By Claire O’Sullivan
Thursday, July 01, 2010
ONE of the country’s leading energy engineering experts has called on the Government and policymakers to "ramp up" our policy on improving energy efficiency and use of renewable energy in homes and transport.
UCC senior lecturer Brian O Gallachóir is part of a team at the university who have been developing an energy systems model which can tell scientists what kind of least-cost energy systems Ireland needs to put in place if we are to achieve the EU targets of reducing energy emissions by 20% by 2020.
Preliminary results from the model, called Irish TIMES, are indicating that emissions savings are best made in the housing sector and in transport and that we need to "at least redouble our efforts" at policy level.
According to Mr O Gallachóir, who was speaking at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Climate Change Conference in Dublin, we need to urgently move away from oil-fired heating systems to biomass- based systems.
"Yes, refit schemes and other incentive-based schemes are in place to improve energy efficiency and the use of renewables in these sectors but these are still far too off course if we want to achieve a 20% reduction. We really need to ramp up these sectors and we need to invest more in developing technologies to improve efficiencies in the housing sector and the transport sector; to strike when the iron is hot. Just look at the type of research being done on making biofuel by the likes of Dr Jerry Murphy in UCC who is making it from grass."
Next year, scientific journal Nature will publish a new journal, Nature Climate Change. Its chief editor Dr Olive Heffernan was in Dublin yesterday for the conference where she spoke about the challenges climate change scientists face when dealing with the media.
"There is an element of uncertainty surrounding climate change. Scientists are being asked by the media and politicians to give answers to questions that are highly uncertain and this is posing challenges," she said.
Dr Heffernan said Governments and politicians increasingly ask for "predictions" over the next 10, 15 and 20 years, "that will allow them to plan ahead".
"Asking climate scientists for predictions for 20 years ahead can’t be done with reliability as there are still too many unknowns," she said.
This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Thursday, July 01, 2010
Read more: http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/kfcwmhidauql/rss2/#ixzz0sPPxVdqu
Thursday, 1 July 2010
Technique Improves Efficiency Of Biofuel Production
Posted on: Wednesday, 30 June 2010, 14:23 CDT
Researchers at North Carolina State University have developed a more efficient technique for producing biofuels from woody plants that significantly reduces the waste that results from conventional biofuel production techniques. The technique is a significant step toward creating a commercially viable new source of biofuels.
“This technique makes the process more efficient and less expensive,” says Dr. Ratna Sharma-Shivappa, associate professor of biological and agricultural engineering at NC State and co-author of the research. “The technique could open the door to making lignin-rich plant matter a commercially viable feedstock for biofuels, curtailing biofuel’s reliance on staple food crops.”
Traditionally, to make ethanol, butanol or other biofuels, producers have used corn, beets or other plant matter that is high in starches or simple sugars. However, since those crops are also significant staple foods, biofuels are competing with people for those crops.
However, other forms of biomass – such as switchgrass or inedible corn stalks – can also be used to make biofuels. But these other crops pose their own problem: their energy potential is locked away inside the plant’s lignin – the woody, protective material that provides each plant’s structural support. Breaking down that lignin to reach the plant’s component carbohydrates is an essential first step toward making biofuels.
At present, researchers exploring how to create biofuels from this so-called “woody” material treat the plant matter with harsh chemicals that break it down into a carbohydrate-rich substance and a liquid waste stream. These carbohydrates are then exposed to enzymes that turn the carbohydrates into sugars that can be fermented to make ethanol or butanol.
This technique often results in a significant portion of the plant’s carbohydrates being siphoned off with the liquid waste stream. Researchers must either incorporate additional processes to retrieve those carbohydrates, or lose them altogether.
But now researchers from NC State have developed a new way to free the carbohydrates from the lignin. By exposing the plant matter to gaseous ozone, with very little moisture, they are able to produce a carbohydrate-rich solid with no solid or liquid waste.
“This is more efficient because it degrades the lignin very effectively and there is little or no loss of the plant’s carbohydrates,” Sharma-Shivappa says. “The solid can then go directly to the enzymes to produce the sugars necessary for biofuel production.”
