A Zero-Emissions Airplane






The transition to hydrogen will require the decisive action of the entire aviation ecosystem.

– Guillaume Faury

Let us take for granted, at least for the duration of this column, that the problem of urban-land mobility and its relationship with the use of fossil fuels is solved with the adoption of massive electromobility solutions that use renewable sources and storage. But how do we solve the problem of air and maritime transport? It seems that the answer is found in hydrogen.

For that reason, on this occasion we will focus on the recently announced hydrogen airplane that is under development by Airbus, with the idea of being launched in 2030.

This is the industry’s response to other alternatives that are not so viable at this moment of technological development, such as electric and solar airplanes and airplanes that use liquefied natural gas. Regarding the first ones, the problem is found precisely in the batteries and does not have to do with storage capacity, but rather with the amount of power they can release.

A conventional passenger airplane, for example the Boeing 737, would require a battery that could store and release more energy per unit of mass than what is available at this moment, without considering that the cost is too high to be competitive.

On the other hand, natural gas would seem to be an option that combines low prices, considering that the shale gas revolution in the United States has produced the cheapest natural gas in the world with high availability and lower greenhouse gas emissions compared with jet fuel.

The problem with natural gas as a replacement fuel is that it has lower calorific power than kerosene; in order to be used, it would have to be liquefied natural gas, which requires investments and modifications to the existing infrastructure; furthermore, since its density will be lower, it would require doubling the weight of the fuel to maintain the same travel distance. In sum, development in that area has remained for small airplanes and local trips.

Considering this, the countries that are lined up in the development of the technologies that will define the future of energy see in hydrogen a possibility to transition toward airplanes with almost zero emissions and that could even be silent machines.

The concept is under development by Airbus and it is expected that it may be achieved by 2030, but the technology also has its challenges. The main one is discovering how to store liquid hydrogen during flight at very low temperatures and avoid the risks of the volatile fuel. However, in case of success, it would open a world of possibilities that could revolutionize the air transport industry and decrease the use of fossil sources.

As we pointed out some months ago, this may represent one of the most important applications within the hydrogen fever that motivates the most advanced research centers to take advantage of the opportunities to develop alternatives to continue with the advance of the energy transition even in the most difficult sectors such as aviation.

Ten years seem like a lot, but in scientific development and technological innovation it is a relatively short time that can charge us the bill as a country. With this panorama in mind, a public policy to promote science and technology for the energy sector was never more necessary. That would be a firm step toward true energy sovereignty sustained in the future and not in the old glories of the past.

This article was originally published by Business Insider México.
Date: October 7, 2020
Original Link: https://businessinsider.mx/avion-cero-emisiones-opinion-paul-sanchez-energia-circular/ [offline]
Archived Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20210515142831/https://businessinsider.mx/avion-cero-emisiones-opinion-paul-sanchez-energia-circular/ [Archived]

Light Pollution










Let us position ourselves for a few minutes in the future, at a point in time where all the electric energy that is generated comes from renewable sources and where robust storage systems accompany the energy transmission and distribution networks. In that scenario, fossil sources are only used marginally in very specific cases, but the industry pales in comparison with the first decades of the twenty-first century.

The energy of this future has two characteristics: it is cheap and abundant and each additional unit does not increase the cost and, by practically not generating emissions, campaigns on energy saving have almost disappeared. It would seem that the only challenge ahead is the process of final disposal of first-generation storage technologies and solar panels that increase every year.

In this ideal world: can there exist a negative effect of an oversupply of clean and cheap energy? In this space I have proposed that even renewable energies could have a harmful effect on the environment if their use is not properly managed. One sample of this is light pollution, a problem increasingly palpable in modern societies.

The increase of light as a visual medium to transmit information has been possible because of two things: the low relative costs of electricity and the increase in energy efficiency in lighting technology.

In recent years, perhaps the greatest advance in energy efficiency has been in lighting. This has represented great savings for industries and businesses and has allowed more illuminated homes with less energy consumed; and it is that today an LED produces with 12 Watts light equivalent to a bulb of old that consumed 100 Watts and wasted an important part of energy in heat. This has generated savings between 80% and 90% in terms of electric consumption for lighting.

