A Canadian company says that it has developed a way for makers of precast concrete products to take all the carbon-dioxide emissions from their factories, as well as neighboring industrial facilities, and store them in the products that they produce by exposing those products to carbon-dioxide-rich flue gases during the curing process. Industry experts say that the technology is unproven but holds great potential if it works.

Concrete accounts for more than 5 percent of human-caused carbon-dioxide emissions annually, mostly because cement, the active ingredient in concrete, is made by baking limestone and clay powders under intense heat that is generally produced by the burning of fossil fuels. Making finished concrete products–by mixing cement with water, sand, and gravel–creates additional emissions because heat and steam are often used to accelerate the curing process.

But Robert Niven, founder of Halifax-based Carbon Sense Solutions, says that his company’s process would actually allow precast concrete to store carbon dioxide. The company takes advantage of a natural process; carbon dioxide is already reabsorbed in concrete products over hundreds of years from natural chemical reactions. Freshly mixed concrete is exposed to a stream of carbon-dioxide-rich flue gas, rapidly speeding up the reactions between the gas and the calcium-containing minerals in cement (which represents about 10 to 15 percent of the concrete’s volume). The technology also virtually eliminates the need for heat or steam, saving energy and emissions.

Work is expected to begin on a pilot plant in the province of Nova Scotia this summer, with preliminary results expected by the end of the year. If it works and is widely adopted, it has the potential to sequester or avoid 20 percent of all cement-industry carbon-dioxide emissions, says Niven. “If the technology is commercialized as planned, it will revolutionize concrete manufacturing and mitigate hundreds of megatons of carbon dioxide each year, while providing manufacturers with a cheaper, greener, and superior product.” He adds that 60 tons of carbon dioxide could be stored as solid limestone–or calcium carbonate–within every 1,000 tons of concrete produced. Further, he claims that the end product is more durable, more resistant to shrinking and cracking, and less permeable to water.

READ FULL ARTICLE

Japanese car manufacturer Honda has begun the first commercial production of a zero-emission, hydrogen fuel-cell powered vehicle.

The four-seater, called FCX Clarity, runs on hydrogen and electricity, and emits water vapour.

Honda claims the vehicle offers three times better fuel efficiency than a traditional, petrol-powered car.

Honda plans to produce 200 of the cars, which are initially available only to lease, over the next three years.

One of the biggest obstacles standing in the way of wider adoption of fuel-cell vehicles is the lack of hydrogen fuelling stations.

Original Article from BBC

Technology Review has a great 3-part article about the economy downturn and science of the biofuels in U.S.A.

“Now ethanol producers are struggling, and many are losing money. The price of a bushel of corn rose to record highs during the year, exceeding $4.00 last winter before falling back to around $3.50 in the summer, then rebounding this fall to near $4.00 again. At the same time, ethanol prices plummeted as the market for the alternative fuel, which is still used mainly as an additive to gasoline, became saturated. In the face of these two trends, profit margins vanished.”

“Prime Minister Kevin Rudd signed the instrument of ratification of the Kyoto Protocol in his first act after being sworn in this morning.

The ratification will come into force in 90 days.

“This is the first official act of the new Australian government, demonstrating my government’s commitment to tackling climate change,” Mr Rudd said in a statement.

Mr Rudd said the ratification was considered and approved by the first executive council meeting of the government this morning.

“The governor-general has granted his approval for Australia to ratify the Kyoto Protocol at my request,” he said.

Under United Nations guidelines, ratification comes into force 90 days after the instrument of ratification is received by the UN, making Australia a full member of the Kyoto Protocol by the end of March 2008.”

Original article via The West

RealCosts is a Firefox plug-in that inserts emissions data into travel related e-commerce websites. The first version adds CO2 emissions information to airfare websites such as Orbitz.com, United.com, Delta.com, etc. Following versions will work with car directions, car rental, and shipping websites. Think of it like the nutritional information labeling on the back of food… except for emissions. RealCosts is developed by Michael Mandiberg.

Breathing Earth is a map of the world showing a real-time simulation of the CO2 emissions level of every country in the world, as well as each countries birth and death rates.

WTF? Dump 45 tonnes of iron dust into the sea to feed phytoplankton for “ecorestoration” then sell those “carbon credits” to hotels as a form of combating climate change?