Sharma notes that the process itself is more expensive than using a bath of harsh chemicals to free the carbohydrates, but is ultimately more cost-effective because it makes more efficient use of the plant matter.
The researchers have recently received a grant from the Center for Bioenergy Research and Development to fine-tune the process for use with switchgrass and miscanthus grass. “Our eventual goal is to use this technique for any type of feedstock, to produce any biofuel or biochemical that can use these sugars,” Sharma-Shivappa says.
The research, “Effect of ozonolysis on bioconversion of miscanthus to bioethanol,” was co-authored by Sharma-Shivappa, NC State Ph.D. student Anushadevi Panneerselvam, Dr. Praveen Kolar, an assistant professor of biological and agricultural engineering at NC State, Dr. Thomas Ranney, a professor of horticultural science at NC State, and Dr. Steve Peretti, an associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at NC State. The research is partially funded by the Biofuels Center of North Carolina and was presented June 23 at the 2010 Annual International Meeting of the American Society for Agricultural and Biological Engineers in Pittsburgh, PA.
NC State’s Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering is a joint department of the university’s College of Engineering and College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
Reference: “Effect of ozonolysis on bioconversion of miscanthus to bioethanol”. Authors: Anushadevi Panneerselvam, Ratna Sharma-Shivappa, Praveen Kolar, Thomas Ranney, North Carolina State University. Presented: June 23, 2010, 2010 Annual International Meeting of the American Society for Agricultural and Biological Engineers in Pittsburgh, Penn.
Researchers at North Carolina State University have developed a more efficient technique for producing biofuels from woody plants that significantly reduces the waste that results from conventional biofuel production techniques. The technique is a significant step toward creating a commercially viable new source of biofuels.
“This technique makes the process more efficient and less expensive,” says Dr. Ratna Sharma-Shivappa, associate professor of biological and agricultural engineering at NC State and co-author of the research. “The technique could open the door to making lignin-rich plant matter a commercially viable feedstock for biofuels, curtailing biofuel’s reliance on staple food crops.”
Traditionally, to make ethanol, butanol or other biofuels, producers have used corn, beets or other plant matter that is high in starches or simple sugars. However, since those crops are also significant staple foods, biofuels are competing with people for those crops.
However, other forms of biomass – such as switchgrass or inedible corn stalks – can also be used to make biofuels. But these other crops pose their own problem: their energy potential is locked away inside the plant’s lignin – the woody, protective material that provides each plant’s structural support. Breaking down that lignin to reach the plant’s component carbohydrates is an essential first step toward making biofuels.
At present, researchers exploring how to create biofuels from this so-called “woody” material treat the plant matter with harsh chemicals that break it down into a carbohydrate-rich substance and a liquid waste stream. These carbohydrates are then exposed to enzymes that turn the carbohydrates into sugars that can be fermented to make ethanol or butanol.
This technique often results in a significant portion of the plant’s carbohydrates being siphoned off with the liquid waste stream. Researchers must either incorporate additional processes to retrieve those carbohydrates, or lose them altogether.
But now researchers from NC State have developed a new way to free the carbohydrates from the lignin. By exposing the plant matter to gaseous ozone, with very little moisture, they are able to produce a carbohydrate-rich solid with no solid or liquid waste.
“This is more efficient because it degrades the lignin very effectively and there is little or no loss of the plant’s carbohydrates,” Sharma-Shivappa says. “The solid can then go directly to the enzymes to produce the sugars necessary for biofuel production.”
Sharma notes that the process itself is more expensive than using a bath of harsh chemicals to free the carbohydrates, but is ultimately more cost-effective because it makes more efficient use of the plant matter.
The researchers have recently received a grant from the Center for Bioenergy Research and Development to fine-tune the process for use with switchgrass and miscanthus grass. “Our eventual goal is to use this technique for any type of feedstock, to produce any biofuel or biochemical that can use these sugars,” Sharma-Shivappa says.
The research, “Effect of ozonolysis on bioconversion of miscanthus to bioethanol,” was co-authored by Sharma-Shivappa, NC State Ph.D. student Anushadevi Panneerselvam, Dr. Praveen Kolar, an assistant professor of biological and agricultural engineering at NC State, Dr. Thomas Ranney, a professor of horticultural science at NC State, and Dr. Steve Peretti, an associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at NC State. The research is partially funded by the Biofuels Center of North Carolina and was presented June 23 at the 2010 Annual International Meeting of the American Society for Agricultural and Biological Engineers in Pittsburgh, PA.
