Shrinking Arctic and disappearing sea

The arctic ice cover is steadily shrinking over a period of time opening new polar shipping routes. Recently a Norwegian ship was carrying a LNG tanker to Japan through Russia, marking the beginning of new polar shipping route. There was a short documentary film on disappearance of an entire Aral Sea from the map, due to evaporation, caused by construction of dams by Russian authorities restricting the flow of rivers into Aral Sea. These dramatic events are happening right in front of our eyes. Yet, there are many Governments and people around the world are still questioning whether Global warming is real and is it man-made? Well, people do not accept science when it come to global warming because it causes them a lot of inconvenience and embarrassment for Governments. They do not want to face the reality but prefer to postpone it for another day. This is what happening with super powers and industrialized countries in the world. But how long can they sustain such skepticism and postpone urgent actions that are necessary to save the future generation of mankind? • Arctic sea ice is projected to decline dramatically over the 21st century, with little late summer sea ice remaining by the year 2100. • The simulated 21st century Arctic sea ice decline is not smooth, but contains periods of large and small changes. • The Arctic region responds sensitively to past and future global climate forcings, such as changes in atmospheric greenhouse gas levels. Its surface air temperature is projected to warm at a rate about twice as fast as the global average. Attached Sea ice concentrations simulated by GFDL’s CM2.1 global coupled climate model averaged over August, September and October (the months when Arctic sea ice concentrations generally are at a minimum). Three years (1885, 1985 & 2085) are shown to illustrate the model-simulated trend. A dramatic reduction of summertime sea ice is projected, with the rate of decrease being greatest during the 21st century portion. The colors range from dark blue (ice-free) to white (100% sea ice covered). “Satellite observations show that Arctic sea ice extent has declined over the past three decades [e.g., NOAA magazine, 2006]. Global climate model experiments, such as those conducted at NOAA’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL), project this downward trend to continue and perhaps accelerate during the 21st century. The Arctic is a region that is projected to warm at about twice the rate of the global average [Winton, 2006a] - a phenomenon sometimes referred to as “Arctic amplification”. As Arctic temperatures rise, sea ice melts—a change that in turn affects other aspects of global climate. While beyond the scope of GFDL’s climate model simulations, other research suggests that Arctic sea ice changes can impact a broad range of factors — from altering key elements of the Arctic biosphere (plants and animals, marine and terrestrial, including polar bears and fish), to opening polar shipping routes, to shifting commercial fishing patterns, etc. An Ice-Free Arctic in Summer? The three panel’s attachments are snapshots of how late summer Northern Hemisphere sea ice concentrations vary in time in a GFDL CM2.1 climate model simulation. The figures depict Sea ice concentration - a measure of how much of the ocean area is covered by sea ice, and the climate model variable that is most similar to what a satellite observes. By the late 21st century, the GFDL computer model experiments project that the Arctic becomes almost ice free during the late summer. But during the long Arctic winters (not shown) the sea ice grows back, though thinner than is simulated for the 20th century. The rate at which the modeled 21st century Arctic warming and sea ice melting occurs is rapid compared to that seen in historical observations. Abrupt Arctic changes are of particular concern for human and ecosystem adaptations and are a subject of much current research (Winton 2006B). The modeled summertime Arctic sea ice extent (the size of the area covered by sea ice) does not very smoothly in time, as there is a good deal of year-to-year variability superimposed on the downward trend. This can be seen in the graph to the right and also in animations found at www.gfdl.noaa.gov/research/climate/highlights. By the end of the 21st century, the modeled summer sea ice extent usually is less than 20% of the simulated for 1981 to 2000. The Arctic sea ice results shown here are not unique to the GFDL climate model. Generally similar results are produced by computer models developed at several other international climate modeling centers. Though some uncertainties in model projections of future climate remain, results such as these, taken together with observations that document late 20th century Arctic sea ice shrinkage, make the Arctic a region that will continue to be studied and watched closely, as atmospheric greenhouse gas levels increase. Climate implications of shrinking summer sea ice Melting sea ice can influence the climate through a process known as the ice-albedo feedback. Much of the sunlight reflected by sea ice returns to space and is unavailable to heat the climate system. As the sea ice melts, the surface darkens and absorbs more of this energy. This, in turn, can lead to greater melting. This is referred to as a “positive feedback loop” because an initial change (sea ice melting) triggers other responses in the system that eventually acts to enhance the original change (inducing more sea ice melting). At GFDL, research has focused on the role of the ice-albedo feedback in the enhancing simulated Arctic warming and on the potential for this positive feedback loop to lead to abrupt changes [Winton, 2006a]. A somewhat complex picture has emerged that shows the ice-albedo feedback as a contributor, but not necessarily the dominant factor in determining why modeled Arctic surface air temperatures warm roughly twice as fast as the global average. It also has been found that, for the range of temperature increases likely to occur in the 21st century, the Arctic ice-albedo feedback adjusts smoothly as the model’s ice declines, by reducing the ice cover at progressively earlier times in the sunlit season. This smooth adjustment maintains a fairly constant amplification of Arctic temperature change relative to global average warming. The details of how Arctic feedback processes act in climate models at various modeling centers differ, and so analysis and computer model development work continues in order to better understand and to reduce uncertainties in Arctic climate change simulations.” While many scientists are alarmed by the widening expanse of open water in the Arctic, blaming it on global warming, shippers see a new international route. The MV Nordic Barents is lugging 40,000 tonnes of iron ore from Norway to China on a shortcut through melting ice – and is making a little history in the process. It is the first non-Russian commercial vessel to attempt a non-stop crossing of a route that skirts the receding Arctic ice cap. Business Times, Singapore report (6 September 2010): The MV Nordic Barents is lugging 40,000 tonnes of iron ore from Norway to China on an Arctic Ocean shortcut through melting ice – and is making a little history in the process. Steaming east along Russia’s desolate northern coast, the ship departed on Saturday as the first non-Russian commercial vessel to attempt a non-stop crossing of a route that skirts the receding Arctic ice cap. ‘We’re pretty much going over the top,’ said John Sanderson, the Australian CEO of the Norwegian mine where the iron ore comes from. By using the northern route from Europe to Asia, the Nordic Barents could save eight days and 5,000 nautical miles of travel thought to be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to the owners of its cargo. While many scientists are alarmed by the widening expanse of open water that the ship will traverse, blaming it on global warming, shippers see a new international route. Sanderson’s ASX-listed Northern Iron Ltd has sent 15 ships to China since it began mining in the northern Norwegian town of Kirkenes last October. All steamed south, then east through the Suez Canal or around the Cape of Good Hope. To reach Chinese steel mills hungry for ore, they had to brave pirates in the Indian Ocean. The Arctic route is no picnic either. On Saturday the polar ice sheet remained almost as big as the US mainland. But over the summer it has shrunk about as far from the Russian coast as it did during the biggest Arctic melt on record, in 2007, according to the Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center. And the Russians are waking up to the business potential of a route that was mostly reserved for domestic commercial vessels in the past. ‘Suddenly there is an opening that gives this part of the world an advantage,’ said Felix H Tschudi, whose shipping company is Northern Iron’s largest shareholder. Willy Oestreng, chairman of research group Ocean Futures, called the trip of the Nordic Barents ‘historic’. ‘The western world is starting to show an interest and a capability to use that route,’ he said. Two days after Russia and Norway agreed last April to settle a 40-year-old dispute over economic zones in the Barents Sea, government and business leaders of the two countries met in Kirkenes to sweep away hurdles to international shipping. Russian law still requires icebreaker escort even where ice danger is small, due to a lack of onshore mechanical or medical support. But fees and rules are starting to loosen. ‘Russian companies and Russian authorities are now ready to assist,’ said Mikhail Belkin, assistant general manager of the state-owned Rosatomflot icebreaking fleet. Lots of Russian vessels have plied the passage, and two German ships traversed it last year with small cargos delivered to Russian ports. But the Nordic Barents, an ice-class Danish bulk carrier chartered by Tschudi, is the first non-Russian ship with permission to pass without stopping. Rosatomflot has assigned two 75,000-horsepower icebreakers to the vessel for about 10 days of the three-week voyage. Tschudi won’t say how much Rosatomflot is charging but praised it as ‘cooperative, service-minded and pragmatic.’ ‘Today the route is basically competitive with the Suez Canal, and we can subtract the piracy risk,’ he said. Excluding icebreaking fees, a bulk ship that takes the Arctic route from Hamburg to Yokohama can save more than US$200,000 in fuel and canal expenses, Mr. Oestreng said. — Reuter. Disappearance of Aral Sea from the map. “In the 1960s, the Soviet Union undertook a major water diversion project on the arid plains of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. The region’s two major rivers, fed by snowmelt and precipitation in faraway mountains, were used to transform the desert into farms for cotton and other crops. Before the project, the Syr Darya and the Amu Darya rivers flowed down from the mountains, cut northwest through the Kyzylkum Desert, and finally pooled together in the lowest part of the basin. The lake they made, the Aral Sea, was once the fourth largest in the world. Although irrigation made the desert bloom, it devastated the Aral Sea. This series of images from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite documents the changes. At the start of the series in 2000, the lake was already a fraction of its 1960 extent (black line). The Northern Aral Sea (sometimes called the Small Aral Sea) had separated from the Southern (Large) Aral Sea. The Southern Aral Sea had split into eastern and western lobes that remained tenuously connected at both ends. By 2001, the southern connection had been severed, and the shallower eastern part retreated rapidly over the next several years. Especially large retreats in the eastern lobe of the Southern Sea appear to have occurred between 2005 and 2009, when drought limited and then cut off the flow of the Amu Darya. Water levels then fluctuated annually between 2009 and 2012 in alternately dry and wet years. As the lake dried up, fisheries and the communities that depended on them collapsed. The increasingly salty water became polluted with fertilizer and pesticides. The blowing dust from the exposed lakebed, contaminated with agricultural chemicals, became a public health hazard. The salty dust blew off the lakebed and settled onto fields, degrading the soil. Croplands had to be flushed with larger and larger volumes of river water. The loss of the moderating influence of such a large body of water made winters colder and summers hotter and drier. In a last-ditch effort to save some of the lake, Kazakhstan built a dam between the northern and southern parts of the Aral Sea. Completed in 2005, the dam was basically a death sentence for the southern Aral Sea, which was judged to be beyond saving. All of the water flowing into the desert basin from the Syr Darya now stays in the Northern Aral Sea. Between 2005 and 2006, the water levels in that part of the lake rebounded significantly and very small increases are visible throughout the rest of the time period. The differences in water color are due to changes in sediment.”