Planktos Inc., which has offices in Vancouver and San Francisco, wants to set sail this month from Florida to dump more than 45 tonnes of iron dust into the sea near the Galapagos Islands.

The iron nutrients would stimulate the growth of phytoplankton, which would then absorb large amounts of carbon dioxide — an experimental process Planktos compares to reforestation. Planktos Inc. says phytoplankton, seen in bright blue and green, would be increased if iron dust was dumped in the ocean, boosting carbon dioxide absorption.

A for-profit “ecorestoration” company, Planktos plans to sell carbon credits from this type of project to firms like Vancouver’s Wedgewood Hotel and Spa, which has agreed to buy 5,000 tonnes of carbon credits.

The firm launched its two-year “Voyage of Recovery” program in March, launching a public relations campaign in Washington, D.C., to promote its “green message of hope.”

original article via Free Republic

This stunning Lord Of The Rings looking PS10 Solar Power Tower in Seville, Southern Spain, is Europe’s first commercial concentrating solar power plant. Upon completion in 2013, the plant will produce enough energy to power 180,000 homes, equivalent to the needs of the city of Seville without producing one particle of carbon emission.

From ENS:

“Known as PS10, the project produces electricity with 624 large movable mirrors called heliostats. Each of the mirrors has a surface measuring 120 square meters (1,290 square feet) that concentrates the Sun’s rays to the top of a 115 meter (377 foot) high tower where a solar receiver and a steam turbine are located. The turbine drives a generator, producing electricity. PS10 is the first of a set of solar electric power generation plants to be constructed in the same area that will total more than 300 MW by 2013. Power generation will be accomplished using a variety of technologies.”

More related links:

Here’s an article from BBC. Inhabitat has a detailed report with more pics. Abengoa, the mother company of Solucar is creating a new U.S. subsidiary.

Australia’s EnviroMission that propose to build the Solar Tower Buronga (here’s an article on CNN Money), proposed to build a similar skyscraping solar tower in Texas.

Wikipedia articles on how Solar Thermal Energy and Solar Updraft Tower works.

What the hell is Photo Bio Reactor? It is an “artificial environment for photosynthetic organisms” that basically eats the CO2 from the air. And now you can build your own for $200:

I have wanted to do this a project for a long time and with earth day this year it kinda just fit timing wise. Its really a simple and quick build, yet getting the level up in bio-friendly-geek makes this all the more fun. Now I admit that I have a lacking of unquenchable aspirations to being a hugger of trees or a crusader of tofu and hemp. But I do believe in making changes so that the poor saps that come along after me might have the world a little less badly off for them. Let’s face it, we kind of effed up the whole earth thing… But in all seriousness, once we get a good strong colony established we will be doing some testing of the amount of carbon these can remove from our environment with a C02 PPM meter.

Here’s a video showing when the gadget is working:

What if we make a gadget that not only absorb CO2 but also produce energy? Technology Review has an article about supplying the world’s energy need with light and water.

Original article via CSIRO Australia

Scientists have observed the first evidence that the Southern Ocean’s ability to absorb the major greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, has weakened by about 15 per cent per decade since 1981.

Dr Paul Fraser, who leads research into atmospheric greenhouse gases at CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research, says the international team’s four-year study concludes that the weakening is due to human activities.

“The researchers found that the Southern Ocean is becoming less efficient at absorbing carbon dioxide due to an increase in wind strength over the Ocean, resulting from human-induced climate change,” Dr Fraser says.

“The increase in wind strength is due to a combination of higher levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and long-term ozone depletion in the stratosphere, which previous CSIRO research has shown intensifies storms over the Southern Ocean.”

The increased winds influence the processes of mixing and upwelling in the ocean, which in turn cause an increased release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, reducing the net absorption of carbon dioxide into the ocean.

“Combined, the Earth’s land and ocean sinks absorb about half of all carbon dioxide emissions from human activities,” Dr Fraser says. “The Southern Ocean takes up 15 per cent of these emissions, hence a reduction in its efficiency will have serious implications for atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations over coming decades.”

Original Article from New Scientist.

