Category: Environment

The International Energy Agency’s latest Electricity Market Report 2023 brings news of a significant change in the global energy landscape. Projections indicate that 90% of the new upcoming demand for electricity, from now until 2025, will be met by clean energy sources like wind, solar, and nuclear power.

This shift is also expected to make renewables the dominant global electricity source within the next three years, accounting for 35% of the world’s electricity and surpassing coal. The report highlights the desire for increasing sustainable energy solutions. The future seems geared towards renewables taking a leading role in meeting the world’s growing electricity needs.

In Aqaba on Jordan’s Red Sea coast, the Sahara Forest Project practices innovative farming amid extreme water scarcity. Despite Jordan importing 98% of its food this farm found a way to plant crops like cucumbers, peppers, and passion fruit.

This sustainable farm relies on solar power and seawater, using evaporative systems and salt-tolerant plants. The project aims to reverse land degradation by enriching soil through waste recycling. With a successful track record, the project is expanding, replacing seawater trucks with a pipeline and aiming to absorb more carbon than it emits. It has created good jobs in the area and provides training of sustainable farming methods, offering a model for sustainable agriculture amid the challenging arid climate.

A major nuclear waste treatment facility at the Hanford cleanup site in Washington which was built through a public-private partnership with Bechtel National— is set to start operations soon.

The facility transforms liquid and solid nuclear waste into non-radioactive glass bricks, which can be safely stored underground. This initiative aims to address the environmental and health concerns associated with nuclear power plants, particularly the legacy of radioactive plutonium from Cold War-era nuclear warheads.

The Hanford site recently advanced its plans after completing a successful test that produced 30,000 pounds of vitrified glass. The first of the two 300-ton melters is expected to be operational next year, marking a significant step in the risk reduction for the Hanford environmental cleanup mission.

Out of the over 100 tanks of radioactive plutonium waste stored underground at the site, 20 of these have some sort of leak. This new waste treatment will be a great solution for addressing this problem.

Solar energy is becoming increasingly popular option for supplemental power, particularly because of its reported environmental impact. However, as solar panels reach the end of their lifespan, the question of how to recycle these materials has become a pressing issue. Researchers from Australia’s Deakin University are working on a groundbreaking solution to this problem.

Deakin University’s Institute for Frontier Materials has been at the forefront of this research, with Dr. Md Mokhlesur Rahman and Prof. Ying (Ian) Chen leading the charge. Their focus is on repurposing the silicon in used solar panels, which is the most valuable component of the panels. This breakthrough could be the missing piece in the puzzle of solar panel recycling.

The team has developed a process to extract silicon from discarded solar panels and then convert it into nano silicon for use in lithium-ion batteries. This innovative approach not only addresses the issue of solar panel waste but also provides a sustainable source of raw battery materials for the future.

The potential impact of this research is enormous. By 2050, it is estimated that there will be around 1.5 million tons of solar panels lying in waste. The ability to recycle and repurpose these materials could generate recovered materials worth $15 billion, based on the 78 million tons of solar panel waste expected to be generated globally by 2050.

The researchers have also found that the recovered silicon can be used in other applications, such as nano-fertilizers and innovative methods for carbon capture. This means that the technology has the potential to create a circular economy in the solar industry, where waste is minimized and resources are reused in a sustainable manner.

Deakin University’s efforts in solar panel recycling are part of a larger initiative called the Recycling and Clean Energy Commercialisation Hub (REACH). This four-year, $380 million project aims to drive new technology in hydrogen, battery storage, and recycling for a circular economy.