a prominent United Nations panel of experts flagged that the world is likely to pass a dangerous…
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Harnessing technological transformation in the era of climate change

By Faith Taylor   05/09/23  
With greater awareness and urgency around the climate crisis and the impact of energy consumption, 140 countries have announced or are considering net zero targets, covering close to 90% of global emissions. These efforts will…
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Idle Oil Wells’ Next Act? Becoming Batteries for Renewable Energy

By Coco Liu   05/05/23  
The fan club for abandoned oil and gas wells is an exceedingly small one, but Kemp Gregory might just be the president. Where others see an eyesore or a source of rogue methane emissions, Gregory…
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White House Proposes 30% Energy Tax To Address Environmental Crypto Mining Costs

By Kelly Phillips Erb   05/04/23  
If you mine digital assets—like cryptocurrency—your job might soon become a little more expensive. The White House has announced plans to ask crypto miners to pay a premium for energy consumption. President Biden’s proposed budget…
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Should we reflect sunlight to cool the planet?

By Christina Thornell   05/04/23  
Solar geoengineering might help lower temps, but it’s a controversial approach.
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Orbiting Methane ‘Speed Cameras’ Are Catching Polluters in the Act

By Aaron Clark   04/28/23  
Think of them as speed cameras, but for methane. Just like roadside instruments used to identify drivers breaking traffic rules, new powerful satellites are starting to catch oil and gas operators releasing the planet-warming gas…
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New rules for power plants could give carbon capture a boost. Here’s how.

By Brad Plumer   04/26/23  
The Biden administration’s plan to limit, for the first time, greenhouse gas emissions from existing power plants could hinge on the ability of plant operators to capture carbon dioxide before it is pumped into the…
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