The Power of a Calm Sea

Since the Philippines relies on boats to transport people and goods across the island nation, a shipbuilding company is designing a new low-carbon alternative of the bangka — a traditional Filipino boat — that uses the waves of the ocean to power it instead of fossil fuels. The ship, known as the trimaran, uses wave energy that converts into electricity for the ship. However, a typhoon and the COVID-19 pandemic have delayed the project, and there are also cost and design challenges. But the trimaran’s use of wave energy could be a step toward reducing the country’s greenhouse gas emissions.

An economic shift to renewable energy could take decades, but thanks to rapidly evolving disruptive technologies, dropping prices of solar and wind power sources, and increasing market demand for green business, the new age of renewable energy could encompass the world economy much more quickly.

Dams make for complex and often controversial infrastructure. While hydropower generated from large dam projects is currently providing the bulk of the planet's renewable energy, dams can also cause major environmental and social damage by interrupting animal migrations, displacing indigenous communities, and collecting toxins. A number of solutions are being implemented, however, to address the various issues caused by dams, to help make them a more eco-friendly and viable source of clean energy.

As climate change causes global sea levels to rise, nations around the world are increasingly concerned about threats to infrastructure and livelihoods. But the Dutch have been keeping the sea at bay for centuries using a variety of methods and technologies. Their designs and plans - such as floating buildings - may provide solutions for other countries looking to evolve and adapt to changing ocean levels.

Aptera Motors, a California-based startup, is poised to roll out the first mass-produced solar vehicle this year: for $25,900. The car is a three-wheel, aerodynamic electric vehicle covered in solar cells that can provide energy to drive about 40 miles. The model is not 100 percent efficient with some energy lost in its electrical current conversion and in its drive system, but the creators say it is four times more effect than an average electric vehicle. Still, when the company started taking preorders, they sold out of its first 330 vehicles in 24 hours.

Climeworks is focusing on pulling carbon dioxide directly out of the air to store or reuse in some capacity as a way to lower global greenhouse gas emissions. The Swiss company has 16 plants around Europe, with their biggest one in Switzerland that removes 900 tons of carbon dioxide a year that is then sold to Coca-Cola Co. to put in soft drinks or to local industrial greenhouses for plant growth. Scaling the operations to capture more carbon is costly, but the startup recently raised $76 million from investors.

Floating wind turbines off the coast of Portugal is one of the latest experiments to convert wind energy into electric power. These machines can generate electricity for a city of up to 60,000 people. While it will take more financing and time to scale the project, investors are impressed with the results and see it as a viable financial return to combat climate change.

Hydrogen fuel has made promising strides from Germany to Japan, thanks to shifting markets for renewables, improved storage technologies, and emissions-reduction goals. Electrolysis that uses renewables to make the fuel could transform transportation and energy infrastructure, but a few concerns about the unintended effects persist.

Setting the bar high for environmental sustainability can encourage innovation and experimentation. Developers of Paris’ new Clichy-Batignolles eco-district are reducing the neighborhood’s carbon footprint in nearly every way imaginable. Solar panels and vegetation cover the energy-efficient buildings, the water table under the 10-hectare (25-acre) park provides geothermal heating, deliveries are directed to a central drop-off site, and much more.

Iceland, hit by the oil crises of the 1970s, turned to geothermal energy - and they haven't turned back. The island is now powered by 100% renewable energy, and they are taking it one step more, looking to further cut emissions using a unique carbon capture system called CarbFix. It is being pioneered at the Hellsheidi geothermal power plant in western Iceland.