10 tools for climate change enthusiasts

1. Air-ink-

Image from

Air-Ink is ink made out of air pollution. This project addresses major threats of air pollution, which kills more than 4 million people every year and costs 5 trillion dollars to the global economy. Global warming potential of carbon PM 2.5 is 450 times higher than CO2. Graviky Labs upcycle carbon emission and turn them into useful ink, offsetting environmental footprint. Anirudh Sharma founder of Gavikay Labs started this idea of capturing soot in Mumbai's polluted air and converted it into ink that could be used in reusing pollution endlessly. They developed a device that can be fitted to exhaust pie of car portable generator, the diesel engine, chimney, household vacuum pump, etc. and mix soot with solvent producing bottled ink, marker, spray cans, oil-based paints and pens. This company provided ink for painting exhibitions in Singapore and Dubai. Many artists like Kristopher Ho have made significant paintings from this ink. Winner of MIT solve, Shell Make-the-future, Cannes lions gold and Forbes 30 under 30 for innovation and climate change disruption, this equipment promises to be one of the most significant emission reduction tool.


2. Interceptor-



Image from
Interceptor is The Ocean Cleanup's answer for plastic waste. This device cuts down the lifeline of colossal garbage patches, the rivers. An interceptor is a solar-powered machine strategically located in the river that allows boats to pass while working. This is the first scalable solution to prevent river plastic from entering the ocean. At the top performance, it can extract up to 100,000kg trash per week. The Ocean Cleanup was started by Boyan Slat, a Dutch inventor, entrepreneur and CEO of the company. The company started with clean plastic waste in five colossal garbage patches, the largest one being the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which is located between Hawaii and California. The river waste flowing with the current is guided by the barrier to the conveyor belt which separates the waste differently. This is claimed to be an energy-neutral device with scalability and internet connection as the backbone utilities.

3. Coral reef cooler- The catastrophic event of coral reef destruction which is preceded by coral bleaching could potentially be stopped. The Climate Foundation did a study to establish the possibility to stop coral bleaching through a field-based cooling system. They did the research three times in 2008, 2009 and 2001-20012. They saw a direct relationship between coral bleaching and the oceanic temperature. The study suggested marine permaculture and seawater air conditioning as possible solutions going forward. Dr.Mo Ehasani Prof. Emeritus of Civil engineering and president of this company Quakewrap has created a unique and sustainable pipe with zero-emissions future. This pipe is connected to a pump which transports cold water from the deep ocean to dying coral reefs. They have created a fibre-reinforced polymer(FRP)  that is very efficient in underwater usage. This project is in the development part as of now. To know more about FRP click here.

These particular tools are only available to people in the United States. CL Mappers is a joint project supported by the Environmental Protection Agency(EPA), USDA forest service(USFS) and the National Park Service(NPS). This tool makes information on the deposition of atmospheric nitrogen(N) and sulphur(S) available to the public and its effects on the natural ecosystem. This is an open source available to everyone. ICLUS is a spatial projection of population and land-use that are based on IPCC's special report on the emission scenario(SERS). Global environmental change is majorly driven by climate and land-use change. This tool produces a spatially explicit projection and a model to simulate annual projection within the USA. This is also an open source report. Click here to see.

Ozonesaunde- https://www.en-sci.com/product/ecc-ozonesonde/

A device that is coupled with radiosonde to measure the concentration of ozone in specific altitudes. Its working involves using a concentration cell. A balloon carries the device ascends in the atmosphere and gives back basic readings like pressure, temperature, humidity and ozone concentration. It has a concentration cell of KOH(Potassium iodide) aqueous. Air is directed by the pump into the cell which converts ozone in oxygen. Brewer and Milford(1960) developed a type of ozonesonde which involved platinum at cathode and silver at the anode. The brief working is explained as follows-

The reaction involved: 

2KI + O3 + H2O -------> I2 + O2 + 2KOH  (Redox reaction)

At cathode: I2 + 2e- Pt ------> 2I- (0.06 Mol/l (1%KI))

At anode: 2Ag-  ---> 2Ag* + 2e-

2I-(8.0 Mol/l (saturated KI)) ----> I2 + 2e-

By knowing the volume flow rate and temperature, the electrical current can be converted to an ozone concentration. All the data is collected during the 2-hour weather balloon ascend. To get more detail and buy this equipment click here.



This device by W labs converts turns food scraps into fertilizers. Many major cities have a conversion but within the time it reaches some important minerals are lost. Moreover, the luxury of the conversion plant is not available to everyone. This device is very useful for the agriculture population, which requires labour and is highly efficient, and converts waste into manure within 24 hours. It has a simple usage. Simply put your food waste(excluding bones), make sure you have installed a carbon filter, add a plant-based additive and then you have a mobile app to start operations. After about 24 hours your manure is generated. It is a particularly expensive tool for $999. But with this tool, you can sustain your small household flower pots and are also available for industrial use.


