Every one of these greenhouse gas innovations is in various stages of design and operation, but they’re all laying important groundwork for the fight against climate change. Systems will evolve and new inventions will crop up, but here’s a look at some cool projects that are happening now – right here in the United States.

Carbon-Trapping Sponges from Cornell University: Carbon trapping is a method that chemically catches carbon dioxide before it’s released into the atmosphere and a team of Cornell scientists have created low-toxicity, highly effective carbon-trapping “sponges” that are safer and less corrosive than traditional systems.

Stanford University’s New Energy System: The University is building a 300-acre solar farm, which will provide 53 percent of its total electricity, and combining it with a new heat-recovery Central Energy Facility that will capture two-thirds of the waste heat generated by the cooling system to produce hot water and meet more than 90 percent of the campus’ heating demands.

Turning Greenhouse Gas Into Plastic: Newlight Technologies is producing plastic from carbon emissions, capturing the harmful greenhouse gas before it’s emitted into the air. It’s also more affordable than oil-based plastic, which could ultimately help cut dependence on foreign oil. The process reconfigures carbon, hydrogen and oxygen molecules into thermoplastic.

Big Batteries for Renewable Energy Storage: There’s Tesla’s new Powerwall battery and then the recent news from Long Island, New York about large batteries that are storing energy generated by solar panels. These big batteries can reduce greenhouse gas by storing renewable energy and then powering homes when energy isn’t being created by wind or sun.

Extracting Hydrogen from Water to Create Electricity: Scientists at Stanford University are using electrolysis and an alloy of iron and nickel to extract hydrogen molecules from H2O. Their method of hydrolyzing water is safer, cleaner and cheaper than other techniques and could ultimately lead to a renewable energy storage process rivaling sometimes-pricy battery systems.

At Renergy, we believe in the power of innovation to spur smart change. We’re constantly rethinking the status quo and looking into ways to repurpose what’s already there into clean, renewable energy and cut down on greenhouse gas emissions. Read more about us.

Sources

theguardian.com