Category: environment

High altitude ice cores are precious and informs our understanding of climate change

February 7, 2024

The world is warming, and many in the scientific community has describe the temperature increases that we observe as part of a larger phenomenon known as climate change. But, how do we know that the climate has changed? One approach is to obtain past records of Earth’s climate. Another is through computer simulation under different … More High altitude ice cores are precious and informs our understanding of climate change

Vanadium flow batteries may provide a good alternative for lithium ion batteries for grid level storage

August 27, 2022

Incorporating more renewable energy into the electricity grid pose important challenges with respect to maintaining constant supply of electricity, and enabling grid-level stability. This pertains to the intermittency of many renewable source of power such as solar and wind power, where excess generation may occur during times of high insolation or strong winds, as well … More Vanadium flow batteries may provide a good alternative for lithium ion batteries for grid level storage

Trend towards developing small hydropower to power local grid system

March 26, 2022

We commonly think of hydropower as megaprojects with the damming of large rivers to build huge hydropower stations where large turbines spin to produce electricity. But, there is a new trend in the hydropower field in developing small hydropower station to exploit the hydropower potential of small rivers. Many rivers in the world do possess … More Trend towards developing small hydropower to power local grid system

Aircraft based air quality field studies are still relevant to help calibrate and validate satellite air quality measurements

March 20, 2022

Satellites have revolutionized our approach towards performing atmospheric research. Specifically, satellites afford unprecedented reach and coverage for large areas of the globe previously inaccessible to air quality field studies. Different parameters could be measured and data collected that help build sophisticated models for air quality in particular locale over different timescales. But, these data needs … More Aircraft based air quality field studies are still relevant to help calibrate and validate satellite air quality measurements

Modern ICP-MS could detect nanoparticles in water matrixes

March 12, 2022

Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) is traditionally associated with the fast, accurate, and multiplex detection of multiple elements at trace levels in water matrixes. But, given the prevalence of nanoparticles in consumer products in recent years, there is a need for monitoring the presence of these nanoparticles in environmental water matrixes. This then motivates … More Modern ICP-MS could detect nanoparticles in water matrixes

Storage of compressed air in saline aquifers represents a form of energy storage

December 23, 2020

Renewable energy such as wind and solar power suffers from one major limitation: their intermittency. While the problem could be ameliorated with the coupling of large storage batteries with wind or solar power generation facilities, there remains a need to find low cost, durable, high capacity and robust methods for storing excess electricity generated by … More Storage of compressed air in saline aquifers represents a form of energy storage

Optimal proportion of renewable energy in energy mix for maximising energy resilience and reducing carbon emissions

November 6, 2020

Increasing use of renewable energy such as solar and wind power could help us reduce carbon emissions and is an approach for helping cities, states and countries to decarbonise their economies. However, renewable energy’s intermittency nature such as those associated with solar and wind energy meant that its increasing use carries significant risks for energy … More Optimal proportion of renewable energy in energy mix for maximising energy resilience and reducing carbon emissions

Reducing carbon emissions from natural gas power plants

October 14, 2020

Natural gas combustion in power plants generates electricity together with carbon dioxide. While carbon capture and storage technologies exist for removing carbon dioxide from the waste stream, they remain expensive and not factored in as part of the design of new natural gas power plants. A new scheme, however, may help realise natural gas power … More Reducing carbon emissions from natural gas power plants

Monitoring of air quality by satellites

September 23, 2020

Air quality parameters such as concentration of ozone, carbon monoxide and nitric oxide are typically measured by ground-based stations equipped with sensitive instruments. However, such measurements are local and given that air quality monitoring stations are sparsely located, construction of a high resolution map of air pollutant concentration of an area such as the city … More Monitoring of air quality by satellites

Carbon footprint of fermentation processes

May 16, 2020

Fermentation processes in biotechnology has gained increasing importance as whole cell biocatalysts have been developed for catalysing a variety of reactions at mild temperatures for producing intermediates in value-added products manufacturing. Typically carried out in large bioreactors at optimum temperature with aeration, fermentation processes do carry certain amount of carbon footprint despite their label as … More Carbon footprint of fermentation processes