Colloidal Coal Water Fuel by Nanotechnology for power generation

Coal is still the dominant fuel used for power generation due to its low cost and abundant availability despite its emission problems and global warming issues. Companies around the world are trying to improve the efficiency of coal fired power plants and reduce emissions by various methods. The idea is to prepare an ultra clean coal with very low ash content in the form of coal-water slurry that can be directly injected into a diesel engine. Direct firing of coal requires micronising to less than 20-30 microns for diesel engine and less than 10 microns for turbines and producing a coal water slurry with at least 50% w/w coal content. The thermal and combustion efficiency of coal water fuel seems to be matching to that diesel engine at up to 1900rpm according to literatures. Still more research is required on engine modification and engine nozzle to handle coal water slurry because of its abrasive nature. If coal can be converted into a fluid like a diesel or Fuel oil then it can substitute diesel at reduced cost. However the Carbon problem needs to be addressed by ongoing research on sequestration. Nanotechnology is an emerging field that offers hope to produce Colloidal coal water fuel that resembles fuel oil that may be suitable for direct injection into diesel engine with little modifications. The colloidal suspensions of coal in water (CCW) are produced using a proprietary wet-combination device. These suspensions are a new material with new properties. “First, the colloidal fraction plus water is a pseudo fluid good for transport, handling and suspension of large particles. Second, the surface area per unit volume of coal available for chemical reaction and burning is greatly increased and finally, CCW may be milled with a third fluid, seeding the mixture with submicron coal. The colloidal nature of the majority of particles provides for very good features such as outstanding long-term stability, in contrast to regular coal water slurries (CWS) which rapidly sediment under storage. Moreover, the very small particles create an increased reactivity to combustion because small particles with large surface area react faster than large particles with the same volume.” A company based in Panama has conducted experiments using colloidal coal water fuel and published the following information. CCW suspension preparation and properties Characterization “The colloidal dispersions are prepared in two stages: first by a bench mill and then by our wet- comminuting device. The bench mill was manufactured by IKA®- Group. After grinding, samples were sieved using mesh size sieves 40 (400 μm), 70 (212 μm) or 140- (106 μm) and the passing particles were retained and used to prepare coal suspensions with various water contents (30 to 50 %), surfactants and other type of additives. These mesh sizes are not foreign to coal fired power plants. It is noteworthy that a preliminary formulation study is first necessary in order to determine the type and concentration of additives that are best suited to improve coal particle wetting and reduce viscosity. The additives were mostly surfactants and viscosity controlling agents and every type of coal tested usually required a specific formulation. In general, it was found that nonionic surfactants were good wetting agents, in concentrations varying from 0.1 to 0.6 w/w %. Some of the additives used to reduce viscosity by decreasing particle interactions, before or after the wet comminuting process, were amines. The suspension formulation previous to the wet-comminuting instance was very simple since what was basically required was a good wetting agent or a combination of two wetting agents. The idea was to have a uniform mixture with as low viscosity as possible. Particle size of coal samples was determined by direct observation in an optical microscope, or by sieving using five or six different sieves ranging from 20 to 400 μm, or using a laser diffraction apparatus made by Microtrac Corporation, Nanotrac model, having a measurement range from 8 nm to 6.5 μm. Neither of these methods was sufficient to obtain a complete characterization of the particle size distributions, but a combination of the three allowed for a good assessment of what really was in the suspension, before and after the wet-comminuting process. In our study, the percentage of mass passing the 635 mesh size sieve (< 20 μm) was used as an indicator of wet-comminuting process efficiency (generation of colloidal particles), given that microscopic observations generally showed that particles between 8 to 20 μm were very scarce. The preparation of the colloidal suspension of coal was centered in a technology that is totally based on fluid mechanics principles. As mentioned above, a preliminary suspension was prepared in a tank with low agitation and the appropriate water and surfactant contents. This suspension is then fed into a device that spins a film of the fluid to the walls of a cylindrical vessel at very high speed and under cavitations free conditions. The resulting flow field induces a “particle trap” region where coal particles are locally concentrated above their nominal value and under very high shear. Particles are then milled to very small sizes by a wet-comminuting mechanism. Friction heating is controlled by a chilled water jacket around the vessel.

A schematic view of the set up is shown in the attached figure. The energy consumed by the wet-comminuting device was evaluated by monitoring the power (voltage and amperage) during the process. The latter has two components, the power required to drive the motor shaft and mechanical seal, and the net power consumed by the fluid during comminuting. It was found that the net power divided by the mass flow rate, in terms of kWH/ton depended on coal content and viscosity of the preliminary slurry, exhibiting values of 30 to 80 kWh/ton. The energy consumed by the motor shaft and seal would account for 50 to 80 % of the total power consumed. Using the method described above, 100 gallons of CCW were prepared, using an Eastern bituminous coal that was previously grinded to 200 mesh. Several properties of this sample were characterized.” Colloidal coal water fuel has certain distinct advantages over conventional coal water slurry for power generation using conventional diesel engine and turbines. Further research and development work is needed before it can be expanded for large scale production. But it offers a hope to improve the efficiency of existing coal fired power plants and reduces emissions.

Global warming and man-made greenhouse gas.

