Innovations could prove useful for a greener tomorrow

As the world continues to face the challenges of global warming, peak oil, and economic downturn, scientists are constantly searching for cheap and renewable sources of fuel or production. In recent years, researchers have developed innovations such as Bloom Boxes, BacillaFilla, and algae biofuels. But are these developments realistic answers to our energy problems?

Bloom Boxes were fully developed by Bloom Energy in 2010 and have already been used by companies such as Google, eBay, FedEx, and Coca-Cola. They are energy servers composed of solid oxide fuel cells made from ceramic plates consisting of cheap zirconia-based sand. These fuel cells use a large amount of heat to produce a chemical reaction in which hydrogen molecules can be used to generate electricity. Bloom Energy claims that a single server can generate 100kW of electricity, or “enough to meet the baseload needs of 100 average homes or a small office building.” The server is roughly the size of one parking space, and, while it does use fossil fuels to produce heat and gives off some CO2, experts at the consulting firm Gerson Lehrman Group say the Bloom Box is twice as efficient as a gas fired power station.

BacillaFilla, an innovation developed by students at Newcastle University, is not an energy source per se, but it does provide a way to cut back on energy costs and carbon emissions. The students genetically engineered bacteria to travel down cracks in concrete and then produce a mixture of calcium carbonate and bacterial glue, which together harden and fill the crack. According to an MSNBC report, these bacteria are also designed to grow only in contact with the specific pH of concrete and to self-destruct when not in contact with concrete, so as to prevent them from growing concrete on humans or similar dangers. The benefits of these bacteria are great since they are easily produced and do not release the carbon emissions of concrete production which accounts for almost 5% of the world’s emissions.

Read more: greenanswers.com/blog/239919/are-these-three-innovations-path-greener-future#ixzz1NDBF66Ds

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