Climate Crisis, a Titanic Task






Atlas, in Greek mythology, was a titan who was condemned by Zeus to carry the sky. Many of us will remember him because of the image where he appears carrying the world on his shoulders, in his hands, on his shoulders or on his back. For good measure, those who have played lottery —the board game— will be able to see that the card of “The World” presents a modern Atlas holding the planet.

It is almost poetic to think of Atlas and the climate crisis. On the one hand, because preventing the deterioration of our environment has turned out to be a titanic task, a word that derives precisely from feats like that of Atlas. On the other hand, because taking care of the world is in our hands, our shoulders and our backs; ours and those of our descendants.

The task has been titanic and the road relatively long. Next year will mark 50 years since one of the first milestones in the international agenda regarding climate, the Stockholm Conference. Also, 25 years will be commemorated since another of the great milestones in the international agenda against climate change, the Kyoto Protocol.

The United Nations Organization has made the recount of the background that marks the establishment of global warming and climate change as a public problem in the international agenda starting from the Stockholm Conference in 1972. Therefore we could say that, in 1972, at least for some chroniclers, half a century of international efforts against climate change is marked.

A first positive result was the international commitment to eliminate chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) through the Montreal Protocol signed in 1987, a struggle that owes much to the laureate Mexican Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Mario Molina, may he rest in peace.

What are CFCs?

CFCs were gases that affected the ozone layer and were used in the refrigeration industry, aerosols and thermal insulators. It is considered a success because the speed at which they were replaced, both in industry and in consumption habits, was such that it was thought that with technological innovation and better consumption habits, major climate problems could be reduced.

In that scientific-climate euphoria, the following objective was set: to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that caused global warming. The struggle was framed in the Kyoto Protocol as the first international commitment of a global nature whose purpose was the reduction of at least 5% of greenhouse gas emissions taking 1990 as a baseline; this goal had to be achieved between 2008 and 2012.

The fight against greenhouse gas emissions proved to be titanic and the Kyoto Protocol did not produce the desired results. Some design problems that have been cited are:

  1. The greater difficulty of finding substitutes for fossil energy sources both for mobility and for electric energy generation.
  2. The speed of development of non-obligated countries such as China and India.
  3. The economic cost and loss of competitiveness of the obligated countries.

The years have shown us two things. The first is the size of the problem; the second, the importance of taking more forceful actions that involve all actors.

Of course, this implies a radical change in our consumption habits, a greater commitment to the energy transition and greater technological innovation. Perhaps, 25 years later, we are barely beginning to understand the titanic nature of the climate crisis.

This article was originally published by Business Insider México.
Date: June 1, 2021
Original Link: https://businessinsider.mx/crisis-climatica-opinion-paul-alejandro-sanchez-energia-circular/ [offline]
Archived Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20240228071615/https://businessinsider.mx/crisis-climatica-opinion-paul-alejandro-sanchez-energia-circular/ [Archived]

Recycled CO2






Modern societies are very familiar with the topic of recycling. We know that aluminum cans, plastic containers, cardboard, paper, glass and metals can be recycled to reduce the exploitation of natural resources and the impact on the environment. But, what about the CO2 that has already been emitted? Could we recycle it?

This idea is being developed strongly in Europe and other countries of the world. It is a different process from CO2 sequestration and storage, where equipment is installed to capture it directly from the chimneys of combustion or production processes and it is stored underground. In this case, CO2 is captured directly from the air; this implies that gas that was already emitted can be recovered and without installing mechanisms next to fixed sources of emission.

Mining the air to capture CO2 already emitted —recycling it, then— is particularly useful if we consider that between 15% and 20% of greenhouse gas emissions come from mobile sources, particularly motor vehicles, airplanes, railways and ships.

Climateworks, a Swiss company, installed the first commercial plant for direct CO2 capture that uses the adsorption-desorption technique. This means that the gaseous substance comes into contact with an adsorbent solid and adheres to the surface; then it is released through the surface, which allows the CO2 from the air that came into contact with the system to be filtered.