There is a raging debate going on around the world especially in US about the global warming and its causes, among scientists and the public alike. When IPCC released its findings on the connection between greenhouse gas emission and the global warming and its disastrous consequences, there was an overwhelming disbelief and skepticism in many people. In fact many scientists are skeptical even now about these findings and many of them published their own theories and models to prove their skepticism with elaborate ‘scientific explanations’. I am not going into details whether greenhouse gas emission induced by human beings causes the globe to warm or not, but certainly we have emitted billions of tons of Carbon in the form of Carbon dioxide into the atmosphere since industrial revolution. Bulk of these emissions is from power plants fueled by Coal, oil and gas. Why power plants emit so much Carbon into the atmosphere and why Governments around the world allow it in the first place? When the emission of Oxide of Nitrogen and Sulfur are restricted by EPA why they did not restrict Oxides of carbon? The reason is very simple. They did not have a technology to generate heat without combustion and they did not have a technology to generate power without heat. It was the dawn of industrial revolution and steam engines were introduced using coal as a fuel. The discovery of steam engines was so great and nobody was disturbed by the black smoke it emitted. They knew very well that the efficiency of a steam engine was low as shown by Carnot cycle, yet steam engine was a new discovery and Governments were willing to condone Carbon emission. Governments were happy with steam engine because it could transport millions of people and goods in bulk across the country and Carbon emission was not at all an issue. Moreover carbon emission did not cause any problem like emission of oxides of Sulfur because it was odorless, colorless and it was emitted above the ground level away from human sight. However the effect of Carbon is insidious. Similarly, power generation technology was developed by converting thermal energy into electrical energy with a maximum efficiency of 33%.This means only 33% of the thermal energy released by combustion of coal is converted into electricity. When the resulting electricity is transmitted across thousands of kilometers by high tension grids, further 5-10% power is lost in the transmission. When the high tension power is stepped down through sub stations to lower voltage such as 100/200/400V further 5% power is lost. The net power received by a consumer is only 28% of the heat value of the fuel in the form of electricity. The balance 67% of heat along with Greenhouse gases from the combustion of coal is simply vented out into the atmosphere. It is the most inefficient method to generate power. Any environmental pollution is the direct result of inefficiency of the technology. Governments and EPAs around the world ignore this fact.Thanks to President Obama who finally introduced the pollution control bill for power plants after 212 years of industrial revolution. Still this bill did not go far enough to control Carbon emission in its current form. Instead of arguing whether globe is warming due to emission of Carbon by human beings or not, Scientists should focus on improving the science and technology of power generation. For example, the electrical efficiency of a Fuel cell is more than 55% compared to conventional power generation at 33% and emits reduced or no carbon. Recent research by MIT shows that such conversion of heat into electricity can be achieved up to 90% compared to current levels of 35%.Had we developed such a technology earlier, probably we will not be discussing about GHG and global warming now. MIT research group is now focusing on developing new Thermophotovoltaics and according to their press release: “Thermal to electric energy conversion with thermophotovoltaics relies on radiation emitted by a hot body, which limits the power per unit area to that of a blackbody. Micro gap thermophotovoltaics take advantage of evanescent waves to obtain higher throughput, with the power per unit area limited by the internal blackbody, which is n2 higher. We propose that even higher power per unit area can be achieved by taking advantage of thermal fluctuations in the near-surface electric fields. For this, we require a converter that couples to dipoles on the hot side, transferring excitation to promote carriers on the cold side which can be used to drive an electrical load. We analyze the simplest implementation of the scheme, in which excitation transfer occurs between matched quantum dots. Next, we examine thermal to electric conversion with a glossy dielectric (aluminum oxide) hot-side surface layer. We show that the throughput power per unit active area can exceed the n2 blackbody limit with this kind of converter. With the use of small quantum dots, the scheme becomes very efficient theoretically, but will require advances in technology to fabricate.” Ref:J.Appl.Phys. 106,094315c(2009); http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.3257402 “Quantum-coupled single-electron thermal to electric conversion scheme”. Power generation and distribution using renewable energy sources and using Hydrogen as an alternative fuel is now emerging. Distributed energy systems may replace centralized power plants in the future due to frequent grid failures as we have seen recently in India. Most of the ‘black outs’ are caused by grid failures due to cyclones, tornadoes and other weather related issues, and localized distribution system with combined heat and power offers a better alternative. For those who are skeptical about global warming caused by man-made greenhouse gases the question still remains, “What happened to billions of tons of Caron dioxide emitted into the atmosphere by power plants and transportation since industrial revolution?”.

Can alternative energy combat global warming?

The world is debating on how to reduce carbon emission and avert the disastrous consequences of global warming. But the emissions from fossil fuels continue unabated while the impact of global warming is being felt all over the world by changing weathers such as flood and draught. It is very clear that the current rate of carbon emission cannot be contained by merely promoting renewable energy at the current rate. Solar, wind, geothermal, ocean wave and OTEC (ocean thermal energy conversion) offer clean alternative energy but currently their total combined percentage of energy generation is only less than 20% of the total power generation. The rate of Carbon reduction by renewable energy do not match the rate of Carbon emission increase by existing and newly built fossil power generation and transportation, to maintain the current level of Carbon in the atmosphere. The crux of the problem is the rate of speed with which we can reduce the Carbon emission in the stipulated time frame. It is unlikely to happen without active participation of industrialized countries such as US, China, India, Japan, EU and Australia by signing a legally binding agreement in reducing their Carbon emissions to an accepted level. However, they can reduce their emissions by increasing the efficiency of their existing power generation and consumption by innovative means. One potential method of carbon reduction is by substituting fossil fuels with biomass in power generation and transportation. By using this method the energy efficiency is increased from current level of 33% to 50-60% in power generation by using gasification technologies and using Hydrogen for transportation. The Fixed carbon in coal is about 70% while the Carbon content in a biomass is only 0.475 X B (B-mass of oven-dry biomass). For example, the moisture content of a dry wood is about 19%,which means the Carbon mass is only 38% in the biomass. To substitute fossil fuels, the world will require massive amounts of biomass. The current consumption of coal worldwide is 6.647 billion tons/yr (Source:charts bin.com)and the world will require at least 13 billion tons/yr of biomass to substitute coal .The total biomass available in the world in the form of forest is 420 billion tons which means about 3% of the forest in the world will be required to substitute current level of coal consumption. This is based on the assumption that all bioenergy is based on gasification of wood mass. But in reality there are several other methods of bioenergy such as biogas, biofuels such as alcohol and bio-diesel from vegetable oils etc, which will complement biogasification to reduce Carbon emission. Another potential method is to capture and recover Carbon from existing fossil fuel power plants. The recovered Carbon dioxide has wider industrial applications such as industrial refrigeration and in chemical process industries such as Urea plant. Absorption of Carbon dioxide from flue gas using solvents such as MEA (mono ethanolamine) is a well established technology. The solvent MEA will absorb Carbon dioxide from the flue gas and the absorbed carbon dioxide will be stripped in a distillation column to separate absorbed carbon dioxide and the solvent. The recovered solvent will be reused. The carbon emission can be reduced by employing various combinations of methods such as anaerobic digestion of organic matters, generation of syngas by gasification of biomass, production of biofuels, along with other forms of renewable energy sources mentioned above. As I have discussed in my previous articles, Hydrogen is the main source of energy in all forms of Carbon based fuels and generating Hydrogen from water using renewable energy source is one of the most potential and expeditious option to reduce Carbon emission.