7. Water gen-

As the population around the world struggles to access clean natural water, Water-gen generated a solution that converts humidity in the air to fresh and clean drinking water. This technology extracts water directly from the air, purifies the air and gives clean water as output. This technology can be revolutionary in the Middle-eastern country which spends a lot of money to generate clean water. Also, the African region can be helped the most as this technology does not require high air humidity quantity. This machine can be powered using solar panels or wind turbines. To learn more about its working click here. It is a wonder of human ingenuity. Their water generator comes in a range of sizes to suit cities, villages, commercial centres, schools, hospitals, private homes, and many more. This is a unique and innovative technology, providing high standards of quality which is the only energy-efficient and cost-effective approach currently available.

8. Hydrogel-
Sodium polyacrylate or hydrogel is a super absorbent polymer that absorbs water 800-1000 times its weight. It is the same material that is used in baby diapers. This polymer if correctly use has the potential to reduce the plastic bottled water and mitigate world food crisis problems by an effective supply of available water. In 2008, Dr.Nayoung Lee created the new super absorbent polymer that was inexpensive, non-toxic and that would last for a dozen rain or water cycle. He helped create a company called mOasis that created Aquamer that optimises usage of water in the agricultural soil. This is a very effective method as the experiment found 45% more yield with 25% less water and 1% more yield with 50% less water in tomatoes. The amount of hydrogel required for an acre is only 10kg. This product gives a very cost-effective approach to advanced farming techniques.

9. Solubag-
Sodium polyacrylate or hydrogel is a super absorbent polymer that absorbs These bags promising to be a substitution for environmentally polluting plastic bags. It contains polyvinyl alcohol which is usually made from crude oil, natural gas and other materials. It is composed of components soluble in water. You can simply put this bag in water and stir slowly to see its solubility. Some of Solubag products are shoe cover, face mask, clip clap and different types of bags. This is a patented solution, which solves the problem of hot and cold water solubility by providing a fabric bag which is an only solute in hot water. This solution comes from Chile which is experiencing the plastic crisis first hand. Chilean scientist and inventor of Solubag says that material has the potential to replace all the plastic worldwide. If you are interested in wholesale cooperation click here.

10. The Global calculator-

This is an open-source tool that lets you play God with the world's future. Backed by the UK government, you can control the world's energy, land and forest system and create your own version of the future up to 2050. You can see the emission scenario, energy supply curve, impact of travel, diet, transport, buildings, manufacturing and many more. It is an interesting tool and at the same time helps you learn about the simplest lifestyle impact on climate. To use this calculator click here and to know more about it click here. Just visit this website and stick around. We will create a detailed explanation of this calculator in the future.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

An Indian perspective of new generation of farming: Vertical farming

Image
The way we grow our food has to change substantially in future. World population is set to increase by 9.1billion by 2050 from 7.79billion in 2020. With an exponential increase in population, according to FAO , there must be an increase of 70% in food production to satisfy future needs. In the process of becoming food secure using current land-use change activities in future, we might end up converting all of the forests into agricultural cultivation land. Currently, 70% of freshwater withdrawal is only for agricultural activities. This technique of growing crops is highly unsustainable. Agricultural land in past was created by clearing forest areas. But this is no longer an option. With more and more agricultural land disappearing and intensifying desertification, the necessity for a feasible solution is a must. We need to have more food production per unit area. Traditionally it was achieved through the use of fertilizers. But the chemicals involved in the process are far more deg
Read more

The real climate activist

Image
Climate activists like Greta Thunberg keep on capturing media attention as climate change keeps on becoming a critical topic of discussion around the world. They keep on citing climate apocalypse as on their demand for more radical policy changes. But what they are suggesting is actually achievable or is it just a fanciful plan. From 21 to 24 January 2020, 50th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum(WEF) happened in Davos, Switzerland. This meeting theme was 'Stakeholder for a cohesive and sustainable world'. This meeting mainly focused on tracking and improving global progress on climate change and sustainable economic growth. Greta had an opportunity to make opening remarks on session averting 'climate apocalypse' in WEF. She in her speech criticized government and policymakers on lenient policy regarding harmful emission. She urged governments to immediately halt any investment in fossil fuel exploration and extraction. She proposed real zero-emission ec
Read more

Simplest Climate Model

Image
To understand the complex climate model first, we need to understand the most basic climate model and in future articles, we will explore the more complex and ignored concepts in this model. This model is the threshold of climate modelling having a lot of inconsistency. First, let us understand how heat energy is produced. The heat energy is produced by oscillating of atom/molecule. The reason why you burn your skin is that motion of atoms in your skin is increased by coming in contact with a hotter object. This, in turn, rips apart the chemical bonds of your skin ultimately resulting in a burn. Particularly when we are dealing with earth sciences we are dealing with light energy coming from the sun by radiation. Then you might ask that earth is covered by an atmospheric blanket, how exactly can heat energy come in earth. The answer is earth is a blackbody. A blackbody is an object that oscillators at all different frequency and absorbing all incident electromagnetic radiation. Th
Read more