Ah, climate change—humanity’s favourite game of let’s ignore the obvious until it’s too late. Every year, the world’s most influential organizations gather to remind us, with increasing urgency, that we need to embrace cleaner energy. And every year, we nod along while fossil fuel consumption keeps rising. But amid the doom and gloom, there are glimmers of hope—technological innovations designed to keep our planet habitable (because let’s be honest, relocating to Mars isn’t looking great). From microgrids to cutting-edge renewables, here’s a look at the tech that might just save us from ourselves.
Organizations like Insight Distributed Energy, for example, have been working on customized solutions to make eco-energy viable for major industries.
Ocean Cleanup Tech
Ocean pollution is a particularly insidious problem in that for the most part, we never see it. That doesn’t mean it isn’t there, of course.
Plastic pollution is a major issue that everybody contributes to indirectly, and recently, ocean cleanup organizations have been employing autonomous drones and AI-powered collection devices to retrieve ocean trash with greater efficiency than ever before. These technologies circumvent the issue of having to use heavily polluting vehicles to do the job that would exacerbate the problem, and offer promising insight into the layered approach to tackling ecological issues.
Green Hydrogen Energy
Dozens of forms of energy have been proposed as ideal replacements for fossil fuels, but green hydrogen is gaining serious momentum as one of the most viable alternatives.
Green hydrogen is produced by splitting water molecules through the use of electrolysis; originally, hydrogen production methods necessitated the use of natural gas, but this strategy utilizes renewable electricity to get the job done instead. As a result, this form of energy has wide-reaching applications while negating the downsides.
Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)
Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is the process of capturing CO2 emissions (also known as greenhouse gas) from industry and then storing them underground safely. This way, the harmful emissions never get the opportunity to reach the atmosphere where they can contribute to global warming.
While completely cutting emissions would be ideal (and perhaps, one day, a possibility), currently, it is infeasible. CCS provides a clever solution as governments work towards net zero.
Wrapping Up
Above are just a few of the most exciting pieces of technology currently in use to progress towards a cleaner world on a large scale: there are many other methods on the individual scale that you could get involved with, such as using solar panels on your roof or making the switch to an electric car.
The race to net zero by 2050 involves many interlocking parts, both at the industrial and the individual level, and every small effort can add up to make a difference in the long term.
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