Dutch treats: Making Concrete Green & Technology Clean

Scientists at Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands have developed a paving material that actually eats pollution, claiming it could soon become a crucial tool for improving air quality in urban areas. While three Dutch scientists say that scarcity, climate change and pandemics are examples of global problems that are caused partly by technology. But they can also be solved by new technologies, according to their book “2030: Technology that will change the world”.

Published on: 16 September, 2010

Scarcity, climate change and pandemics are examples of global problems that are caused partly by technology. However, they can also be solved by new technologies, say Technische Universiteit Eindhoven (TU/e) scientists Rutger van Santen and Djan Khoe, and journalist Bram Vermeer in their book “2030: Technology that will change the world”, published by Oxford University press.

The need to write the book sprung from the urgent realization that for the first time in human history, certain crises are genuinely global in scope, say the authors. The 2007 food shortages occurred in Asia, Africa and South America simultaneously, for example. 2008’s recession was global, and after the flu outbreak in 2009 it took the virus only days to travel the world.

For their book, Van Santen (professor Catalysis and former Rector at TU/e), Khoe (professor Electro-optical Communication) and science journalist Vermeer interviewed a large number of authoritative experts. Among the interviewees are Hans Blix (head of the UN research in Iraq), Craig Venter (explorer of human DNA), Susan Greenfield (brain scientist) and Hans Joachim Schnellnhuber (climate scientist).

The book’s creators started out by listing the greatest problems facing the world today. After having done so, they selected independent experts and asked them: What kind of technological and scientific breakthroughs are needed to prevent these threats from manifesting themselves? The authors confess some of the solutions that are put forward in the book to be ‘controversial, yet realistic’. They hope their book can give some direction to the global research agenda.

The English book will be on sale as of today at Oxford University Press. A Chinese translation is planned for 2012 (Mandarin Chinese), after the release of a Korean edition in 2011.

2006 already saw the publication of a Dutch precursor to the book, titled ‘Intelligent pills and other technology that will change our lives’*. It was written on the occasion of TU/e’s 50th anniversary. Still, the writers felt the need to tell the whole world about their ideas. The new book is a thoroughly re-written version of the 2006 publication, and includes a greater number of renowned international experts.

Rutger van Santen has been a professor at TU/e since 1988. From 2001-2005, he held the position of Rector at the university. He was awarded the Spinoza Prize in 1997, which is the highest scientific award in the Netherlands. Professor Djan Khoe is Fellow of both the Institute of Electronic and Electrical Engineering and the Optical Society of America. With his research group at Philips Research, he set the world record for data transport via fiberglass in 1995. In collaboration with Keio University, he subsequently beat the world record for data transport via polymer optical fibers several times.

Source: w3.tue.nl/en/

By Matt Ford, for CNN eco solutions:

Concrete isn’t usually considered an environmentalists’ friend, but a remarkable new technology could soon be turning the gray stuff green.

Scientists at Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands have developed a paving material that actually eats pollution, claiming it could soon become a crucial tool for improving air quality in urban areas.

The problem in many cities is that vehicle exhausts emit nitrogen oxides, which cause acid rain and smog that damages not only human health and quality of life but also the fabric of buildings.

But the new concrete is coated with titanium dioxide, which is a photocatalytic material, meaning it removes the nitrogen oxides and uses sunlight to convert them into harmless nitrate that is washed away by rain.

Air regulations are becoming stricter, and in many busy streets the air quality standard is still failing.
–Professor Jos Brouwers

“In our tests we have found nitrogen oxide reductions of 35 to 40 percent in areas paved with the new concrete,” Professor Jos Brouwers of the Department of Architecture, Building and Planning at Eindhoven University of Technology told CNN.

Titanium dioxide is already commonly used to coat surfaces that are hard to clean — it is a component in some paints — because it functions as a self-cleaning chemical, meaning the new concrete has the additional advantage that it breaks down algae and dirt so its surface stays clean.

Brouwers’ discoveries are part of a race to explore new ways of using new technology to mitigate pollution. Chinese researchers are believed to be experimenting with nanotech polymers to coat exhaust pipes, and others across the world are experimenting with titanium dioxide.

