POSTED BY:
Jonathan Lucas
ON:
24 Jan 2012Patent attorney, Jonathan Lucas overviews five recent advances in technology that give reason for optimism when it comes to climate change.
Is the atmosphere half full or half empty?
Global warming is a gloomy subject. Not surprising,
considering the disastrous consequences of anthropogenic impacts on
the atmosphere predicted by many. But even an overly
cataclysmic vision of the future is not a bad thing if it makes the
global community sit up, take notice and take action.
Without making light of the risks, many others feel there is a
brighter side. New technologies constantly promise ways to
reduce humankind's environmental impact and possibly even ways to
reverse past effects.
In that spirit of optimism, this article provides a fleeting
glimpse of five recently patented technologies that may help the
fight against climate change.
1. Biofuels - Lanzatech
The New Zealand-based company LanzaTech has recently patented a
method of obtaining biofuels from industrial waste gases that
contain carbon monoxide. Its method reduces carbon emissions
and, unlike other biofuel production methods, is not reliant on
crops grown on farmland so even its widespread implementation would
not be detrimental to global food supplies.
Recently Richard Branson was in New Zealand as Virgin Atlantic
announced that it would be using jet biofuel produced using
Lanzatech's technology by 2013.
2. Organic solar technology - Konarka
Konarka was co-founded by Dr Alan Heeger, joint winner of the
2000 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for the discovery and development of
organic conductive polymers. Konarka produces a thin,
flexible organic solar panel called Power Plastic that can be
literally printed off a machine like newspaper, making it cheap to
produce and possibly a viable energy source for the developed
world. Its flexibility also allows it to be incorporated into
building designs in a myriad of ways, unlike traditional rigid,
black, silicon solar panels.
3. Biochar - CarbonScape
Many emerging technologies seek to be carbon neutral. But
carbon neutrality does not address the increase in carbon dioxide
in the atmosphere already caused by humankind. Carbon
sequestration refers to the process of capturing this atmospheric
CO2 and locking it away. One form of sequestered carbon is
biochar, a form of charcoal that is made from biomass and locked
away in the ground.
New Zealand based CarbonScape has recently patented the use of
microwave technology to convert waste biomass into biochar.
The result is a low cost method of reducing the amount of carbon in
the atmosphere that has the added benefit of increasing soil
fertility.
4. Integral Fast Reactor - Hitachi GE Energy
Nuclear power polarizes opinion. Some argue it is
inherently dangerous and point at the difficulty of safely
disposing of the bi-products. Others think it is an essential
fuel source for the future and its dangers are now well managed and
in any case fewer than the indirect effects of traditional fossil
fuels.
One exciting emerging technology is a type of nuclear reactor
called an Integral Fast Reactor (IFR). IFRs use the dangerous
bi-products of other nuclear power stations as a fuel, releasing
the stored energy missed by the first power station and rendering
the waste considerably easier to safely dispose of.
Furthermore, it is impossible for IFRs to go into meltdown.
US company Hitachi GE Energy has recently been granted a patent for
an IFR reaction process and is now looking to put it to widespread
use. In late November 2011 it made an offer to the UK
Government to build a reactor to use up the waste of an existing
nuclear power station within 5 years, at no cost if it does not
work. Once the existing waste is used up the IFR would keep
recycling the fuel, extracting ever more of its energy.
5. Nuclear fusion - Tri-alpha Energy
Nuclear fusion is arguably the panacea to the world's energy
needs. Unlike nuclear fission, which is the form of reaction
used in today's nuclear power stations, fusion power would be
inherently safe, produce virtually no harmful waste materials, and
yield large amounts of energy from a source that is effectively
limitless (sea water).
Despite the hype, the production of fusion power has proved
technically very difficult. Being able to usefully harness
energy from the process is perennially thought to be several
decades away.
But every now and again a promising breakthrough is made.
Recently, a secretive US company called Tri-alpha Energy (so
secretive we can't find its website) has had a patent granted for a
promising fusion process called field reversed configuration
(FRC). It has previously stated that it believes a prototype
for commercial nuclear fusion could be achieved before 2020.
Cautious optimism
The technologies discussed above are emerging, not without their
own problems and far from a complete solution. But they do
promise ways to produce energy with reduced environmental, social
and economic effects compared to existing methods.
It is encouraging to note that companies are taking the steps of
patenting these technologies. This shows they believe the
technologies have enough commercial potential that can be realised
in the near future to be worthy of protection under the 20-year
term of a patent. Instead of giving companies a monopoly,
patents offer a fast path to market through licensing. This
enables the rapid and widespread adoption of technologies. It
also ensures financial rewards are received, which are critical for
rewarding innovation and encouraging further research.
In the past, technological advances have provided unexpected
solutions to global problems. We should take great comfort in
the thought that necessity will continue to breed inventions like
the good mother it is.
This article first appeared in Celsias and was written by Jonathan Lucas,
an Associate of James & Wells. To contact Jonathan please email
him on jonathanl@jaws.co.nz or
phone 09 914 6740.