How Technology is Helping to Combat Climate Change

The rise of technology is often blamed for playing a large part in climate change. Manufacturing and industrial processes can contribute to greenhouse gas emissions which impact on our climate and environment.

However, technology is also helping to find innovative solutions to combat climate change. Through the development of new technology, we can work towards a more eco-friendly and sustainable future.

In this article, we take a look at the technologies that are helping with the damaging effects of climate change, as well as small changes you can make in your everyday life.

Solar and wind power

Solar panels can often be seen on the roofs of buildings, calculators, or even on spacecraft. But, on a larger scale, power plants can concentrate the sun’s energy to use as a heat source. The heat boils water to drive turbines and generate electricity, replacing the old coal or nuclear-style plants.

Advancements in solar technology are being made all the time. At MIT, scientists even developed a solar-powered system that can extract drinkable water from dry air!

Wind power is another key renewable energy source. Modern wind turbines are increasingly cost-effective and more reliable. This had been achieved through the development of longer, lighter rotor blades, taller towers and performance-optimising control systems.

The capacity of the wind turbine has increased, which allows them to generate the most possible power at lower energy costs. These are important factors to help wind and solar compete with conventional energy sources.

Clean hydrogen fuel

Hydrogen is a clean fuel that, when consumed in a fuel cell, produces only water. Using hydrogen fuel can help to tackle climate change by decarbonising industries which rely predominantly on burning fossil fuels, such as the chemical, iron, steel, and long-haul transport industries.

Hydrogen fuel can be extracted from fossil fuels and biomass or separated from water through electrolysis (which can be done using renewable energy sources like solar and wind). Projects have been announced for large-scale green hydrogen production, including a solar power electrolysis pilot in Florida.

Hydrogen is a great energy carrier and one of the leading options for storing renewable energy. This means that hydrogen-based fuels can be used to transport energy from renewable sources over great distances. Technological advancements like this are instrumental in allowing a widespread shift towards more climate-friendly energy sources.

Carbon capture and storage (CCS)

Carbon capture and storage, or CCS, is the process of capturing carbon dioxide before it is released into the atmosphere. This technology can be used to capture the CO2 released from burning fossil fuels, or from large industrial processes where using decarbonised energy has previously been difficult.

These industries include the production of steel, cement and chemicals. Quest CCS project in Canada captures one million tonnes of CO2 a year from the production of low-carbon hydrogen.

Once the CO2 has been captured, it is compressed into a liquid state and transported. It can be pumped underground to be permanently stored in coalbeds, deep saline aquifers, or the sub-surface below the seabed.

The captured CO2 can also be used in the production of synthetic fuel or in the food and beverage industry. For example, by feeding CO2 to algae, these algae can be harvested and used as biofuel for transport.

Electric cars

Fully electric vehicles do not use combustion engines and so have close to no running emissions, which gives them an advantage over petrol or diesel vehicles. Over a year, one electric car can save an average of 1.5million grams of CO2. This helps improve air quality in towns and cities.

The main emissions from electric vehicles are produced during their manufacturing. However, as technology has improved, more efficient manufacturing processes are being developed to help reduce these emissions.

Some electric cars are even made partly from eco-friendly materials. The Nissan Leaf’s interior and bodywork are partly made out of materials such as recycled water bottles, plastic bags, old car parts and even second-hand appliances. Electric cars can also minimise energy waste by turning off when stopped or by charging the battery when braking.

What can we do in our daily lives?

These technologies highlight the changes that are being made to combat climate change around the world. But the technological choices we make in our daily lives can also have a great impact.

We can turn down the brightness on devices and power off instead of sleeping. Purchasing TCO-certified technology or checking the energy ratings of appliances can help combat climate change. You can also buy second-hand or refurbished tech to help reduce waste.

Even something as simple as switching to a climate-friendly search engine can allow you to be more environmentally-conscious. For example, our search engine SearchScene donates 95% of advertising profits to environmental charities, and you can select the charities you want to donate to on our website.

Services like this allow everyday tasks such as searching the internet to have an environmental benefit! By making these easy changes, we can all use technology to help combat climate change.

This article first appeared on Blogspot.