High-tech climate solutions that could cut emissions in the long term
WASHINGTON, (Reuters) - From replicating the process that fuels the sun to harnessing scorching temperatures deep below our feet, scientists, companies and venture capitalists are betting on high-tech ways to power the planet without emitting greenhouse gases.
Such “moon-shot” technologies are likely to be a topic of conversation when delegates meet at U.N. climate talks in Scotland starting today to figure out how to speed the transition off fossil fuels.
While traditional clean energy sources like solar and wind power are expected to play a leading role in helping countries reach near-term climate goals, higher-tech solutions may be needed to achieve longer-term targets.
Making those technologies available will require lots of research, money and a bit of luck. Here are some of the technologies drawing the most attention:
FUSION
Fusion is the process that fires the sun. It could eventually power your home.
It works when nuclei of two atoms are subjected to extreme heat, leading them to fuse into a new larger atom, giving off enormous amounts of energy in the process.
The trick is that the usual fuel hydrogen has to be heated to 150 million degrees
Celsius which takes a lot of energy in the first place. No facility has yet performed a fusion reaction that releases more energy than it requires. Running an electric power plant off fusion presents additional hurdles, like how to contain that heat economically.
Still, scientists at Oxford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and elsewhere say they are making progress.
The UK government believes a prototype will be in place by 2040.
Fusion has advantages over fission used in today’s nuclear reactors to break apart atoms - including that the fuel is derived from water, not radioactive uranium or plutonium. That means fusion does not generate long-term radioactive waste, which few politicians want in their districts.