Technology

Carbon capture technologies are an essential part of efforts to reduce climate change-causing greenhouse gas emissions. The captured carbon can be sequestered underground or it can be used to make products that would be made anyway.  The advantage of using recycled CO2 is that it uses captured carbon that would otherwise end up in the atmosphere and it sequesters them in products without generating additional greenhouse gas. Carbon dioxide can be used as a raw material in a wide range of products including everything from concrete to car seats. It is even being used by soft drink manufacturers and it...

The need for a carbon removal portfolio (CRP) or negative emission technologies (NETs) is becoming increasingly apparent in the wake of our failure to draw down atmospheric CO2.  Natural Climate Solutions (NCS) is an approach to carbon removal that leverages naturally occurring phenomena like photosynthesis to harvest the CO2 from the air. Once harvested from the air or at the source where it is produced, carbon can be sequestered or it can be used in agricultural or industrial applications. Carbon can also be recycled and used to make synthetic fuel. In theory, this means that the same CO2 molecules could be...

Negative emission technologies (NETs) are a necessary technological innovation. Such technologies reduce atmospheric emissions by removing CO2 from the point at which they are generated or from the ambient air. Rising emissions and dwindling carbon budgets make it abundantly clear that we need to find a way to drastically reduce atmospheric carbon.Some NET technologies can be costly, and controversial. Many of these efforts are still in the early phase of testing. However, other NETs are ready to be deployed at scale, this includes land management practices that store more carbon in agricultural soils and forests. However, there’s no way those...

Varialift solar powered airship concept The emissions associated with traditional air travel make airships an ideal low-cost alternative for shipping. Compared to traditional transportation mediums, airships are quiet, cheaper to operate, and most importantly, far more carbon efficient. They also have a much larger range and cargo carrying capacity. While slower then jet powered aviation, they are faster than current land or sea transportation systems (airships travel at speeds of up to 120 kilometers an hour or around 70 miles per hour). Many shipping routes could be serviced by airships. A 2016 study found that as much as half of...

Norway's OSM Aviation Academy is committed to fully electrifying its fleet of planes. OSM is a company that specializes in recruitment and training for the aviation industry. They have ordered 60 all electric planes from Colorado-based electric aircraft manufacturer Bye Aerospace. This is the largest single order for commercial electric planes to date. Recently Canadian company Harbour Air made history with its first test flight as part of its bid to be the world's first all electric airline. Bjørn Granviken, Managing Director of the OSM Aviation Academy supports sustainability focused innovation.  "It’s important that the airline industry steps up to...

On December 11th Vancouver based Harbour Air will test fly the world's first all-electric plane for an all electric commercial airline. The converted 6 passenger de Havilland DHC-2 beaver will take off from from the middle arm of the Fraser River near Richmond British Columbia.  In February of this year Harbour Air announced that it would be converting all of its 40 propeller-driven seaplanes to electric to make it the first emissions free all-electric airline. This is revolutionary because air travel is notoriously harmful to the environment. In October many of key components of their planes were installed, including electric...

Zero emissions all-electric airplanes are a tremendous step forward but they have limitations. They do not contribute to climate change, they are quiet and cheaper to maintain. They have a steeper rate of climb and are able to maintain performance at higher altitudes where the air resistance is less than at lower altitudes. However, they have small payloads and they can only travel a fraction of the distance of traditional planes at less than half the speed.  We know that transportation is a major source of climate change-causing greenhouse gases and air travel is a problem not only because of...

It is for good reason that Greta Thunberg's much-publicized efforts to avoid travel by air have made headlines. She has put the spotlight on the climate impacts associated with air travel. Emissions in the transportation sector are significant and aircraft are particularly carbon-intensive. It is clear that current international standards are inadequate.  The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards fall far short of meeting the objectives laid out in the Paris Climate agreement (ie keeping temperatures below the upper threshold limit of 1.5 - 2 degrees C). Aircraft are the third-largest contributor to transportation-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the...

The transportation sector is the largest source of emissions in the U.S. and the second biggest source of GHGs globally. Reducing transportation emissions is an essential part of keeping temperatures below critical thresholds (1.5 - 2 C). The key to reducing emissions in this sector is scaling up zero-carbon transportation Driven by e-commerce and business travel the transportation sector has passed the energy sector as the largest source of American emissions. This sector is responsible for 27 percent of emissions in the U.S. and 23 percent globally. “Fighting dangerous climate change requires an all-encompassing approach that curbs every important source...

Transportation is a massive and growing problem contributing to the climate crisis. As a large and increasing source of greenhouse gases (GHGs) we will need to see significant changes if we are to keep emissions from pushing us past the internationally agreed upon upper temperature limits (1.5-2C above preindustrial norms).  Emissions from the transportation sector account for between a quarter and a third of global greenhouse gas emissions. According to the UN Food and Agricultural Organization a sector by sector comparison of GHG emissions indicates that transport accounts for more than 20 percent of atmospheric CO2. As reported by Vox...