Following extensive laboratory tests the pollution-eating concrete has now been trialed in the Dutch town of Hengelo, where 1,000 square meters of the road’s surface were covered with air-purifying paving stones.

As a control, another area of 1,000 square meters was surfaced with normal concrete paving slabs. Samples were then taken from the air at between 0.5 and 1.5 meters above the surface.

“The air-purifying properties of the new paving stones had already been shown in the laboratory, but these results now show that they also work outdoors,” said Brouwers.

“[The concrete] could be a very feasible solution for inner city areas where they have a problem with air pollution. We will continue measuring to the end of the year because the authorities need to be convinced it is a feasible technology.

“Air quality is an important issue and they know it is something important to consider.”

The paving slabs used in the tests have been made by, and co-developed with, manufacturer Struyk Verwo Infra, and are already available for use. But the applications of the technology are not limited to paving. Where an asphalt surface is required, the concrete can be mixed with normal asphalt and, according to Brouwers, it can also be used to make walls.

“You can apply it very easily in the normal production,” says Brouwers. “It doesn’t require any maintenance; it doesn’t wear off with normal use.”

Predictably the material is around 50 percent more expensive than normal concrete, but Brouwers is adamant that when the total cost of fitting is included, the overall increase in cost is only 10 percent.

“Sure, it is slightly more expensive, but if you look at the total pavement costs where the stone is one part — there is also labor, foundations etc. to calculate — then you are only looking at a slightly higher cost,” he says.

Some may argue that it is more important to try and tackle pollution at the source rather than mitigate its effects. But Brouwers sees the new concrete as a pragmatic response to a very real problem — a second line of defense — and one element in a suite of measures that should be adopted to improve air quality in our cities.

“Cars are subject to more and more stringent regulations all the time, and they are becoming cleaner; so are factories,” he says.

“But at the same time air regulations are becoming stricter and stricter and in many busy streets the air quality standard is still failing, so [the concrete] is a valuable addition.

“Of course you have to treat [pollution] at the source, but standards are so strict now and air quality regulations are still not met, so [the concrete] can be useful.”

Source: www.edition.cnn.com

Acronyms Which Count: PES, UNEP & CNN

One of the biggest dilemmas for conservationists is that preserving the environment often conflicts with the needs of the poorest communities who live there. In many areas, forests of outstanding biodiversity are being chopped down by poor subsistence farmers in need of firewood and land to grow the food they need to survive, ecologists say. Enter Payments for Environmental Services, or PES. CNN Eco Solutions reports.

By Catriona Davies for CNN eco solutions:

London, England (CNN) — One of the biggest dilemmas for conservationists is that preserving the environment often conflicts with the needs of the poorest communities who live there.

In many areas, forests of outstanding biodiversity are being chopped down by poor subsistence farmers in need of firewood and land to grow the food they need to survive, ecologists say.

Enter Payments for Environmental Services, or PES, an idea gaining popularity among conservationists as a way of allowing communities to benefit from conservation of their environment.

The idea is to that local communities are paid depending on the outcome of agreed objectives, such as stopping forest clearance, poaching and wildfires.

The United Nations Environment Program is testing PES in several countries as a way of reducing deforestation. While many conservationists like the idea of PES, few have tested empirically whether it actually works.

We don’t want to make anyone worse off than they were at the start.

Scientists from the University of East Anglia are carrying out a controlled experiment in Rwanda to compare how the forest is conserved in communities that receive payments compared with those who do not.

The three-year ReDirect Rwanda project, which began last year, involves eight villages around Nyungwe National Park, one of the largest mountainous forests in Africa. Four of the villages receive payments — paid to every individual household — if woodcutting, bamboo cutting and snaring are reduced in their areas, and four villages do not receive payments.

Nicole Gross-Camp, a researcher on the ReDirect Rwanda project, said: “In my previous ecology work, I always felt there was a disconnection between conservation and the communities, usually subsistence farmers, living on the periphery of national parks.

“I found PES an intriguing concept that could marry these two aims of development and conservation. This is an empirical study to see how well PES can do that.