NC State’s Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering is a joint department of the university’s College of Engineering and College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
Reference: “Effect of ozonolysis on bioconversion of miscanthus to bioethanol”. Authors: Anushadevi Panneerselvam, Ratna Sharma-Shivappa, Praveen Kolar, Thomas Ranney, North Carolina State University. Presented: June 23, 2010, 2010 Annual International Meeting of the American Society for Agricultural and Biological Engineers in Pittsburgh, Penn.
Algae Biofuels Still Years From Commercialization: DoE
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 06.30.10
Science & Technology (alternative energy)
If it sometimes seems that second generation biofuels, and especially algae biofuels, also seem to be commercially just over the horizon, after just one more demonstration or pilot plant is completed, you're not mistaken. According to a new report from the Department of Energy, while algae biofuels do hold much promise it's going to be a number of years before wide-scale commercial deployment.
If you want to delve into how the DoE thinks we can get to commercialization of algae biofuels, check out the National Algal Biofuels Technology Roadmap [PDF], but here's the gist of it, from the New York Times:
[The report] paints a picture of the extensive research that will be needed to do so. "The Roadmap Workshop effort suggests that many years of both basic and applied science and engineering will likely be needed to achieve affordable, scalable, and sustainable algal-based fuels," DOE wrote.
Al Darzins, a contributor to the report and group manager with the National Bioenergy Center at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, stressed in an interview that algae is far less developed, technologically, than biodiesel fuel or corn ethanol.
"We need to understand the biology much better before we have, in the future, systems that work consistently," Darzins said.
Science & Technology (alternative energy)
If it sometimes seems that second generation biofuels, and especially algae biofuels, also seem to be commercially just over the horizon, after just one more demonstration or pilot plant is completed, you're not mistaken. According to a new report from the Department of Energy, while algae biofuels do hold much promise it's going to be a number of years before wide-scale commercial deployment.
If you want to delve into how the DoE thinks we can get to commercialization of algae biofuels, check out the National Algal Biofuels Technology Roadmap [PDF], but here's the gist of it, from the New York Times:
[The report] paints a picture of the extensive research that will be needed to do so. "The Roadmap Workshop effort suggests that many years of both basic and applied science and engineering will likely be needed to achieve affordable, scalable, and sustainable algal-based fuels," DOE wrote.
Al Darzins, a contributor to the report and group manager with the National Bioenergy Center at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, stressed in an interview that algae is far less developed, technologically, than biodiesel fuel or corn ethanol.
"We need to understand the biology much better before we have, in the future, systems that work consistently," Darzins said.
Crackdown on promotion of energy saving light bulbs
A scheme to promote energy saving light bulbs has been shelved as the new Government concentrates on insulating almost four million people's homes instead.
By Louise Gray, Environment Correspondent
Published: 1:14PM BST 30 Jun 2010
The Carbon Emissions Reduction Target or CERT was set up by the last Government in April 2008 to force energy companies to cut carbon emissions from households by a certain amount.
Already it has helped 2.5 million people insulate their homes by providing financial help for professionals to fit lagging or double glazing.
Customers buy up traditional light bulbs before switch to low energy alternatives
Jonathon Porritt, the greenest of bluebloodsBut the scheme has been criticised for also allowing energy companies to count more inefficient ways of cutting energy use towards the target. Under the scheme more than 330 million energy saving light bulbs have been distributed, though watchdogs say many of them remain unused.
Chris Huhne, the Energy and Climate Change Secretary, said the next period of the scheme, from March 2011 to December 2012, will force energy companies to only use more tried and tested methods.
Already the mail out of light bulbs has been banned and he said the promotion of the compact fluorescent (CFLs) in supermarkets would also be ruled out. Most insulation will have to be carried out by professionals, rather than leaving it to households to do it themselves.
Mr Huhne said forcing energy companies to be more efficient will ensure 3.5 million homes will be insulated over the next period of CERT.