Energy,water and global warming

At the outset it may sound odd but in reality water and energy are two sides of the same coin and both industries have a great impact on global warming.We take for example, power generation industries. Two basic requirements for any power plant are fuel and water. It does not matter what kind of fuel is used whether it is a coal based power plant, liquid fuel based plant like Naphtha, and gas based plants using piped natural gas or LNG. We will consider only power generation involving conversion of thermal energy into electrical energy. Currently more than 80% of power generation in the world is based on thermal power including nuclear plants. All thermal power plants use steam as the prime motive force to drive the turbines, gas turbine is an exception but even, in gas based plants the secondary motive force is steam using waste heat recovery boilers, in combined cycle operations. The quality of water for conversion into steam is of high quality and purer than our drinking water. The second usage of water is for cooling purpose. The water consumption by power plants using once through cooling system is 1 lit/kwhr, and by closed circuit cooling tower, it is 1.7lit/kwhr. Only about 40% power plants in Europe for example use closed circuit cooling towers and the rest use only ‘once through’ cooling systems. The total power generated in 2010 by two largest users US and China, were 3792Twhrs and 3715 Twhrs respectively. The total world power production, in 2008 was 20,262 Twhrs, using following methods. Fossil fuel: Coal 41 %, Oil 5.50%, Gas 21%, Nuclear 13% and Hydro 16%.Renewable: PV solar 0.06%, PV thermal 0.004%, Wind 1.1%, Tide 0.003 %, Geothermal 0.3%, Biomass &others 1.30%. (1Twhrs is = 1,000,000,000 kwhrs)(Ref: Wikipedia). The above statistics gives us an idea on how much water is being used by power generating plants in the world. Availability of fresh water on planet earth, is only 2.5% (96. 5% oceans, 1.70% ground water, 1.7% glaciers and ice caps, and 0.001% in the air, as vapor and clouds).The world’s precious water source is used for power generation, while millions of people do not have water to drink. The cost of bottled drinking water is US$ 0.20 /lit, in countries like, India. This situation is simply unsustainable. The prime cause of this situation is lack of technology to produce clean power without using water. The power technology we use today is based on the principle of electromagnetism invented by Michael Faraday in the year 1839. That is why, renewable energy is becoming critically important at this juncture when the world is at the cross road. Many countries are now opting for seawater desalination to meet their water demand. Desalination again is an energy intensive process. For example, 3-4 kwhrs of power is used to desalinate 1 m3 of water. This power now comes from fossil fuel fired thermal power plants, which are often co-located with desalination plants, so that all the discharge from both the plants can be easily pumped into the sea. Since the world is running out of fresh water, we have to look for attentive source of water. In countries like India, the ground water is being exploited for agricultural purpose and power generation and the ground water is getting depleted. Depleting water resources is a threat to agriculture production especially when countries depend only on monsoon rains. Unabated emission of greenhouse from fossil fuel power plants and transportation causes globe to warm. Draught and water scarcity threatens food security. It is a vicious circle. Recent delay in onset of monsoon rains in India have caused grave concern for Government and the people of India. Shortage of power and water has compounded the problem for farmers and suicide rate among the farmers is increasing at alarming rate in India. “Globally, this seems to be one of the worst summers in recorded history. The global average temperature for May was the second hottest ever since 1880 - the year records were first compiled - US National Climatic Data Centre (NCDC) has said. Only 2010 witnessed a worse May. The NCDC said such a hot May was never recorded in the northern hemisphere. No scientist will pin it on human-induced climate change - it is scientifically untenable to do so - but many affirm that these extreme weather phenomena is along predicted lines of rise in global temperatures For India, the looming possibility of El Nino dulling the monsoon rains in July-August only means things could get worse. There is half a chance that the El Nino phenomenon will pick up intensity and hit the tail of the monsoon. Thirteen of the 20 times El Nino has been recorded, it has dimmed the intensity of the monsoon, causing widespread drought. Already, the northwest region of India has suffered a rainfall deficit worse than the rest of India. But the misery of rising heat is being felt worldwide with "normal weather" systems in disarray. If large areas of the western Himalayas in Uttarakhand have suffered raging forest fires, so has the US - more than 8 lakh hectares have been engulfed in flames. The March-May period for the US has been the hottest ever. Brazil is in the midst of its worst drought in five decades with more than 1,000 towns suffering. Heavy downpours and unheard of hail has hit China and flash floods have ravaged crops in Ethiopia. The Eurasian snow cover extent has been recorded at its smallest ever for the month of May since such records were maintained for the first time in 1967. The cover was 2.67 million sqkm below average in May,theUSNCDCsaid. The southern hemisphere, where winters prevail at the moment, too has been recording extremes like never before. The Australian winter has been exceptionally cold, with the fifth coolest winter minimum temperature in over half a century of record keeping. The Antarctic sea ice extent has gone above the 1979-2000 average. In contrast, the Arctic sea ice recorded a much smaller than average extent for the same period”. (Ref: The Economic Times). The global warming has caused many natural disasters such as recent bush fires in Colorado springs in US destroying more than 300,000 houses and heavy storms in Washington causing power black outs for days together in sweltering heat. No country is immune to global warming and sea level rising. How the consequences of global warming will manifest in different forms affecting human beings and other lives is yet to be seen in years to come. That is why distributed energy systems using Hydrogen as an alternative fuel is an important step towards sustainability. One can generate Hydrogen from water, using renewable energy source like solar or wind, and store them for future usage. The stored Hydrogen can be used to generate power, as and when required, at any remote location, even where there is no grid power. The water is regenerated during this process of power generation using Fuel cell which can be recycled. There is no large consumption of water and there is no greenhouse emission. It is a clean and sustainable solution. The same stored Hydrogen can also be used to fuel their cars in the near future!

Solar Hydrogen for a cleaner future

With recent announcement of the prestigious award to NREL (National renewable energy laboratory, USA) for developing SJ3 solar cells along with their industrial partner Solar Junction, there is a new hope and expectation that PV solar will become a major source of clean energy of the future.Togather with Hydrogen as an energy carrier, the PV solar hydrogen will certainly be a game changer. With increasing efficiency of solar panel from 17.24% up to 50%, and generating high pressure hydrogen using improved solid polymer electrolyzer, the sun and water will become the future source of clean energy replacing our decade long dependency on fossil fuel. There is also a distinct possibility of converting water into hydrogen by direct sunlight using photo-electrolysis as explained in my previous article, “Can we duplicate Nature’s photosynthesis for Hydrogen production?”’ dated April 2,2012. SJ3 solar cell uses tunable band gaps, lattice matched architecture with ultra-concentration tunnel junction to achieve the highest conversion efficiency of 43.5% with a possibility to reach an efficiency of 50%.This conversion efficiency is the percentage amount of solar energy converted directly into electrical energy. Such a high efficiency is due to the lens focusing the sunlight with 418 times intensity of the sun. There is no additional cost involved except the bottom Germanium layer of three junctions with Gallium and a dash of dilute nitride alloy. This small change boosts the bottom band-gap from 0.67 eV (electron volts) to 1.0 eV.The three layered SJ3 cell captures various frequencies of sunlight at various times and conditions achieving the best efficiency of converting photons to electrons. High pressure PEM Hydrogen generators producing 99.99% purity Hydrogen at elevated pressures are already under development. With carbon fiber storage tanks up to 10,000 psi pressure ratings, Fuel cell cars will become commercial reality overtaking Lithium battery powered electrical vehicles.PV solar Hydrogen will significantly alter the transportation and stationary power generation industries in the future simply because hydrogen has the highest heat value and it is absolutely clean. Age old centralized power plants using fossil fuels with highest carbon emission and water consumption has created serious environmental problems all over the world. Coastal power plants discharge huge amount of ‘once through’ cooling water into the sea at higher temperature and at higher salinity.Tranasport industries using fossil fuels emit high greenhouse gases due to age old, inefficient combustion engines causing global warming. Low humidity, high surface temperatures, dry conditions and lightning are perfect combination of conditions for bush fires similar to the one witnessed in Colorado mountain ranges. It is a right time to adopt distributed energy systems so that individual houses and business can generate their own power using PV solar and wind Hydrogen with no transmission grids and grid failures. It is time to replace fossil fuel with sun’s light and pure water so that we can hope for a cleaner future. We have all the necessary technologies and we need a will and concerted effort to make these changes.

