Power Surge 13.8

Volume 13 Issue 8
April 11, 2022 – April 17, 2022
Riti Bhandarkar ‘23 | Zihan Lin ‘23 | Sunay Joshi ‘24 | Wilder Crosier ‘25 | Jackson Lichtenberger ‘25 | Andrew Ji ‘25

Truckers Get Slammed by Diesel Freight Train

April 8, 2022 | The Wall Street Journal | Spencer Jakab

Oil prices continue to rise in the US, causing headaches for consumers and truckers, but not the rail industry. The trucking industry, already facing a shortage of drivers and challenges buying and maintaining their fleets, are now also dealing with an additional 30 cents per mile of costs from surging diesel prices. Transportation by rail, on the other hand, is more energy efficient. On one gallon of fuel, trains can move cargo 492 miles, while trucks can only make it 134 miles with the same load. In fact, Union Pacific claims that the US could save 1.5 billion gallons of fuel a year—the equivalent of removing over three million cars from the roads—simply by switching 10% of trucking freight to rail transport. The transportation industry has not seen major shifts towards railroads, but the pandemic consumption boom did lead railroad companies to transport four times as many trailers, and the ever-increasing prices continue to support this trend. WC

Biden to Allow More Ethanol in Gas This Summer in Bid to Lower Prices

April 12, 2022 | The Wall Street Journal | Timothy Puko

The Biden administration will allow high-ethanol fuels to be sold over the summer. So-called E15 fuels with ethanol content at 15% are typically not sold in the summer in order to reduce pollution. However, the move may lower gas prices and also help Biden politically in Midwestern ethanol-producing states. Critics of the policy point to a possible increase in the price of corn, which is used to produce ethanol, as well as the use of wildlife for corn production. - SJ

A new path to nuclear fusion? A novel pistol shrimp-inspired system succeeded

Apr 11, 2022 | Interesting Engineering | Chris Young

The fusion startup First Light Fusion announced Monday that it had succeeded in creating fusion without relying on powerful lasers and magnets. According to its press release, its novel approach may be the “fastest, simplest, and cheapest route to commercial fusion power,” and surprisingly, it is inspired by a tiny sea creature - the pistol shrimp. Rather than using tokamaks and stellarators to achieve sustained fusion, First Light’s approach uses railguns to propel a tiny projectile into a fuel-containing target faster than the speed of sound. By adjusting the timing and environment of the firing, shockwaves can momentarily simulate pressure levels hundreds of millions of times higher than atmospheric pressure, which kickstarts a reaction by causing fuel pellets to implode and fuse.  AJ

Amid Soaring Demand for Warehouses, An Effort to Make Them Greener

April 12, 2022 | New York Times | Jane Margolies
The explosion in consumer demand for online shopping during the pandemic has caused an equal explosion in the need for huge warehouses and distribution centers, and now companies are turning those buildings green. The change is coming especially fast in Europe, where government incentives (and coercion) for building net-zero facilities have led the rush towards renewables. In the US, some companies are jumping to capitalize on the unused open space on warehouse roofs to create solar farms that power their buildings and the surrounding communities; others are leasing their roofs to solar companies to do the job for them. The warehouses are the perfect place for new solar projects: they are large open spaces with direct sunlight all day, they’re out of sight and out of mind (a common complaint about new solar projects on the ground), and the buildings are already connected to the grid, making the distribution of electricity just as easy as the products inside. - JL

Queensland advances green hydrogen and ammonia project to be powered by renewables

April 11, 2022 | The Guardian | Ben Smee

The H2-Hub Gladstone project, recently set in a streamlined approval process, is going to make Gladstone a milestone site of Australia’s net zero mission. The $4.7bn project will build up to 3 gigawatts of electrolysis for hydrogen production and is projected to make 5,000 tons of ammonia everyday, all of which will be powered by solar and wind energy. Energy analysts are optimistic about the status of green hydrogen, which they predict will supersede hydrogen produced from coal and gas by the end of the decade. This development will likely make Queensland prosper with renewable energy jobs in the future. Operations of the H2-Hub Gladstone project is set in 2025 with further expansions towards the end of decade.  - ZL

Power Surge 13.7

Volume 13 Issue 7
April 4, 2022 – April 10, 2022
Riti Bhandarkar ‘23 | Zihan Lin ‘23 | Sunay Joshi ‘24 | Freddy Hernandez ‘25 | Michael Tsai ‘25 | Jackson Lichtenberger ‘25 | Wilder Crosier ‘25