He said the scheme will concentrate on insulating homes in deprived areas first.
"This is the beginning of a massive and urgent increase in home energy insulation for the nation. We are demanding that energy companies work harder to make homes warmer, more environmentally friendly and cheaper to run, especially for those who need it most," he said.
Government advisers have recently warned that unless the UK increases the pace of home insulation, then the country will miss key climate change targets.
It comes as scientists at The Grantham Institute for Climate Change at Imperial College London revealed that switching the lights off might save even more energy than was previously thought.
The study said that current Government estimates of how much carbon is saved when people reduce electricity consumption is up to 60 per cent too low.
By Louise Gray, Environment Correspondent
Published: 1:14PM BST 30 Jun 2010
The Carbon Emissions Reduction Target or CERT was set up by the last Government in April 2008 to force energy companies to cut carbon emissions from households by a certain amount.
Already it has helped 2.5 million people insulate their homes by providing financial help for professionals to fit lagging or double glazing.
Customers buy up traditional light bulbs before switch to low energy alternatives
Jonathon Porritt, the greenest of bluebloodsBut the scheme has been criticised for also allowing energy companies to count more inefficient ways of cutting energy use towards the target. Under the scheme more than 330 million energy saving light bulbs have been distributed, though watchdogs say many of them remain unused.
Chris Huhne, the Energy and Climate Change Secretary, said the next period of the scheme, from March 2011 to December 2012, will force energy companies to only use more tried and tested methods.
Already the mail out of light bulbs has been banned and he said the promotion of the compact fluorescent (CFLs) in supermarkets would also be ruled out. Most insulation will have to be carried out by professionals, rather than leaving it to households to do it themselves.
Mr Huhne said forcing energy companies to be more efficient will ensure 3.5 million homes will be insulated over the next period of CERT.
He said the scheme will concentrate on insulating homes in deprived areas first.
"This is the beginning of a massive and urgent increase in home energy insulation for the nation. We are demanding that energy companies work harder to make homes warmer, more environmentally friendly and cheaper to run, especially for those who need it most," he said.
Government advisers have recently warned that unless the UK increases the pace of home insulation, then the country will miss key climate change targets.
It comes as scientists at The Grantham Institute for Climate Change at Imperial College London revealed that switching the lights off might save even more energy than was previously thought.
The study said that current Government estimates of how much carbon is saved when people reduce electricity consumption is up to 60 per cent too low.
Barack Obama fails to rally support for energy bill
Standoff suggests Senate would give up on climate change law that would result in far more limited proposals
Suzanne Goldenberg guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 29 June 2010 21.16 BST
Barack Obama's hopes of leveraging public anger at the Gulf oil spill into political support for his clean energy agenda fell flat today after he failed to rally a group of Democratic and Republican senators around broad energy and climate change law.
The standoff suggests the Senate would formally give up on climate change law, and recast energy reform as a Gulf oil spill response, that would roll in far more limited proposals such as a green investment bank, or a measure to limit greenhouse gas emissions that would apply only to electricity companies.
Such a move would come as a personal rebuff to Obama who has put energy and climate change at the top of his agenda, and who called on the 23 senators at the White House meeting to establish a cap and trade system.
"The president was very clear about putting a price on carbon and limiting greenhouse gas emissions," John Kerry, the Democratic senator leading the push for climate change proposals in the Senate said after the meeting.
"He was very strong about the need to put a price on carbon and make polluters pay," said senator Joe Lieberman.
White House officials say the spill is a wake-up call for the urgency of breaking the US economy's dependence on fossil fuels, and had hoped to build momentum behind a cap-and-trade bill now before the Senate.
Supporters of action on climate change had been pressing Obama to make a strong push for legislation.
The oil disaster's ability to dictate events was underlined again today when BP and the coast guard suspended oil skimming operations because of rough seas from tropical storm Alex.
Senators at the much-anticipated meeting acknowledged there was political support only for modest reforms.
Kerry told reporters he was prepared to scale back his proposals.
"We are prepared to scale back the reach of our legislation in order to try and find that place of compromise because we believe and I think the president believes very strongly that what is important for America to get started," The Hill website quoted him saying.
