Research pick: Energy trees and energy ships - "On the transition to global renewable energy by mid-century"

Wind and solar power must be maximised if we are to make the transition to global renewable energy by the middle of the century. That is the assertion of Max Platzer of AeroHydro Research and Technology Associates in Pebble Beach, California, USA, writing in the International Journal Sustainable Aviation. Hybrid wind-solar power-generation technology could be one key to this aspiration without requiring us to use more land resources or disturbing the wider environment. An energy tree would add a third dimension to solar panels and wind turbines. Additionally, the “energy ship” concept would allow us to exploit vast wind resources across our oceans as well as extract carbon dioxide from seawater to produce renewable aviation fuel.

Despite many diverse efforts to home in on a solution to the problems of climate change, no consensus on how we might address the issues has been found. A switch from fossil fuels is seen as an important transition, provided we can preclude net carbon emissions.

“The possibility of irreversible climate change onset within the next 30 years requires an ‘all hands on deck’ approach to transition to almost complete emission-free power generation,” writes Platzer. To that end, we need energy technologies that can be implemented around the world easily as well as methods to produce fuels that are ultimately carbon neutral. The energy ship concept would be for the time being an interim solution given that the fuels it produces would still be burnt and thus release captured carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere.

Platzer, M.F. (2021) ‘On the transition to global renewable energy by mid-century’, Int. J. Sustainable Aviation, Vol. 7, No. 4, pp.285–292.