Ocean acidifiction- a threat to food security

The unabated emission of Carbon dioxide by burning fossil fuels by human beings is altering the chemistry of our oceans at an unprecedented rate in the last 65 million years. When excess Carbon dioxide is absorbed by seawater it forms Carbonic acid, which is weak and unstable and increase the Hydrogen ion concentration in seawater. It decreases the pH value. The seawater is alkaline and the mean ocean surface pH was measured at 8.2 in 1750.This acidity has increased by 30% in recent times due to absorption of vast amount of man-made carbon dioxide since pre-industrial time. The amount estimated are about 500 Giga tones or 25% emitted into the atmosphere. According to UN report: “If we continue at this rate the ocean pH will decline by a further 0.3 by the end of this century, an unprecedented 150% increase in ocean acidity. This rate of change has not been experienced for around 65 million years, since the dinosaurs became extinct. Such a major change in basic ocean chemistry is likely to have substantial implications for ocean life in the future, especially organisms that require calcium carbonate to build shells or skeletons. Not all organisms will react at the same rate or in the same way to decreasing carbonate ion concentration. There are three naturally occurring forms of calcium carbonate used by marine organisms to build shells, plates or skeletons: calcite, aragonite and high magnesium calcite. For example, microscopic plants called coccolithophores surround themselves with protective calcite plates; aragonite is used by periods to build their shells and corals use it to make their skeletons that help to form reefs; while some echinoderms – starfish, sea urchins, brittle stars - utilize magnesium calcite to form their exoskeletons. Magnesium calcite is more soluble and sensitive to ocean acidification than aragonite; with calcite being the least soluble of the three. A lowering of pH and reduction of carbonate ions will make it more difficult for organisms to sustain their calcified shells, and in under saturated conditions, waters become corrosive to these minerals. Additionally, most multicellular marine organisms have evolved a regulatory system to maintain the hydrogen ion balance of their internal fluids14 and spend energy doing this so an increase in hydrogen ions in seawater means that they will have to divert more energy away from important processes such as growth and reproduction to do this. However, studies of mussels, crab and sea urchin species have shown they have only a partial or no, compensation mechanism15 potentially making them more vulnerable than those organisms that possess a compensation mechanism”.(Ref:UNEO) The contribution of marine food in the form of Protein to food security is substantial. Fish supplies about 15% of animal protein for about 3 billion people worldwide. Further one billion people depend on fisheries for their primary source of Protein. Steadily increasing population is pushing the demand for protein even further, while the fish stock is dwindling in many parts of the world due to over fishing and environmental degradation. “Productivity ‘hotspots’ such as upwelling regions where cold water is rich in both nutrients and CO2, coastal seas, fronts, estuaries and sub-polar regions often supply the main protein source for coastal communities. However, many of these areas are also projected to be very vulnerable to ocean acidification this century.” (Source: UNEP) Global warming has a much wider ramification than originally thought. It is not just warming the globe but threatens the food security and our own survival as human beings.

Green Chemistry and Clean technologies

Chemistry has revolutionized human life and it has affected each and every one of us in some way or other for the past several decades. We were happily using these chemicals in our everyday life without really understanding their side effects.Individuls and companies who invented and commercialized chemical products were keen to offer end products to consumers often without explaining the side effects of such chemicals.They themselves were not fully aware of long term consequences of such chemicals. Classical examples are Chlorine and its derivatives. Chlorine is a common chemical that is used even today in many countries to disinfect drinking water in water treatment plants. Their usage is sill continued though they found that Haloalkanes, which are formed by the action of Chlorine on decayed organic leaves in water storage, causes cancer (carcinogenic). DDT is another chemical that was used widely as a pesticide, known as “atom bomb of pesticides”, until their side effects proved deadly for human beings and to the environment. It was officially banned in USA in 1972 by EPA, though it is still continued in some third world countries. Bleaching powder in another example of powder disinfectant ( a popular form of disinfectant used on roads in India when prominent political leaders visit municipalities; though they are only chalk powder with no traces of residual Chlorine). A whole range of dyes known as coal tar dyes derived from coal were used in many applications including ‘food colors’, later substituted by petroleum based organic chemicals. These ‘food colors’ are now substituted with ‘natural organic colors’ such as vegetable colors derived from vegetables and fruits. Industrial chemicals, both organic and inorganic have caused serious environmental damages all over the world for several decades, but Governments, companies and EPA did not realize the deadly consequences of some these chemicals for a long time. The ‘Bhopal Gas tragedy’ in India is one such grim reminder of such consequences. Chemicals are not natural products even though one can separate them into various organic chemical molecules but some of the consequences of such separation and usage are not fully understood. Many natural herbs have outstanding medicinal values and when consumed in a Natural form, it has absolutely no side effects and they show tremendous therapeutic values. But when you isolate certain molecules from such herbs (Alkaloids) and used as a drug, they can cure a disease but at the same time, they create many side effects. Nature offers such drugs in a diluted form that is quite compatible to human beings. One such example is ‘Vinblastine’ and “Vincristine’, anti-cancer drugs derived from a herb called ‘vinca rosea’. Of late there is awareness among companies, people and Governments about Green technologies that can help protect the environment. Greenhouse gas and global warming is one such issue. When Petrol or Diesel, an organic chemical known as Hydrocarbon is burnt, it not only generates power but also emits greenhouse gases such as Carbon dioxide and oxides of Nitrogen, that cause globe to warm. We were happily burning away such fossil fuels until scientists raised an issue on emission of ‘greenhouse gases’ in recent past. When we deal with chemicals and chemical reactions, the molecule is transformed into a new molecule and often such reaction cannot be reversed.It is not a physical change but a chemical change. When we convert water into steam, we can get back water by condensing steam; but when you convert Chlorine into PVC (Poly vinyl chloride) plastic, there are environmental consequences and reversing PVC into Chlorine gas in not easy, though it is technically possible with environmental consequences. One has to observe and learn from Nature what is good and what is bad when developing a new technology, because such development will not only affect the environment but also many generations to come. When Nature teaches how to turn sugar into Alcohol by fermentation using air borne microorganisms, we should follow Nature to make alcohol. We know how to turn Alcohol into PVC, but we do not know how to make biodegradable PVC from Alcohol. Companies call it ‘Green Chemistry’, but not until we can make a biodegradable PVC. Human knowledge is imperfect and we can only learn ‘Green chemistry and Clean Technologies’ from Nature and not by deviating from the path of Nature.

Cheap Hydrogen to combat global warming?