Republican Senators, even those purportedly supporting energy reform, have been adamant in their opposition to putting an economy-wide price on carbon. Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican at the meeting, told reporters such moves would be too costly for the average family.
Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican, said Congress needed to focus on the spill.
"Priority one, two and three for any meeting on energy is to make sure we give the president whatever he needs to clean up the oil spill and to help people who are hurt and to make sure it doesn't happen again."
The stand-off suggests the Senate will now try to roll energy proposals into a broader Gulf-oil-spill bill that would impose tougher offshore drilling regulations, and higher penalties for oil companies.
The Senate is expected to take up such a bill soon after the 4 July break. But energy proposals could still be in the mix.
Among the measures gaining in support is the establishment of a clean energy deployment administration, or a green bank. The bank would offer direct financing as well as loan guarantees to new energy infrastructure, energy efficiency and manufacturing technology.
The Senate version of the proposals would also extend such loan guarantees to nuclear industry as well as carbon capture and storage projects.
Another key proposal would be a pilot project for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from electricity plants.^E
Suzanne Goldenberg guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 29 June 2010 21.16 BST
Barack Obama's hopes of leveraging public anger at the Gulf oil spill into political support for his clean energy agenda fell flat today after he failed to rally a group of Democratic and Republican senators around broad energy and climate change law.
The standoff suggests the Senate would formally give up on climate change law, and recast energy reform as a Gulf oil spill response, that would roll in far more limited proposals such as a green investment bank, or a measure to limit greenhouse gas emissions that would apply only to electricity companies.
Such a move would come as a personal rebuff to Obama who has put energy and climate change at the top of his agenda, and who called on the 23 senators at the White House meeting to establish a cap and trade system.
"The president was very clear about putting a price on carbon and limiting greenhouse gas emissions," John Kerry, the Democratic senator leading the push for climate change proposals in the Senate said after the meeting.
"He was very strong about the need to put a price on carbon and make polluters pay," said senator Joe Lieberman.
White House officials say the spill is a wake-up call for the urgency of breaking the US economy's dependence on fossil fuels, and had hoped to build momentum behind a cap-and-trade bill now before the Senate.
Supporters of action on climate change had been pressing Obama to make a strong push for legislation.
The oil disaster's ability to dictate events was underlined again today when BP and the coast guard suspended oil skimming operations because of rough seas from tropical storm Alex.
Senators at the much-anticipated meeting acknowledged there was political support only for modest reforms.
Kerry told reporters he was prepared to scale back his proposals.
"We are prepared to scale back the reach of our legislation in order to try and find that place of compromise because we believe and I think the president believes very strongly that what is important for America to get started," The Hill website quoted him saying.
Republican Senators, even those purportedly supporting energy reform, have been adamant in their opposition to putting an economy-wide price on carbon. Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican at the meeting, told reporters such moves would be too costly for the average family.
Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican, said Congress needed to focus on the spill.
"Priority one, two and three for any meeting on energy is to make sure we give the president whatever he needs to clean up the oil spill and to help people who are hurt and to make sure it doesn't happen again."
The stand-off suggests the Senate will now try to roll energy proposals into a broader Gulf-oil-spill bill that would impose tougher offshore drilling regulations, and higher penalties for oil companies.
The Senate is expected to take up such a bill soon after the 4 July break. But energy proposals could still be in the mix.
Among the measures gaining in support is the establishment of a clean energy deployment administration, or a green bank. The bank would offer direct financing as well as loan guarantees to new energy infrastructure, energy efficiency and manufacturing technology.
The Senate version of the proposals would also extend such loan guarantees to nuclear industry as well as carbon capture and storage projects.
Another key proposal would be a pilot project for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from electricity plants.^E
Blimps could replace aircraft in freight transport, say scientists
Helium-powered ships could be carrying freight – and even passengers – in as little as a decade's time
Juliette Jowit guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 30 June 2010 15.53 BST
Fresh fruit, vegetables, flowers and other foreign luxuries could be part of a global revolution by carrying cargo around the world in airships instead of planes, one of the UK's leading scientists has predicted.
The government's former chief scientific adviser, Professor Sir David King, now director of the Smith School of Enterprise and Environment at the University of Oxford, told a conference that massive helium balloons – or blimps – would replace aircraft as a key part of the global trade network as a way of cutting global warming emissions.