“The major issue is whether conservation and development are compatible and whether we can address these issues simultaneously. That is, whether people can find alternatives to what they are currently using.

“The outcome will be far-reaching for other potential places where this could be established.”

She said Rwanda was a suitable place to test PES because it is one of the most densely populated countries in Africa, mainly made up of poor subsistence farmers. The Rwandan government has made a strong commitment to conservation, and Nyungwe National Park has a high biodiversity and a number of endemic species, she added.

Some local people carry out illegal wood collection, bamboo collection, snaring of animals and honey collection in the national park in order to survive, Gross-Camp said.

Bamboo is widely used for building homes, roofs, furniture, bedding, baskets and crafts. Animals, such as Gambian rats, duikers and bush pigs, are snared for food. Honey collection harms the forest because people usually cut down trees and smoke out bees, which often starts wildfires, Gross-Camp said.

“There are alternative sources of these products, but whether they are sufficiently accessible and affordable remains a question,” she said.

Gross-Camp said that so far the project seemed to be working, with all but one of the communities reducing harmful activities in the forest.

She added: “Now we need to assess how this has affected the communities’ livelihoods. We don’t want to make anyone worse off than they were at the start.”

One of the challenges for PES is to be sustainable in the long term. The ReDirect Rwanda project has funding from the European Research Council, but if people are to make lasting lifestyle changes, their payments need to be guaranteed beyond the end of the project.

“Who will continue to pay when we finish?” said Gross-Camp.

The answer, conservationists hope, is that large businesses will make the payments to offset their environmental activities.

However, Josh Donlan, director of the U.S.-based Advanced Conservation Strategies, said it might take regulation to persuade large businesses to contribute.

“More and more countries are looking into PES programs run by governments, but I think a lot of people would like to see more payment programs with the private sector as the ‘buyer’, said Donlan.

“It’s hard to persuade the private sector to engage in PES schemes voluntarily, so that might have to be through regulation.”

Neil Burgess, Professor of Conservation Biology at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, advises the WWF and the United Nations Environment Program on PES. He is working on several UNEP-led pilot projects in Tanzania testing forest carbon payments to local communities.

Burgess said: “These projects have the potential to work and are starting to work, in that money is moving from companies and capital cities to local people — which has never happened before.

“That gives us hope for the future that big companies may start paying more farmers to change their land use.

“The biggest problem is actually getting the money to poor people in rural areas who do not have bank accounts or Internet banking.

“It becomes quite inefficient if you need staff to drive around in cars distributing money to individuals.”

In the case of ReDirect Rwanda, the project coincides with a government campaign to increase the use of bank accounts, so all payments are being made into bank accounts.

Still, some people have a day’s walk to reach their nearest bank, Gross-Camp said.

Source: www.edition.cnn.com

Lucky Last: Suddenly, green’s back in fashion

We have lift-off. Business wants a price put on carbon sooner rather than later and a chastened federal government, clinging to power with the aid of the Greens and three far-sighted independents, is getting the message.

The climate naysayers are diminishing and will soon be left behind altogether. There is no dodging the issue. World greenhouse gas emissions need to peak before 2020 and drop quickly thereafter. There is no time to lose, says Paddy Manning in Business Day.

Australia is a crucial player as the 15th largest emitter and a leading exporter of climate change. We are also one of the best-placed economies to shoulder the cost of climate mitigation and adaptation, and make the jump to a zero-emission future. Read More

Paddy Manning in Business Day (18 September 2010):

The need to save our environment is on the political agenda again.

WE HAVE lift-off. Business wants a price put on carbon sooner rather than later and a chastened federal government, clinging to power with the aid of the Greens and three far-sighted independents, is getting the message.

The climate naysayers are diminishing and will soon be left behind altogether. There is no dodging the issue. World greenhouse gas emissions need to peak before 2020 and drop quickly thereafter. There is no time to lose.

Australia is a crucial player as the 15th largest emitter and a leading exporter of climate change. We are also one of the best-placed economies to shoulder the cost of climate mitigation and adaptation, and make the jump to a zero-emission future.