Climateworks’ solution is capable of capturing 900 tons of CO2 per year and its estimated cost is around 600 dollars per ton of captured gas. This is around 0.60 dollars per kilo of CO2. What does this imply? That recycling this gas would increase by almost 300% the cost of electric energy in the cheapest and least polluting plant in the world.

From this, two conclusions are extracted. First: the cost of recycling CO2 directly from the air is still very high; second: the cost of energy still does not reflect the total cost of the negative externalities related to the use of fossil sources.

Despite this, this effort has a lot of room to incorporate technological efficiencies and reduce its costs in the future.

Finally, since close to 75% of global CO2 equivalent emissions come from the energy sector, we can say that it would be one of the first efforts aimed at the development of an energy sector based on circular economy, that is, the first steps to introduce circular energy into practice.

This article was originally published by Business Insider México.
Date: March 30, 2021
Original Link: https://businessinsider.mx/co2-reciclado/ [offline]
Archived Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20240523093445/https://businessinsider.mx/co2-reciclado/ [Archived]

Energy in the Exploration of Mars






On February 18, the Perseverance rover arrived on Mars, after seven months of space navigation, and landed in the Jezero crater. This NASA tool promises to increase collect information regarding the environment of the red planet to determine the possibilities that there had been life in the past; if it can generate oxygen or if there are traces of water.

I must say it, Perseverance is an impressive piece of technology: it has 19 cameras, microphones and a drone in the form of a helicopter called Ingenuity. It weighs 1,025 kilograms and measures 2.2 meters high and 2.9 meters wide. In addition, for our analysis, it consumes 110 Watts of energy.

This is 50% more than what a laptop consumes or seven times less than what a microwave oven consumes. Surprisingly, the Ingenuity consumes more energy —350 Watts— according to NASA information.

How is Perseverance charged for exploration on Mars?

Considering that there are not many sources of energy on Mars, nor the means of development, Perseverance and Ingenuity must be very efficient and self-sustaining during their exploration mission. For the rover, the source of energy is a multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator. Or, said in a very —but very— simple way, a nuclear battery.

The thermocouples of the battery convert the heat emitted by radioactive decay of a nuclear source; in this case a radioisotope of plutonium-238, into electrical energy. The generator charges two lithium-ion batteries and provides energy to Perseverance.

And, since 88 years are required for the radioisotope to reach its half-life —the unit of measurement to determine the time in which unstable atoms will survive radioactive decay—, we have a potential energy source for the rover for a while.

Why was this type of energy chosen for Perseverance?

This source was chosen over solar panels because of the operational flexibility that it would provide to the rover to operate in conditions of low solar irradiation during exploration on Mars. This assumption occurs at night, in winter or in adverse weather situations, such as sandstorms.

For its part, Ingenuity does use solar panels to charge its six lithium-ion batteries.

This experimental drone/helicopter weighs 1.8 kilograms and has only one mission: to explore the environment so that Perseverance can plan the best routes on its journey. To keep it light, it does not have any type of instrument beyond its camera and its solar panel.

NASA’s spending for the development of Perseverance was 2,500 million dollars and it will have an operation and maintenance cost of 150 million dollars per year. If we talk about its useful life being eleven years, the total amount will hover around 80,000 million pesos of 2020. Something like the entire subsidy of CFE last year.

The development and operation of the Rover Perseverance is one of the projects that will help us better understand our solar system; at the same time it puts into practice technological development in modern energy matters through the nuclear battery and the solar panels of Ingenuity. These developments are, without a doubt, important pieces to advance on the frontier of possibilities of energy use both on Earth and in space.

This article was originally published by Business Insider México.
Date: February 23, 2021
Original Link: https://businessinsider.mx/energia-exploracion-marte-como-carga-perseverance-paul-sanchez-opinio/ [offline]
Archived Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20240529213514/https://businessinsider.mx/energia-exploracion-marte-como-carga-perseverance-paul-sanchez-opinio/ [Archived]