Hydrogen is well-known as a potential source of clean energy of the future. But it is not available in a free form; its generation from water using Electrolysis requires more energy than, a free Hydrogen can generate. It requires about 5kws power to generate 1 m3 Hydrogen gas, which means, it requires about 56 Kw power to generate 1 Kg Hydrogen using water electrolysis. But 1Kg Hydrogen can generate only about 15-20 Kw Electricity using a Fuel cell. This anomalous situation makes Hydrogen generation using water electrolysis uneconomical for the purpose of clean power generation. That is why most of the Hydrogen is currently generated by steam reforming natural gas. Another reason for using natural gas is, to reduce the cost of Hydrogen and also, to achieve a smooth transition from fossil economy to Hydrogen economy using existing infrastructures. Power generation and transportation using Hydrogen and Fuel cell has been commercially tested, proven and ready for deployment. However, we still have to deal with emission of greenhouse gas during steam reformation of natural gas due to the presence of carbon atom in natural gas. Meanwhile, one American company recently announced a break-through technology that will generate free thermal energy from atomic Hydrogen using a patented process. The inventor of the process claims, when atomic Hydrogen is allowed to react with a specific Catalyst, Hydrogen atom undergoes a transition to a new atom called “Hydrino”, releasing energy while the electron in the atom shifts to a lower orbit close to proton. It was believed so far that the electron in Hydrogen atom is at its lowest level (ground level) and the closest to proton. This is the first time somebody claims that there is a lower state than the ground state in Hydrogen atom and the amount of energy released in this transition to ‘Hydrino”, is in between by an uncatalyzed Hydrogen atom by combustion and nuclear energy. Unlike nuclear energy, this energy is non-radioactive. But the energy released by this process is more than 200 times than energy released by Hydrogen atom by normal combustion. The reaction does not create any pollution or radio-active materials as by-products. The process has been tested, verified and certified by scientists in few laboratories and universities. The above process offers great hope to generate a clean, non-polluting energy at the lowest cost. The ‘dihydrino and Hydrogen is separated and Hydrogen is recycled back to continue the process while’dihydrino’ has other potential commercial applications. The inventor has named this power as “Black power” as he hypotheses that such phenomena explain the presence of “dark matter” in Galaxies. According to quantum mechanics, the energy level of a normal Hydrogen atom is at its ground level as its minimum level (N=1), but its energy level increases at higher states such as N=2, 3, 4.When the energy level jumps from higher (excited state) to a lower level, it emits energy in the form of photon of light (Quanta).The spectrum of such emission matches the ultraviolet light of the sun. Since sub-quantum atoms are non-radioactive, the inventor claims that he is duplicating the above process of Nature by a catalytic thermal process in the state of Plasma using a specific Catalyst. If such a large thermal energy is released by formation of ‘Hydrino’atom in the above process, then such energy can be used to generate Hydrogen by conventional water electrolysis at a fraction of the cost. Then, Hydrogen economy can become a commercial reality and the above technology has a potential not only to generate power at fraction of a cost of the fossil fuel but also to generate a clean and non-polluting power. The inventor has also hypothesised a "grand new unified theory” of atom as the basis for the above invention. Mainstream scientists have always have been reluctant to support such “free energy” theories but, when someone can demonstrate the process of generating an excess energy (more than 200 times than the theoretical energy released by an exothermic chemical reaction) and it is non-radioactive then mainstream scientists may be sidelined by world community. It is always possible to demonstrate something unique without any theory and come out later with a theoretical explanation to satisfy the scientific community. Many discoveries in the past were by mere accidents and one should have an open mind to look into any new concepts without any bias, especially if the discovery can resolve serious problems of humanity at times of crisis.

Global warming - a race against time

Governments and industries seek comfort from the fact that Global Warming is not directly linked with greenhouse gas emissions and there is no concrete scientific proof yet linking these two, and think they can carry on the business as usual. Few scientists in the scientific communities also have backed such sentiments. Alternative technologies such as renewable energy technologies are expensive and cannot compete with fossil fuel based power plants in near terms. Advanced renewable technologies require rare earth materials such as Lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, cobalt and lithium that are used in electric vehicle batteries; Neodymium, praseodymium and dysprosium that are used in magnets for electric vehicles and wind turbines. Lanthanum, cerium, europium, terbium and yttrium that are used in Phosphors for energy-efficient lighting; Indium, gallium and tellurium that are used in solar cells. The supply of these materials are limited or confined to few countries such as China. These new material also require additional energy to mine, process and extract such rare earth materials using only fossil fuel generated power. Transport vehicles such as Hybrid or Electrical cars require substantial amount of rare earth material such as Lithium for Battery production. The cost of Lithium batteries according to Centre for Transportation, Argonne National Laboratory is: High energy 35 kwh battery costs $706/kwh or $ 24,723. High Power battery 100 10A-h cell costs $2,486. The cost and maintenance of such vehicles are expensive compared to gasoline cars. The looming financial crisis, unemployment and political instability in many parts of the world have overshadowed the problem of greenhouse house and global warming. Governments in power are trying to postpone the issue of global warming as long as possible because they are unpopular among their public, who are increasingly wary of high energy cost and their household budgets. Industrialized countries such as US, China, India and Australia have projected their production and utilization of their coal, oil and gas usage in the future, which are steadily on the rise. Australia’s mining and resources industries are booming with increasing production of Coal, Coal seam Methane gas, LNG, Iron ore, Copper, Nickel and Gold. Increasing demand by growing economies such as India and China have propelled the production of coal and LNG and other minerals in Australia. The booming mining and shipping industries of Australia have prompted UNESCO to warn Australia about the impending danger of ‘Great Barrier reef’ being destroyed by its busy shipping activities. The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef ecosystem. The only living organic collective visible from space, it is considered one of the seven natural wonders of the world, and is a World Heritage listed area. It boosts the Queensland’s image of sun, swimming and tropical islands, and around 2 million people visit the reef every year, generating more than $2 billion in direct tourism revenue in the area. The mining boom brings revenue but it also brings natural disasters and destruction of its natural wonders. The net effect will be destruction of Nature and displacement of people at the cost of mining revenue. But how long such a boom will last, and if the economies of China and India starts slowing down then, what happens to all the investments and the damage caused? The above developments paint a grim picture on global warming. The world has witnessed natural disasters causing huge human and financial losses. The natural disasters have costed an economic loss of nearly 13 to 30 billion dollars in the past two years in Australia alone. Yet, people and Governments want a ‘concrete proof’ that man made greenhouse gases cause global warming and trigger natural disasters. Well, we can carry on such conversation indefinitely till we reach a point of no return. “Wisdom comes from experience; but experience comes from foolishness”.

Power generation with Ammonia

Majority of current power generation technologies are based on thermodynamic principles of heat and work. Heat is generated by chemical reactions such as combustion of coal, oil or gas with air or pure oxygen. This heat of combustion is then converted into work by a reciprocating engine or steam turbine or gas turbine. The mechanical energy is converted into electrical energy in power generation and as a motive force in transportation. The fundamental principles remain the same irrespective of the efficiencies and sophistications we incorporated as we progressed. The efficiency of these systems hardly exceeds 30-40 of the heat input, while the remaining 60-70 heat is wasted. We were also able to utilize this waste heat and improved the efficiency of the system by way of CHP (combined heat and power) up to 80-85%.But this is possible only in situations where one can utilize both power and heat simultaneously. In a centralized power plant such large heat simply dissipated as a waste heat through cooling towers and in the flue gas. This is a huge loss of heat because a substantial portion of heat of combustion is simply vented into the atmosphere in the form of greenhouse gases. If ‘greenhouse gas’ and ‘Global warming’ were not issues of concern to the world, probably we would have continued our business as usual. Generation of heat by combustion of hydrocarbon is one example of a chemical reaction. In many chemical reactions, heat is either released or absorbed depending upon the type of reaction, whether it is exothermic or endothermic. Sometimes these chemical reactions are reversible. It may release heat while the reaction moves forward and it may absorb heat while it moves backward in the reverse direction. By selecting such reaction one can make use of such energy transformations to our advantages. One need not release the heat and then release the product of reaction into the air like burning fossil fuels. Ammonia is one such reaction. When Hydrogen and Nitrogen is reacted in presence of a catalyst under high temperature and pressure the reaction goes forward releasing a large amount of energy as practiced in industries using Heber’s process. The heat released by this reaction can be converted into steam and we can generate power using steam cycle. The resulting Ammonia can further be heated in presence of a catalyst by external heat due to endothermic nature of the reaction and split into Hydrogen and Nitrogen. However, such heat can be supplied only from external sources. One University in Australia is trying use the above principle by using solar thermal energy as a source of external heat. The advantage of this system is power can be generated without burning any fossil fuel or emitting any greenhouse gas. One can use renewable energy sources such as solar thermal and also use Ammonia as a storage medium. Ammonia is a potential source of energy to substitute fossil fuels. However, such Ammonia is currently synthesized using Hydrocarbon such as oil and gas. The source of Hydrogen is from synthesis gas resulting from steam reformation of a Hydrocarbon. Hydrogen can also be derived from water using electrolysis using renewable energy source. In both the above cases, renewable energy is the key, without which no Hydrogen can be produced without a Hydrocarbon or an external heat is supplied for splitting Ammonia. Ammonia can also be split into Hydrogen and Nitrogen using external heat. The resulting Hydrogen can be used to generate power using a Fuel cell or run a Fuel cell car. Nitrogen also has many industrial applications.Thereoefore Ammonia is a potential chemical that can substitute fossil fuels in the new emerging renewable economy.

