Innovation

With world recoverable coal reserves approximated to be 800 to 900 gigatonnes – could capturing and storing carbon dioxide provide us with a cheap source of power into the future?

As the world moves to more renewable forms of energy, many argue that transitional technologies such as carbon sequestration will be a critical to a smooth transition. But there are many unanswered questions about this yet unproved technology. Pilot projects testing the viability of carbon sequestration have begun in North America, Europe and Australia.

A recent dissertation, "Carbon Dioxide Capture And Storage: Grasping At Straws In The Climate Debate?," by Anders Hansonn at the Department of Technology and Social Change, Linköping University, in Sweden raises some risks and challenges associated with the technology.

"In full scale this technology only exists in the imaginations of the people developing it," says Anders Hansson. "It’s overly optimistic to place such great faith in it, considering all the uncertainties found in the scientific literature."

At the same time the United Nations Climate Panel sees carbon capture and sequestration as being a key mechanism to reduced GHG emissions between 15 and 55 percent.

Is it a good idea to put such tremendous faith in an unproven technology that has yet to be proved to be safe for environment?

Michael Drummond is a Principal with the Earnscliffe Strategy Group, one of the oldest independent public policy strategy firms in Canada, and a leader in government affairs and strategic communications.

Atlantic Hydrogen Inc. is a privately owned environmental technology company with energy and environmental solutions. AHI, part of Kyoto Planet Capital Partners' current investment portfolio, has developed a unique, low-temperature technology - CarbonSaver - that dissociates natural gas to form gaseous hydrogen and solid carbon without generating carbon dioxide. Apart from its unique environmental advantage, this technology can be installed at point-of-use, avoiding the need for costly hydrogen pipelines, and transportation and storage systems. With more than 200 million natural gas outlets in the world, the opportunities to deploy this technology are vast.

As part of our recently released Sustainable Enterprise Report, John Spurway of Atlantic Hydrogen explains how the road to commercializing an innovative technology can often be a bumpy one. Check out the article to learn more about one start-up's journey from innovation and investment to industry acceptance of its clean technology.

Read "The Road to Commercialization is Always Under Construction"

Boeing recently announced it had flown a manned airplane powered by hydrogen fuel cells, an aviation first. The milestone is the work of an engineering team at Boeing Research & Technology Europe (BR&TE) in Madrid, with assistance from industry partners in Austria, France, Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States.

A fuel cell is an electrochemical device that converts hydrogen directly into electricity and heat with none of the products of combustion such as carbon dioxide. Other than heat, water is its only exhaust.

A two-seat Dimona motor-glider with a 16.3 meter (53.5 foot) wingspan was used as the airframe. Built by Diamond Aircraft Industries of Austria, it was modified by BR&TE to include a Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cell/lithium-ion battery hybrid system to power an electric motor coupled to a conventional propeller.

Three test flights took place in February and March at the airfield in Ocaña, south of Madrid, operated by the Spanish company SENASA. During the flights, the pilot of the experimental airplane climbed to an altitude of 1,000 meters (3,300 feet) above sea level using a combination of battery power and power generated by hydrogen fuel cells.

According to Boeing researchers, PEM fuel cell technology potentially could power small manned and unmanned air vehicles. Over the longer term, solid oxide fuel cells could be applied to secondary power-generating systems, such as auxiliary power units for large commercial airplanes. Boeing does not envision that fuel cells will ever provide primary power for large passenger airplanes, but the company will continue to investigate their potential, as well as other sustainable alternative fuel and energy sources that improve environmental performance.

Violet Fuel Cell Sticks, based in San Diego, California, and founded by brothers Alan and Lambert Devoe, have developed a novel Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Stick, that they claim overcomes the most significant hurdles facing fuel cells.

Check out their whitepaper "A Fuel Cell Breakthrough: THE SOFC STICK™" for an intro to the merits of Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) technology and an examination of the weaknesses of two existing SOFC technologies: Plates and Tubes.