• Human CO₂ emissions are too tiny to matter

• We can’t do anything about climate change

• The ‘hockey stick’ graph has been proven wrong

• Chaotic systems are not predictable

• We can’t trust computer models of climate

• They predicted global cooling in the 1970s

• It’s been far warmer in the past, what’s the big deal?

• It’s too cold where I live - warming will be great

• Global warming is down to the Sun, not humans

• It’s all down to cosmic rays

• CO₂ isn’t the most important greenhouse gas

• The lower atmosphere is cooling, not warming

• Antarctica is getting cooler, not warmer, disproving global warming

• The oceans are cooling

• The cooling after 1940 shows CO₂ does not cause warming

• It was warmer during the Medieval period, with vineyards in England

• We are simply recovering from the Little Ice Age

• Warming will cause an ice age in Europe

• Ice cores show CO₂ increases lag behind temperature rises, disproving the link to global warming

• Ice cores show CO₂ rising as temperatures fell

• Mars and Pluto are warming too

• Many leading scientists question climate change

• It’s all a conspiracy

• Hurricane Katrina was caused by global warming

• Higher CO₂ levels will boost plant growth and food production

• Polar bear numbers are increasing

What is the easiest way to cut greenhouse gas? Biking instead of driving? Install solar panel? Eat Local Products? The answer is start using Compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFL). Lighting accounts for about 20% of all electricity use in the country and about 15% of electricity use in our homes. The typical household spends about $110 per year on lighting and most of this is wasted on inefficient incandescent light bulbs, that convert 90% of the electricity to heat and only about 10% to visible light.

CFLs use between one-fifth and one-quarter of the power of an equivalent incandescent lamp, which means it require less energy from coal-burning power plants and thus reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Research states that each CFL will cut carbon dioxide emissions by about 1,300 pounds over its lifetime. If every household in the U.S. replaced a burned-out bulb with an ENERGY STAR qualified compact fluorescent bulb, it would prevent greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to that from nearly 800,000 cars. It would also save enough energy to light 2.5 million homes for a year. Thats why Australia plans to phase out the use of incandescent lamps by 2010 and Canada provinces Ontario and Nova Scotia are also going to ban incandescent lamps in 2012.

Despite all these facts, the current market share of CFLs in the United States is only about 6 percent while compared to 80 percent of CFLs adoption rate in Japan and 50 percent in Germany. So how come CFLs are not widely adapted yet? Energy consumption experts say it does not pass the “Wife Test“.

Lots of people do not like the initial flicker, slow warm-up and weird color of CFLs. Popular Mechanics ran a lab test with seven popular CFLs against a 75 watt incandescent bulb to see which CFLs got the best color temperature and lux. Environmental Defense has a interactive form to help you find an energy-saving light bulb.

Original story from Herald Tribune:

“The global carbon market tripled last year to $30 billion from $11 billion in 2005, the World Bank’s carbon finance unit said Wednesday.”

“Carbon markets put a price on carbon, and so are seen as a possible key weapon against climate change, motivating people and businesses to think harder about their greenhouse gas emissions.”

“Through a linked, project-based market, European companies can meet their EU emissions caps by funding clean-energy projects in developing countries through carbon trade under the Kyoto Protocol on global warming. That project-based market doubled to $5 billion in 2006, and raised an extra $16 billion in finance for development of clean-energy technologies, the World Bank said.”

This makes me think of my friend Amy Balkin’s project PUBLIC SMOG. The project consists of a gesture in which the artist buys and withholds carbon gas emission credits from international trading markets in order to create a temporary clean-air park. Aiming to highlight the complexities and contradictions of current environmental protocols, Balkin will attempt to submit an application to qualify the entire atmosphere as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

George Monbiot is a columnist for the British newspaper Guardian and author of the bestselling books Heat: How to Stop the Planet from Burning, Captive State and The Age of Consent.

You can watch the rest of the interview at The Real News.

Global Research Technologies, LLC (GRT), a technology research and development company, and Klaus Lackner from Columbia University have achieved the successful demonstration of a bold new technology to capture carbon from the air. The “air extraction” prototype has successfully demonstrated that indeed carbon dioxide (CO₂) can be captured from the atmosphere. This is GRT’s first step toward a commercially viable air capture device.