EU carbon price crisis leads to intervention

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The EU has agreed to carbon market reform measures in an attempt to deal with the oversupply of carbon credits in the market that has resulted in a sustained collapse of the traded price for the EU emissions allowance (EUA). Introduction of the market stability reserve will be brought forward to 2019 in an attempt raise EUA prices which are currently trading at  just €7.66 per tonne CO₂e (May, 2015). Forecasts had suggested that this price would stagnate or at best rise to between €8.70-18.30 per tonne CO₂e by 2020, so the EU has been forced into action.  The new measures are predicted to triple the EUA price by 2020. 

In a recent interview Professor Nick Gray of Trinity College Dublin and author of Facing up to Global Warming welcomed the news but reiterated that ‘the price will still be well below that  required to stimulate either investment in renewable and alternative energies or mitigation measures.  The new measures will of course help to raise and even stabilize prices, but forecasts have generally been overly optimistic, so we could still end up with a very low carbon price by the end of the decade.  With the cost of carbon-capture predicted to level out at around €50-60 per tonne of CO₂e, we have to ask ourselves again just how much we should be paying for offsetting carbon emissions.’  

Post: Pete Ferris

Friendly microbes powering our lives: One bacterium at a time!

Bacteria: disease, illness and infection. These are the first words that come to mind when we think of our microorganism friends. Would you ever think of planetary space exploration, energy fuel cells or Greenhouse gas capture systems? These are knew avenues of cutting edge research that both industry and academic institutes are researching.  As a Microbiologist, these intrinsically diverse, complex and remarkable adaptable organisms fascinate me. From Volcanoes to ice, stratospheric clouds to oceanic depth, bacteria are found basically on all corners of the globe. We see them as pathogens, yet without them we could not survive. The smallest living organisms on Earth could become key to addressing some of the world’s biggest energy challenges.

Bacteria Power: Nature’s “badass” in world of energy production

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Bacteria by nature are ferocious consumers of raw materials. But unlike us, they consume the waste we produce. The first law of thermodynamics states that energy is neither created or destroyed but is converted from one form to another. So, it’s obvious to use bacteria to produce our energy from waste? Sounds too good to be true I know, slightly science fiction. But in reality the process is already happening. Microbial fuel cells (MFC) are gathering recognition as viable means of producing electricity. Unlike conventional fuel cells that rely on hydrogen gas as a fuel source, the microbial fuel cell can handle a variety of water-based organic fuels such as sewage waste. By capturing the ions that bacterium leave behind when they eat, and then running the ions through a resistor to convert them to electricity, we can in essence generate our own power supply from simply biology. Researchers Biodesign Institute in Arizona, USA, are using these organisms a viable means to make electricity. "There is a lot of biomass out there that we look at simply as energy stored in the wrong place," said Bruce Rittmann, director of the center. "We can take this waste, keeping it in its normal liquid form, but allowing the bacteria to convert the energy value to our society's most useful form, electricity. They get food while we get electricity."

These simply yet novel ideas haven’t gone unnoticed by the “Big Industries”. Energy companies and Brewing Multinationals are at the forefront of MFC research. In May 2007, the University of Queensland, Australia, completed its prototype MFC, as a cooperative effort with Foster's Brewing. The prototype converts brewery wastewater into carbon dioxide, clean water, and electricity, which is estimated to produce 2 kilowatts of power. While it is a negligible amount of power, the production of clean water is of utmost importance to Australia, for which drought is a constant threat. Large-scale models are being developed with the hope of generating more energy capacity.

Bacteria powered personal devices: Science fiction or fact?

Great and all as this sounds, is there any chance that someday a bacteria will be used as an energy source in our iPhones? In 2012, a paper published in the prestigious  Nature Nanotechnology showed a MFC, manipulated with a bacteriophage (Virus that is harmless to humans but infects bacteria) produced up to 6 nanoamps of current and 400 millivolts of potential, which is about a quarter of a AAA battery's voltage. That's also enough to be used to operate a small liquid-crystal display. In their Nature paper, the scientists write that harmless virus-based piezoelectric materials potentially "offer a simple and environmentally friendly approach to piezoelectric energy generation."

  

Ultimate Sustainable Organisms

Microbial fuel cells are all natural. Energy generation and conservation are prevalent in all our lives. So are microbes, so why not combine the two and invest in a new means of sustainable energy production. Though, as a commercial entity it is years away from replacing conventional lithium batteries and fossil fuels. But as a model, they operate at natural temperatures using simple naturally occurring microorganisms to convert waste into energy. It's the ultimate sustainable energy system.

Karen Ward

Snatching Carbon from the Atmosphere

The effects of carbon on the atmosphere are well documented and it is clear that we are producing far too much carbon for the earth to handle. Living sustainably is obviously the long-term solution, but it requires worldwide cooperation. In my opinion this is only likely to happen when people put the earth before profit, which I cannot see happening in the foreseeable future. Until such a change in mindset occurs there are short-term ideas that can help reduce the amount of carbon in the atmosphere.

I have decided to focus on one short-term idea with a lot of potential, artificial photosynthesis without the use of cells. This may sound like a far-fetched idea. But using a concept devised by Dr. Montemagno, David Wendell and his team studied the foam nests of the Tungara frog and isolated a protein. They used this protein and it unique properties to engineer a type of foam, which can use sunlight to grab carbon from the air around it and turn it into sugar. It does this without harming the environment because it is not an organism.

This artificial photosynthetic foam was found to be incredibly effective in a number of ways. It converts sunlight to sugar at a rate of 16% unlike plants, which do it at 1-5%, also unlike plants it can continue to photosynthesize in carbon intense environments i.e. Factories. The sugars produced can also be used to make high-octane bio fuel. It is for all these reasons that this foam can greatly benefit the environment, reducing carbon in the atmosphere and supplying a carbon neutral energy source. These benefits won it the grand prize at the 2010 Earth Awards.

Fionan Magee