Changing Chemistry of air,water and earth- recipe for disaster

Those who studied chemistry and conducted laboratory experiments in universities will be familiar with precautionary measures we take to avoid accidents. Aprons, gloves, goggles and fume cub-boards with exhaust fans are some few examples of protective measures from flames, hot plates and fumes. The blue color of the flame represented the degree of hotness of the flame from Bunsen burner; the pungent smell pointed to the ‘Gas plant’ that generated ‘water gas’ for Bunsen burners. The familiar smells of chemicals would bring ‘nostalgic memories’ of collage days. Each bottle of chemical would display a sign of warning ‘Danger or Poison’. We could recognize and identify even traces of gases or fumes or chemicals immediately. Those memories embedded deeply in our memories and I vividly remembered even after few decades I left university. I could smell traces of Chlorine in the air at a distance of 20 miles from a Chloroalkali plant in seventies, when air pollution controls were not stringent. People who lived around the factory probably were used to live with that smell for generations. Many families had not breathed fresh air in their life time, because they have not breathed air without traces of chlorine.They lived all their lives in the same place because agriculture was their profession. Many people developed breathing problems during their old ages and died of asthma and tuberclosis.The impact of these fumes cannot be felt in months and years but certainly can be felt after decades especially at old ages, when the body’s immune system deteriorates. Bhopal gas accident in India is a grim reminder of such tragedy of chemical accidents and how they can contaminate air, water and earth and degrade human lives. Bur have we learnt any lessons from those accidents? During experimental thermonuclear explosion in the desert of Australia by then British army, people were directly exposed to nuclear radiation. Many of those who witnessed this explosion developed some form of cancer or other later in their life .They were treated as heroes then. After several decades of this incident, many exposed to this experiment are now demanding compensation from current British government. But have we learnt any lessons from those incidents? Many politicians still advocate ‘Nuclear energy as a safe and clean energy’. Yes, until we meet with an another accident! We human beings identified the presence of chemicals in Nature and used them for our scientific developments. We identified fossil fuels as ‘Hydrocarbons’ and burn them to generate power and to run our cars. We emit toxic gases and fumes every second of our lives, whenever we switch our lights on or start our cars.Imagine the amount of gases and fumes we emit everyday all over the world by billions of people for several decades. It is a simple common sense that we are responsible for these emissions and we contaminate the air we breathe. Nature does not burn Hydrocarbons everyday or every month or every year. In fact Nature buried these Hydrocarbons deep down the earth like we bury our dead. Can people who breathed Chlorine for decades and died of asthma or tuberculosis establish that they died due constant inhalation of Chlorine emitted by the Chloroalkali plant? The Court and Authorities will demand ‘hard evidence’ to prove that Chlorine emitted by Chloroalkli plants caused these diseases. We use science when it suits us and we become skeptics when it does not suit us. They know it is almost impossible to prove such cases in our legal system and they can get away scot-free. The same argument applies to our ‘Greenhouse gas emission’ and ‘Global warming’. We contaminate our air, water and earth with our population explosion, industrialization and our life styles. Yet, major industrialized countries are not willing to cut their emissions but want to carry on their ‘economic growth’. But these countries got it completely wrong. In chemical experiments, one can draw conclusions by ‘observations’ and ‘Inference’. Inference is a scientific tool and not a guess work. From overwhelming evidences of natural disasters occurring around the world one can ‘infer’ that human activities cause these disasters. Nature is now showing this by devastating ‘the business and economic’ interest of nations because that is the only way Governments can learn lessons. They don’t need ‘harder evidence’ than monetary losses. According to recent reports: “The monetary losses from 2011’s natural catastrophes reached a record $380 billion, surpassing the previous record of $220 billion set in 2005. The year’s three costliest natural catastrophes were the March earthquake and tsunami in Japan (costing $210 billion), the August-November floods in Thailand ($40 billion), and the February earthquake in New Zealand ($16 billion). The report notes that Asia experienced 70 percent, or $265 billion, of the total monetary losses from natural disasters around the world—up from an average share of 38 percent between 1980 and 2010. This can be attributed to the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, as well as the devastating floods in Thailand: Thailand’s summer monsoons, probably influenced by a very intensive La Niña situation, created the costliest flooding to date, with $40 billion in losses.”

Water shortage drives global warming

A safe and clean water is becoming a scarce commodity in many parts of the world. With growing population and rapid industrialization, the demand for water has increased dramatically. This in turns pushes the demand for energy and fossil fuels resulting in further increase in global warming. According to WHO (World Health organization) specifications, a clean and safe water should be free from pathogenic organism such as bacteria and virus, and also the TDS (Total dissolved solids) levels should be below 500ppm (parts per million). Unfortunately such quality water is not readily available from surface or ground water. The water stored in catchment area for supply of drinking water to cities requires certain chemical and biological treatments before it can meet WHO specification. In many smaller cities especially in developing countries such treated drinking water is not available. NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Satellite or GRACE orbiting earth in tandem, two satellites are able to measure the water storage on ground and below across the world. The NASA data shows that most of area in Northern India will be facing a severe shortage of water in the near future because farmers are pumping ground water at an alarming rate. The ground water is getting depleted faster than it is being replenished. The water table has gone deeper and deeper and many of the pumps they used five to ten years ago cannot pump water anymore because the water levels have gone so deep. States like Punjab, supposed to be ‘wheat bowl of India’ are facing water shortage. Farmers who have used 100 feet bore well are now digging their bore well up to 900 feet. To make the situation worse, a large number of coal fired power plants are licensed to meet the increasing power demand in India. Both quantity and quality of water has a direct impact on energy demand and global warming. The rainwater which replenished the ground aquifers are unable to match the water sucked by these pumps. About 114 million people living in Rajasthan, Punjab, and Harynaya including the capital city of Delhi are facing water shortage. The likely alternative for these states is to desalinate the seawater from the west coast of India and pump them all the way to Delhi, which is thousands of kilometers from the coast. The increasing economic growth of India has increased the demand for power, often based on coal. Power industry is one of the largest users of water. Plants located on coastal are able to use seawater for their ‘once through’ cooling system and for boilers. But the plants located inland have to use only surface water like rivers. They cannot use ‘once through’ system, but use a closed circuit cooling systems where they have to store large pool of hard water. It is a vicious cycle. Water shortage increase the demand for power and power shortage increases the demand for water. Desalination is the only alternative but it is a very energy intensive and a costly solution. Changing climate, global warming, deforestation, and water shortage are ominous signs of Nature’s fury against human greediness. When countries like Australia set up their largest desalination facilities, the country experiences the heaviest rains in decades with flash flooding in many parts, making politicians wonder whether their water management decisions are right. Unfortunately Science cannot solve our greediness only human beings can learn lessons from Nature and take right decisions.

