With the goal of reducing the greenhouse gas emissions by 80% compared to 1990, the world is researching to find new, feasible and sustainable solutions. The following eight new power generation technologies are considered outstanding candidates for this goal, and are expected not only to become a reality but also to be "mass" by 2050.
First: Centralized solar thermal technology becomes popular in the near future. Currently, solar PV capacity is only 12.4 GW, but by 2050 it can increase to 2,000 GW. Centralized solar thermal technology uses a series of giant mirrors to generate heat and electricity.
In Northeast Los Angeles (USA) there is a Sierra plant using this technology, using 24,000 mirrors with a total area of 20 acres, and can produce 6,400 MW. In the future, at least 5 factories of this type will be built in the US.
Monday: Hydrodynamic power generation technology. Hydropower is considered a clean energy source but its contribution is still relatively small. For example, in the US, hydroelectricity only provides about 7% of electricity needs. At present, humans have only produced 31 GW and by 2050 could increase to 67 GW. The technology considered most feasible is hydrodynamic technology, which produces electricity from the dynamic of free flowing water.
The first project under this technology that is being tested in Houston, USA is called Hydro Green Energy (HGE). Like a wind turbine, this plant produces electricity using high-speed water flow, spinning three blades approximately 4 meters long, like a wave power plant in Europe, but different in where one-way water flow is used. The cost of generating electricity using this technology is cheaper than the cost of producing wind power, only about 4-7 cents / kwh compared to 10 cents / kwh.
Tuesday: Technology for producing electricity using biofuel. Currently, ethanol is considered quite popular, but in the future, people will use organic materials with greater energy potential such as sugarcane, algae, and wastewater to produce fuels for delivery. information and electricity industry. Currently, the new world produces about 643,000 barrels of biofuel per day and by 2050 it can increase to 3.4 million barrels / day.
Wednesday: Perfect biofuel power generation technology. A group of scientists at the University of Pennsylsivania, USA, is working on producing a perfect biofuel, which does not pollute the environment. To produce this fuel, they worked on the creation of methanol, the main compound in natural gas.
Through research, scientists discovered that the mechanism for producing methane is very simple, including water and carbon dioxide (CO2) which are confined in an electric current. Based on this principle, a fuel cell containing methanogens bacteria will be built and when an electric current is charged, it will create a burning fuel, capable of neutralizing carbon so that it does not release gas. discharged into the environment.
Thursday: Generating electricity from ocean waves and tides. According to the calculations of scientists, the power farms under the ocean in the Pacific have great potential, each year can produce over 900 GW and currently in Norway, a project is being built. The test, called Hywind, used a 2.3 MW turbine, weighing 152 tons, installed at a depth of 65 meters on a fixed floor under the continental shelf.
Friday: Safe, completely carbon-free nuclear power generation technology. Currently, people can only produce 372 GW from this material, by the middle of the 21st century it is possible to increase to 700 GW thanks to the new generation of atomic technologies, which is generation III + technology: using water design. turbochargers; generation IV: using gravel technology and generation V: using a mobile wave reactor.
Saturday: Geothermal energy technology. One of the countries with the most abundant geothermal energy in the world today is Iceland. At present, only 10 GW of geothermal power is produced by humans, it is expected that by 2050 it can increase to 700 GW.
Eighth: Technology to produce electricity from clean fossil fuels. The world currently produces 1,460 GW of electricity from fossil fuels such as oil, gas or coal, by 2050 it can increase to about 3,830 GW by using new technology that turns carbon into cement. The operating principle of this technology is very simple, under that people will pass emissions from thermal power plants using gas or coal through the seawater layer. The CO2 and pollutants in the aforementioned flue gas will combine with magnesium and calcium in seawater to create a new material like limestone, which is very suitable for the cement, concrete or plastic industries. Street.