Whatever combination of solutions you choose, we have options galore: abundant gas and uranium, and massive renewable energy resources that are economic to develop, especially wind and solar.

We have one of the world’s biggest retirement savings pools searching for predictable, long-term returns and a crying need for government bonds. Shovelling super into the sharemarket doesn’t cut it any more. If we choose to build genuinely clean energy infrastructure we can fund it, privately or publicly.

In June ANU climate scientist Will Steffen said he was increasingly advising investors who wanted to switch to low-carbon-emitting energy technologies. ”Our private sector sees that if we don’t start moving fast we could easily become a stranded country in a stranded economy … sitting on a big pile of coal no one wants.”

Economist Ross Garnaut, author of Australia’s Climate Change Review, told ABC radio on Thursday he reckoned coal demand would peak before 2020. That’s soon. Australia’s coal rush can’t last and, given rising food insecurity, it would be madness to let the coal industry push further into some of the best farmland in the country.

So, good on BHP’s chief coal miner Marius Kloppers, whose Wednesday speech was well timed to put climate action back on the political agenda.

That does not mean we should do what he says. We shouldn’t. Kloppers’s suggested ”mosaic of initiatives” would, in practice, lower the bar for industry, even below where it was set by the government’s failed carbon pollution reduction scheme.

Kloppers called for not one carbon price, but two: ”A combination of a carbon tax … and limited trading system – for example, for stationary electricity production only – is both easy to implement and effective”.

The combination of a carbon tax on liquid fuels (levied on petrol or diesel wholesalers, for example) and an ETS on the electricity sector and other forms of stationary energy (i.e. industrial use of gas or coal, not for power generation) would cover about 65 per cent of our emissions. But it would exempt trade-exposed emissions-intensive industries such as LNG and coalmining, aluminium smelting and alumina refining – which will account for roughly 20 per cent of the country’s carbon pollution by 2020.

Kloppers proposed a ”trade-friendly” regime that would rebate emissions costs for trade exposed industries in full, to prevent so-called ”carbon leakage” – when heavy polluters move offshore – until there is a global agreement on climate. Critics say this would remove any carbon price signal for exporters. Under the government’s proposed ETS, they would have received free pollution permits – initially equal to 94 per cent of annual emissions (or 66 per cent in the case of the LNG industry), and dropping gradually from there.

Although that high level of compensation was criticised heavily, the free permits at least gave polluters some incentive to reduce emissions. If they did reduce emissions, they could sell their unused permits.

A full cash rebate of emissions costs removes that incentive altogether. One market analyst described the proposal as ”extraordinary”.

The upshot? BHP pays less of any carbon tax, of course.

Whoopee for BHP’s Worsley Alumina refinery in Western Australia, for example, or its export LNG business which includes stakes in the North-West Shelf and Browse Basin joint ventures.

The company argues carbon rebates would be wound down in the transition to a full international agreement on carbon pricing. Maybe so. But the lack of an early price signal for heavy-polluting export industries is inconsistent with Kloppers’s desire for a broad-based system.

There’s a bit of inconsistency going around. While Kloppers is talking up the need for action on climate change, BHP is failing miserably to meet its own greenhouse targets because, according to a source close to the company, its main focus is on ”production, production, production”. In 2006 then chief executive Chip Goodyear said BHP would cut greenhouse gas emissions per unit of production by 6 per cent by 2012. By 2009 they were tracking at 3 per cent above the 2006 baseline. Carbon-based energy use per unit of production was supposed to fall by 13 per cent over the same period. Instead it has risen by 8 per cent. BHP’s report offered no excuse.

But Kloppers has given our post-election climate debate a kick-along this week, as did key players such as AGL Energy’s Michael Fraser and Business Council president Graham Bradley, who said a form of carbon price was ”inevitable”.

Resources and Energy Minister Martin Ferguson told G-Biz business was making a ”strong statement about the need for certainty for the purpose of guaranteeing investment in Australia, especially in electricity generation. More and more, the only section of the community with their heads in the sand are members of the Coalition led by Tony Abbott.”

All aboard.

Source: www.businessday.com.au