What are your questions? (about science... "green" science)

Has there ever been a good use found for radioactive waste from nuclear plants? I’ve been seeing videos on the progress that’s being made with small nuclear power generators for domestic use and believe this to be the possible answer to our largest pollution problem, but having a use for the waste could turn this tech into the best of all worlds. Nuclear power vs environmental damage, it would seem, could actually have the best green return for our world. Public perception is a major hurdle though, although that could be more of an education problem that could be tackled. Squirrels are just rodents with good PR, so if they can do it, this tech could too!

André

In The Before Times, short-stay flights from Alberta to Las Vegas was by far the most common airplane rides most people that I know took. Next up we’re very short stay business trips. Since the pandemic and the forced acceptance of video conferencing, I’m really hoping we see a reduction of at least the business trips in The After Times. But we’ve also experienced an explosion of people taking in the spectacular nature offerings out here, like camping and hiking in the mountains, so I’m hoping the reduction in short-haul quick getaway flights shows a massive reduction too. With the take off and ensuing climb to elevation taking up the vast majority of fuel for any flight, that alone may help significantly with the airliner’s reputation as a massive polluter. Same for rush-hour traffic. Many organizations that I work with claim that they will not be going back to the old all-employees-in method of doing business. That too might help. This pandemic could end up having some fantastic silver linings.

André

I have an academic friend in Denmark with a background in meteorology who has worked for multiple decades on wind resources and turbine placement. Let me know if that's an area of interest as I'm sure he'd be happy to contribute.

Kevin Walters

Recent reporting on wind turbines vs bats and birds in South Africa, interesting comment in there about domestic cats and IdentiFlight in Wyoming: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-57176807

Kevin Walters

The UK breakdown for greenhouse gas emissions is frequently a surprise as it reminds us how inefficient housing is here and how much we rely on natural gas for heating those poorly insulated homes. Aviation is very small compared to how much attention it gets and it's trivial to reduce usage in terms of passengers, just fly less. I'd say clarity on breakdowns is important too. Energy, carbon dioxide emission and greenhouse gas emission are three different but related things.

Kevin Walters

I'd like to see Terrestrial Energy's IMSR included in the discussion. Their focus is on safety and affordability using technologies that don't require breakthroughs as well as integration plans for energy-harvesting technologies (like solar/wind). Separately, I'd be interested to see a current analysis of energy consumption distribution. What percent of emissions come from which sectors of the economy nowadays?

Corey Jones

A friend recently built a new manufacturing facility with hepa filtered air streams to each worker. No Covid risk issues ... approved in California.

The Washington Post has just introduced me to Saul Griffith who is apparently a fan of mass electrification: https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/interactive/2021/saul-griffith-mass-electrification/ The pertinent piece for me is actually from Michael Greenstone. “I appreciate and admire Griffith’s creativity,” said Michael Greenstone, director of the Energy Policy Institute and Becker Friedman Institute at the University of Chicago. “However, I think the urgency of the climate crisis requires that we ruthlessly search for the least expensive reductions in CO2, rather than those that might be possible no matter the cost.” In terms of accurate carbon footprint accounting, one surprise here back in 2007 was cut flowers. The notion of spurning non-seasonal food and air-freighted food was popular at the time but it turned out the roses flown from East Africa to Europe were lower than ones from the Netherlands - this went against the simplistic notion that air freight is always bad. This is a follow-up to the original research the media reported on: https://www.fairtrade.net/library/life-cycle-assessment-cut-roses and this is another summary of the situation where the numbers are more similar for other flowers: https://www.flowersfromthefarm.co.uk/blog/the-carbon-footprint-of-flowers

Kevin Walters

There's a launch of a new whitepaper on role of the UK electricity sector in achieving net zero greenhouse emissions soon on 8-Jun-2021. Timing is a bit harsh for west coast but might be interesting: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/events/135270/powering-net-zero-britain-white-paper-launch-panel-discussion/ Their colleagues have recently been submitting evidence to the UK Government on the role of hydrogen and fuel cells to achieve net zero by 2050: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/216973/path-zero-experts-advise-parliamentarians-hydrogen/ Might be interesting to have a brief snippet on Hawaii's energy story in your video. If they are planning on being carbon neutral it would be interesting if they include flights for tourism in that accounting. I found out very recently that at least one company has changed its policy on air conditioning to not recirculate any air to reduce covid risk. That's going to increase energy use for heating/cooling and may be a widespread change and unfortunate step increase in energy use.

Kevin Walters

I think the V&A museum had a mock-up of an algae based system in an exhibition a few years ago. These systems appear to be known as biophotovoltaic (BPV) or photobioreactors (PBR). Some combine generation with storage: https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/harnessing-the-power-of-algae-new-greener-fuel-cells-move-step-closer-to-reality

Kevin Walters

Fusion is back in the news today, "Mast Upgrade: UK experiment could sweep aside fusion hurdle" https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-57232644

Kevin Walters

WOW y'all have some great questions. And a lot of them. I would probably have to make a full length feature to answer all of them, but hopefully my videos will be a good starting point :) Thank you all for sending these!!

Dianna Cowern

Maybe cement/concrete batteries will save us: https://www.chalmers.se/en/departments/ace/news/Pages/World-first-concept-for-rechargeable-cement-based-batteries.aspx

Kevin Walters

I just watched an older video where you raise concerns about wildlife (birds) vs concentrated solar. I wasn't aware of that but clearly any man-made structure has some impact and wind turbines are known for their casualties. The UK has a well established, large charity for birds which is supportive of wind turbines with the caveat of thoughtful location. https://www.rspb.org.uk/our-work/policy-insight/climate-change/action-to-tackle-climate-change/uk-energy-policy/wind-farms/ That brief summary mentions: "Some poorly sited wind farms have caused major bird casualties, particularly at Tarifa and Navarra in Spain and the Altamont Pass in California." The sites also get reviewed for impact to radar for the other aviators.

Kevin Walters

Also, how much progress has been made with fusion? I've heard some breakthroughs using powerful magnets and highly conductive tape (all using rare earth elements).

Matt Schwoebel

How efficient are these compared to photosynthesis (natural solar cells), water vortices (natural hydropower - see https://youtu.be/XiefORPamLU), and other ways of living in tune with nature?

Victoria Li

What is the economic truth behind green energy. If you watch Michael Moore's Planet of the Humans, he has some very disturbing conclusions. Curious if you concur with his research.

MPotter

WOW these are some great questions. Thank you all so much! I'm not sure I'll ever get to all of them, but this was SO helpful to get me thinking about these upcoming videos. So thank you! And sorry I don't have answers for you yet... but SOON.

Dianna Cowern