In such a way that this has allowed LED screens to be used for advertising and appear everywhere, which can have different effects on people from damage to sight to provoking epilepsies; or else they are barriers to free driving, since a strong light can provoke a decrease in the visibility of the environment.

Given this trend, it is common today to see roads, rivers, buildings, antennas and streets adorned with LED lighting, a trend that is estimated to grow in the coming years. Consequently, in our futuristic scenario, societies are destined to become permanent Broadways or Times Squares —in New York— using lighting more and more for ornamental and advertising purposes, thanks mainly to the fact that energy costs would approach zero.

Without a doubt, the question could arise: Is this something really bad? Perhaps not, if light pollution is regulated adequately to mitigate the risk as much as possible.

However, I imagine that light pollution constitutes only the tip of the iceberg of a series of problems associated with a future of cheap renewable energies without emissions. If you have any idea about it, do not hesitate to share it with me to address it more thoroughly in this space.

This article was originally published by Business Insider México.
Date: September 23, 2020
Original Link: https://businessinsider.mx/contaminacion-luminica-energia-circular-opinion-paul-alejandro-sanchez/ [offline]
Archived Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20220818205334/https://businessinsider.mx/contaminacion-luminica-energia-circular-opinion-paul-alejandro-sanchez/ [Archived]

The Waste of the Future












With this installment we finish the trilogy of waste and refuse related to the energy sector and dominant technologies. Two weeks ago we entered into the public crisis generated by horse waste —urine, manure and corpses— in the great cities of the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century; and the previous week, we analyzed how the growth in the use of fossil fuels in the world has produced an increase in greenhouse gas emissions related to climate change.

The problem caused by horse waste was solved when the automobile became widespread and the use of fossil fuels increased as the main source of transportation in the world. In the near future, the use of fossil sources could be replaced by the generation and storage of renewables, but that could also bring with it the energy waste of the future.

When the moment arrives, the proliferation of solar panels and batteries will be of such magnitude that, just like the horse in its time or greenhouse gas emissions, their final disposal can be a public problem of great importance.

Tons of waste of the future

Those solar panels that have been installed in recent years and those that are about to be installed could add up, by 2040, to 770,000 tons. This figure will increase as the roofs of the world become covered with solar panels; something that could be relatively fast, considering that the most important cities in the world have already begun to develop policies so that new constructions take advantage of their roofs to generate electric energy.

On the other hand, reaching the energy potential that renewable energies can release requires the development of storage on a large and small scale; this is batteries in generation plants, but also in buildings, businesses, industrial parks and homes.

Although there are many technological developments in the research and maturation stage, today conventional storage is carried out through lithium batteries that contain nickel, cobalt, aluminum, manganese and other components; in such a way that the batteries for cars and the electric sector that have been developed until now, and those that continue in the near future, can represent close to 7.8 million tons per year by 2040.

Given that one of the main costs of an electric car is the battery and its replacement can mean more expense —in terms of leveled investment— than buying another car, it is highly probable that the waste will not only be the batteries but the entire frame of the automobile, in addition to the fact that other legacy waste is not eliminated, such as tires.

A solution for the waste of the future

To solve these problems of the near future, two elements are required working jointly and in synergy:

  1. Policies for the final disposal of this waste in the present that responsibly address withdrawal in the future. That is, the responsibility of the producer and consumer must be extended in the present, in order to have the means of recycling, disposal and reuse in the future.
  2. Innovation and development to increase the useful life of technology and transition toward better methods of generation and storage of energy and transportation.

Who knows, perhaps another energy transition, there in the distant future, will allow us to change from solar generation, conventional storage and electric cars to a system based on hydrogen as an energy vector, storage and transportation. There is still a long way to go, but without a doubt, the energy future of the world will be surprising.

This article was originally published by Business Insider México.
Date: August 26, 2020
Original Link: https://businessinsider.mx/opinion-la-basura-del-futuro-paul-sanchez-columna-energia-circular/ [offline]
Archived Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20220928192656/https://businessinsider.mx/opinion-la-basura-del-futuro-paul-sanchez-columna-energia-circular/ [Archived]