Carbon-free air is a Human right issue

Environment Pollution Authority EPA of US Government regulated the gas emission standards for power plants for oxides of Nitrogen and Sulfur in the past but not for GreenHouseGas (GHG) emissions into the atmosphere. However, when President Obama took over power, EPA passed ‘Clean Air Act’ to regulate the emission standards of all gases including GHG for new stationary power plants. This act projected to prevent over 230,000 early deaths in US alone by 2020 due to Carbon dioxide. According to this act, 1. Starting in January 2011, large industrial facilities that must already obtain Clean Air Act permits for non-GHGs must also include GHG requirements in these permits if these increase are newly constructed and have the potential to emit 75,000 tons per year of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) or more or modify and increase GHG emissions by that amount. 2. Starting in July 2011, in addition to facilities described above, all new facilities emitting GHGs in excess of 100,000 tons of per year CO2e and facilities making changes that would increase GHG emissions by at least 75,000 tpy CO2e, and that also exceed 100/250 tons per year of GHGs on a mass basis, will be required to obtain construction permits that address GHG emissions (regardless of whether they emit enough non-GHG pollutants to require a permit for those emissions.) 3. Operating permits will be needed by all sources that emit at least 100,000 tons of GHG per year on a CO2e basis beginning in July 2011. 4. Sources less than 50,000 tons of GHGs per year on a CO2e basis will not be required to obtain permits for GHGs before 2016. (Sources: clean technica) According to Stanford scientist Mark Jacobson, there is a definite link between the Carbon dioxide and increasing deaths. While the argument continues between believers of global warming and skeptics, it clear that Carbon pollution kills people without any discrimination. Any gaseous emission into the atmosphere will eventually spread across the borders of each country and becomes a global issue. EPA in each country in the world should pass similar legislation to curb GHG emissions, at least to protect their people if not to curtail global warming. What is most surprising is some scientists still want more ‘scientific data’ to accept whether GHG causes global warming or not. One need not be a rocket scientist to conclude that chemical pollution is slowly poisoning the air, water and earth. Hundreds of chemicals that we used in the past were abandoned due to their harmful effects. For example, Asbestos,DDT,Chlorine for disinfecting drinking water, coal tar dyes, Nicotine, Refrigerants like Fluorocarbons etc to name a few. We can choose to ignore the warnings of Nature and carry on the business as usual in the name of science. But we cannot ignore people claiming their legitimate rights to live and breathe a quality air to lead a normal life. It is a human right issue. It is not an issue that can be debated only by scientific community and decided. WHO should classify ‘Quality air’ as a fundamental human right with great urgency. Governments around the world can pass ‘Clean air act’ similar to US. They may not levy carbon tax or offer new incentives to promote green energy, but regulate the indiscriminate emissions of GHG into the atmosphere, which passively kills millions of people around the world. This is nothing but ‘weapons of mass destruction’ in a passive way, but on a grander scale. When ‘passive smoking’ is a crime Carbon emission too is a crime. It is the duty of industries to incorporate carbon pollution prevention measures by scientific innovations.

Carbon capture or Carbon recycle?

We live in a carbon constrained world where carbon emission is considered as the biggest challenge of the twenty first century. We unearthed fossil fuel which Nature buried for millions of years and burnt them for our advantage to generate power and to run our cars. Scientists pointed out that the unabated emission of greenhouse will cause the globe to warm with dire consequences.This came as an ‘inconvenient truth’ to industries and Governments around the world. However, economic consequences of stopping fossil fuels outweiged the impact of global warming. Governments were in a precarious situation and were unable to take a concrete policy decision. Popular Governments were not willing to risk their power by taking ethical decisions and opted for popular decision to maintain their growth. Then the financial crisis became an issue, which has nothing to do with greenhouse emission or global warming. Yet, the economic and industrial growth stumbled in many developed countries and unemployment skyrocketed. Governments are caught in a situation where they need to take a balanced view between an ethical decision and economic decisison.The overwhelming evidence of global warming and their consequences are slowly felt by countries around the world by natural disasters of various sizes and intensities. Some scientists suggested that there was nothing wrong using fossil fuels; we could continue with greenhouse emission without risking the economic growth by capturing the carbon and burying them underground. Carbon sequestration and clean coal technologies became popular and more funds were allocated to them than renewable energy development.Countires like India and China were not in a hurry to discontinue fossil fuels but continued to make massive investments on coal fired power plants. They neither try to capture carbon nor bury them, but continue to emit carbon claiming that it is their turn of economic growth and right to emit carbon emission. The chief of UN panel on climate change headed by an Indian has no say in the matter.Politicians push scientists into the background whenever the truth is inconvenient to them. How feasible in the carbon sequestration technology and what is the cost? Even if we can come up with a successful technology of capturing carbon and burying them underground, there will be a cost involved. This cost will invariably be passed on to the consumer which will eventually increase the cost of energy. Constraining carbon emission without incurring a cost can only be a dream. Capturing carbon emission is nothing new; Carbon dioxide is absorbed by solvents like MEA (Monoethanolamine) in many chemical industries. The absorbed carbon dioxide can be stripped free of solvent and the solvent can be recycled. This carbon dioxide can be treated with Ammonia to get Urea, a Fertilizer. But the source of Hydrogen can come only from renewable energy sources. That is why ‘Renewable Hydrogen ‘is the key to solve global warming problem. We can produce Urea from “captured Carbon” and ‘Renewable Hydrogen’ so that we can reduce a substantial quantity of greenhouse emission. Carbon recycling is a sustainable solution than Carbon capturing and burying. Countries like India who depend upon import of Urea for their agriculture production should immediately make Carbon recycling into Urea production mandatory. It is a win situation for everybody in the world.

Can we duplicate Nature’s photosynthesis for Hydrogen production?

One of the wonders of Mother Nature is her ability to sustain life on earth with sun light, water and Carbon dioxide from the atmosphere producing food. No toxic chemicals, no polluting gas emissions and no noise. We can only admire the majesty and power of Nature with our fragile knowledge of science and try to duplicate Nature in order to satisfy our growing energy needs. Nature produces Carbohydrates C6H12O6 using sun’s light, Carbon dioxide from atmosphere and water by a chemical reaction as shown below: 6H2O + 6 CO2 ----------- C6H12O6 + 6O2 The same Carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is now threatening the globe with warming. Can’t we grow more trees so that all the carbon dioxide emissions from our power plants and cars can be converted into more carbohydrates? It sounds very simple and logical but is it feasible? The carbon dioxide in the atmosphere before industrialization was about 280ppm but it has now increased to 392ppm which is almost double. It has grown roughly 2.2% exponentially in the last decade. It is the highest in the past 800 years and likely higher than in the past 20 million years. (Ref: Wikipeadia). Couple of things happened during this period. The industrial and population growth increased rapidly building up carbon dioxide level in the atmosphere and at the same time displacing tropical and rain forests with people and industries; it resulted in the buildup of greenhouse gases to a level, which scientists say are unsustainable. We don’t have enough forest to absorb so much of carbon dioxide. Alternatively, scientists are now trying to interfere with Nature’s photosynthesis process using micro algae called chlamydomonas reinhardtii that will support the production of Hydrogen instead of Oxygen in a normal photosynthesis reaction. This was based on the discovery that if an algae growing culture medium is deprived of Sulfur; it will generate Hydrogen instead of Oxygen. They also found out that such an algae can thrive in a Carbon source such as Carbon dioxide or even in Acetic acid medium. They tested the process using a pilot Photo bioreactor and concluded that the cost of producing Hydrogen by this route will be about $ 42/kg.The cost is high compared to the target cost of Hydrogen by DEO (Department of Energy,USA) at $2.80/kg which is fifteen times lower. However scientists are still working to reduce the cost. Meanwhile scientists are also working on Hydrogen production using Photoelectrolysis.The water electrolysis using Direct current is a known process but the cost of energy in this process is still high. The high cost is due to several stages involved. In the first stage, one has to generate power using PV cells. In the second stage the PV generated electricity will be used to split water electrolyticlly.But scientists are now trying to substitute both the above steps with a single step of utilizing direct sun light to split water into Hydrogen and Oxygen.Thie requires a catalyst known as Photocatalyst which will use light energy instead of electrical energy to split water into elements. Using TIO2 (Titanium dioxide coated electrode) and ultraviolet rays of the sun they believe that a 20m2 PV solar panel can generate about 5m3 of Hydrogen ad 2.5m3 of Oxygen in 24 hours, equival to a power generation capacity of 15kwhrs or roughly about 2.01 gallons of Gasoline from 4 liters of pure water. Scientist are now hoping that light energy, more precisely ultraviolet rays from the sun will come to the rescue of human beings in solving one of the greatest energy crisis in the history of mankind. At last we can hope to see some ‘light’ at the end of the tunnel.