Biden Will Tap Oil Reserve, Hoping to Push Gasoline Prices Down

March 30, 2022 | The New York Times | Clifford Krauss and Michael D. Shear

President Biden announced Thursday that he would be releasing one million barrels of oil a day for 180 days from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the latest step in the administration's efforts to tamp down high gas prices. The decision is not expected to be a complete solution to the energy crisis stemming from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, since Russia was exporting roughly three million barrels a day beforehand, but it is expected to help. Energy experts say that oil prices will continue to remain high given the uncertainty of the war if no similarly large price-reduction plans as this are put into effect.   - JL

Methane-Eating Bacteria Convert Potent Greenhouse Gas Into Usable Fuel

March 22, 2022 | SciTechDaily | Northwestern University 

Methanotrophic bacteria is known for its ability to convert the potent greenhouse gas methane into usable fuels. Yet, little has been revealed about the underlying mechanisms. To unravel this mystery, a team of Northwestern University researchers delved into the enzyme that catalyzes the conversion from methane to methanol called methane monooxygenase. Understanding the structure of the enzyme, the transport of methane and methanol to and away from the active, and the role of copper in the reaction will enable bioengineering designs for scaling up the process. More information can be found in their paper published in Science: “Recovery of particulate methane monooxygenase structure and activity in a lipid bilayer.” -ZL 

Can we stop wind turbine blades ending up in landfill?

March 29, 2022 | Financial Times | Esan Swan

Wind power, the fourth largest source of energy in the U.S., is clean and reliable– but it has a recycling problem. After a wind turbine’s 20-to-30-year lifespan, most of its materials can be repurposed for other applications. Until recently, however, the blades, made up of a blend of carbon fiber, epoxy resin, and glass, could not be recycled. Last year, the German-Spanish manufacturer Siemens Gamesa launched a new blade made with a resin that can be separated from the other materials, allowing them to be recycled into boats or cars. The innovation brings us one step closer to zero-waste, zero-emissions energy production. -AC

Global wind and solar growth on track to meet climate targets

March 30, 2022 | Reuters

Independent climate think tank Ember, released a report on Wednesday that claimed renewable energy generation is on track to limit global warming to 1.5 C, using data at the end of 2021. According to the report, global solar power production increased by 23% and wind power also grew by 14%. Solar and wind power accounted for 10.3% of total global energy production, up from 9.3% in 2020. The growth was unequally distributed, however. The Netherlands, Australia, and Vietnam had the fastest growing renewable energy sectors, quickly switching about 10% of their energy production from natural gas to renewable sources. However, coal-fired power plants also increased growth significantly, expanding by 9% to accommodate 59% of the total rise in energy demand. - AJ

Green Growth 50: Learning From Companies Boosting Profits While Cutting Emissions

Nov 6th, 2021 | Forbes | Isabel Contreras and Christopher Helman

Forbes’ Green Growth 50 list is suggesting a watershed moment for private companies in cutting emissions. A major player, eBay, ranked no.11 on the list has emphasized its company’s business model on a circular economy. In addition to finding a new home for your childhood toys, the company has strived to cut down its emissions from its data centers. For the past five years, it has achieved the goal of cutting emissions by thirty percent. This is further echoed by the no.1 company Aptar, a precision medicine biotech company, which is able to achieve “80% disposal avoidance,” a significant feat in an industry defined by medical waste. Additionally, an echoing sentiment among the executives is that the sustainability efforts are consumer-driven instead of incentivized by governments. -MT

Climate Change is making pollen season even worse across the country

March 29th, 2022 | The Washington Post | Kasha Patel

Pollen allergies, for those who already have it bad, have only intensified. According to allergen practitioner Stanley Fineman, pollen season has appeared to begin earlier and come stronger over these past four decades. Lately, he has prescribed his patients with allergies to begin medication as early as Valentines Day. The cause for this? Climate change, and the increase in pollen concentrations will only get worse. Atmospheric scientist Allison Steiner, along with other scientists, agree the rise in global temperatures only drives an earlier growing season. Although different areas of the world will experience their own specific severity of pollen, these circumstances ultimately affect all those with allergies to some degree. A 200% increase in total pollen is expected by the end of the century in the United States, according to Steiner at the most extreme case. This only showcases the importance of climate policy, for these consequences are migatable. For now, Steiner and the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration plan on producing a pollen forecast model to assist and advise patients. -FH

Environmental Groups Pressure Bitcoin Community to Lower Energy Use

March 29, 2022 | The Wall Street Journal | Paul Vigna

Environmental groups are advocating for changes to the code underlying Bitcoin. Advocates 

believe that the high amounts of energy required to verify transactions on the blockchain are contributing too much to climate change, and that the Bitcoin network should scrap this “proof of work” mechanism. A group of 250 companies support this transition via the Crypto Climate Accord. It is estimated that the Bitcoin network uses over 134 terawatt hours of energy per year, more than the entire country of Norway. Making the transition away from the current mechanism will be a challenge, as the open-source code can only be changed with the agreement of almost all users on the network. - SJ