carbon Archives – The Green Optimistic

New Solar Cell Behaves Like Actual Plant

Courtney Lepping — Thu, 04 Aug 2016 19:49:19 +0000

There’s an efficient new solar cell that can basically perform the job of any plant: convert carbon dioxide into fuel. Instead of a photovoltaic solar cell, the photosynthetic solar cell aims to utilize the excess carbon in the atmosphere and make fuel from that. The characteristics and appearance of such solar cell is much like […]

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Stopping Peatland Wildfires May Reduce Climate Change

Courtney Lepping — Sun, 03 Jul 2016 15:37:36 +0000

Climate change happens from both direct and indirect human interference- just look at the recent rise in wildfires. A study in Nature Scientific Reports by ecologist Mike Waddington revealed the repercussions of draining and mining peatlands: widespread wildfires. Peatlands, or bogs found in the northern hemisphere, are vulnerable to fires because of unearthed organic material […]

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Carbon in Ancient Soil May Exacerbate Climate Change

Leigh Hutchens — Tue, 27 May 2014 02:24:50 +0000

According to scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, soil that was formed on the surface of the Earth and is now buried deep underground has been found to be rich in carbon. This adds an interesting and complex dimension to our world’s carbon cycle. According to the study, published in the journal Nature Geoscience, human […]

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Western Australia Innovating Carbon Management Practices

Leigh Hutchens — Thu, 12 Sep 2013 02:16:16 +0000

According to researchers at the University of Western Australia (UWA), in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture and Food WA (DAFWA), Western Australia’s surface soils are storing as much carbon as they are able. In fact, in agricultural regions in the southwest of Western Australia, the soil, usually between 0-10 cm, stores as much carbon […]

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How to Save Energy to Reduce Your Home’s Carbon Footprint

Mila Luleva — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 13:45:21 +0000

We all hear the big plans politicians and environmentalists have to cut down greenhouse gas emissions, reduce carbon footprint, mitigate climate change and so on, but are we, as individuals, making that step towards saving our planet, or we are simply waiting for somebody else to do it for us? We, at The Green Optimistic, […]

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Farmland Turned Back into Salt Marshes Absorbs Carbon

Mila Luleva — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 19:19:28 +0000

Salt marshes that have been previously turned into farmland could be restored and their ability to absorb carbon from the atmosphere resumed. This is the conclusion of a new study conducted by Annette Burden, a wetland biogeochemist based at the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology in Bangor. Looking at the oldest area in the UK, […]

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Soil Organic Carbon Sequestration To Be Measured According To New Protocols

Mila Luleva — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 20:26:47 +0000

Soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration has yet again become a topic of heated debates, as University of Illinois professor of soil science Kenneth Olson, is about to release a detailed study on the influence of tillage practices on atmospheric carbon sequestration in the upcoming issue of the journal Geoderma. The professor gathered data from over […]

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Microbes Accelerate Release of Carbon from Soil to Atmosphere

Janina Lazo-Cruz — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 13:17:29 +0000

In response to warmer temperatures, the microbes that thrive in soils increase their rate of decomposing soil carbon, and hence, they accelerate release of CO2 into the atmosphere. This is the latest finding of scientists from University of Wyoming (UW) and Colorado State University (CSU). To determine the mechanisms behind the accelerated soil carbon loss […]

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Carbon Stored in Soil to Rise Again, Study Says

Janina Lazo-Cruz — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 17:17:29 +0000

After discovering that soil erosion can actually store some carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, acting as a carbon sink, a recent discovery reveals that after some time it can also be a carbon source as its stored carbon will rise up again back to the atmosphere. Researchers at the University of California – Davis have […]

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Biomass-Produced CO2 Should Be Counted As Damaging to Global Warming to Some Extent, Researchers Say

Ovidiu Sandru — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 21:40:16 +0000

Since ages, it's been considered that if you burn biomass the net carbon dioxide emission is zero, since the CO2 emitted is equal to the CO2 absorbed in growing plants. A research conducted at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) says otherwise: we should also count those CO2 emissions along with the ones produced by petrol, for example.

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Japanese Researchers Find Ways To Produce Biobutanol More Efficiently

Ovidiu Sandru — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 10:04:07 +0000

Butanol can be made greener by the research of a Japanese institute, who developed an energy-saving biobutanol with a density of at least 80 percent. They derived their biobutanol from a 1 percent concentrated butanol and used a zeolitic separation membrane.

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South Korea's First Trash-Powered Hydrogen Plant Running by 2010

Cristi — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 07:10:42 +0000

South Korea is taking their first steps towards hydrogen production. Government has signed a memorandum of agreement with oil refiner SK Energy and SK Engineering & Construction to build the world's first trash-powered hydrogen station. Both companies are subsidiaries of South Korean conglomerate SK Group. The plant will be able to extract hydrogen from methane emitted by landfills.

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Nanotube Solar Cells Improve Efficiency 10 Times

Ovidiu Sandru — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 12:45:59 +0000

Nanotechnology seems to help a lot in solar cells improvement. Recent research in solar cell technology shows that a film of carbon nanotubes could replace two of the layers normally used in a solar cell, with improved performance and reduced costs.

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Geothermal plants could consume CO2

Ovidiu Sandru — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 20:01:09 +0000

Pumping carbon dioxide through hot rocks could simultaneously generate power and mop up the greenhouse gases produced by fossil fuel power stations, according to a new study. Harnessing geothermal power involves extracting heat from beneath the surface of the Earth. Normally, this means pumping water down through hot rocks and extracting it again. But the […]

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The problem of storing pressurized hydrogen

Ovidiu Sandru — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 09:59:19 +0000

The thorny problem of how to store hydrogen fuel safely for future vehicles and portable gadgets could be solved by simply storing it in nanoscopic scrolls of carbon. Scientists in Greece say they have found a way to make so-called “carbon nanoscrolls” store more hydrogen than any other material. By adding impurities to rolled sheets […]

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How much does it cost to make the world carbon free?

Ovidiu Sandru — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 21:33:44 +0000

Are you carbon neutral yet? It sure seems like everyone else is. Al Gore has wiped away his carbon footprint. The World Bank aims to be carbon neutral by buying only green energy. Sky Broadcasting is touting itself as the first major media company to go carbon free.So how does Joe Consumer drop the carbon […]

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The first carbon capture system ever built

Ovidiu Sandru — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 13:33:46 +0000

Global Research Technologies, LLC (GRT), a technology research and development company, and Klaus Lackner from Columbia University have achieved the successful demonstration of a bold new technology to capture carbon from the air. The "air extraction" prototype has successfully demonstrated that indeed carbon dioxide (CO2) can be captured from the atmosphere. This is GRT's first step toward a commercially viable air capture device.

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