Despite languishing in sci-fi B-movies for most of the last 70 years, King said several major air and defence companies, including Boeing and Lockheed Martin, were working on designs, and the US defence department had recently made a large grant to help develop the technology.
As a result, the helium-powered ships could be carrying freight – and even passengers – in as little as a decade's time, King told the
Guardian.
"There are an awful lot of people we talk to who say this is going to happen," said King. "This is something I believe is going to happen."
King was speaking this week at the World Forum on Enterprise and the Environment in Oxford, which has made transport a major focus of debate about global efforts to cut the greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels, which are a major contributor to global warming and climate change. In Europe 22% of greenhouse gases are from transport, compared with 28 from heat and electricity, 21% from industry and construction and 9% each from agriculture and homes, according to the European Environment Agency.
Emerging support for blimps is one of the more colourful developments in a more general trend towards looking beyond the most obvious solutions for reducing pollution as major economies such as the UK struggle to meet pledges to de-carbonise their economies over the next few decades.
Airships would be too slow for some high-speed airfreight, and would not be needed to carry the majority of cargo for which much slower ships are suitable. But with a speed of 125kph (78mph), and much lower fuel costs, plus a carrying capacity potentially many times that of a standard Boeing 747 plane, blimps could in future carry much of current air freight.
A recent report on mobility by the Smith School, for example, quoted an estimate by one developer, UK-owned SkyCat, that it could carry twice the weight of strawberries from Spain to the UK of a standard cargo plane, with a 90% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, much of which is from avoiding the huge fuel burn a jet engine uses to take off.
Other benefits included the possibility that airships would not need to use airports if they were fitted with "lifts" to pick up and land cargo. This in turn would reduce the need for trucking goods to and from transport hubs, and allow less well-connected areas, perhaps in inland Africa, to take part in international trade, said King. For the same reasons the blimps could also be used to reach devastated areas in need of humanitarian aid, he said.
The essential idea of airships – that they are buoyed by being lighter than air – can be traced back to the use of air lanterns in the third century BC. The technology began to come of age when the Frenchmen Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and the Marquis d'Arlandes made the first flight in a balloon in 1783. By the 1920s airships were making regular trips across the Atlantic, and in 1929 a graf zeppelin circumnavigated the planet in just over 21 days.
The craze for blimps came to an abrupt halt after the death of many people when the Hindenburg caught fire in New Jersey, US. However research and development "languished but never halted", said the Smith School report.
Juliette Jowit guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 30 June 2010 15.53 BST
Fresh fruit, vegetables, flowers and other foreign luxuries could be part of a global revolution by carrying cargo around the world in airships instead of planes, one of the UK's leading scientists has predicted.
The government's former chief scientific adviser, Professor Sir David King, now director of the Smith School of Enterprise and Environment at the University of Oxford, told a conference that massive helium balloons – or blimps – would replace aircraft as a key part of the global trade network as a way of cutting global warming emissions.
Despite languishing in sci-fi B-movies for most of the last 70 years, King said several major air and defence companies, including Boeing and Lockheed Martin, were working on designs, and the US defence department had recently made a large grant to help develop the technology.
As a result, the helium-powered ships could be carrying freight – and even passengers – in as little as a decade's time, King told the
Guardian.
"There are an awful lot of people we talk to who say this is going to happen," said King. "This is something I believe is going to happen."
King was speaking this week at the World Forum on Enterprise and the Environment in Oxford, which has made transport a major focus of debate about global efforts to cut the greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels, which are a major contributor to global warming and climate change. In Europe 22% of greenhouse gases are from transport, compared with 28 from heat and electricity, 21% from industry and construction and 9% each from agriculture and homes, according to the European Environment Agency.
Emerging support for blimps is one of the more colourful developments in a more general trend towards looking beyond the most obvious solutions for reducing pollution as major economies such as the UK struggle to meet pledges to de-carbonise their economies over the next few decades.
Airships would be too slow for some high-speed airfreight, and would not be needed to carry the majority of cargo for which much slower ships are suitable. But with a speed of 125kph (78mph), and much lower fuel costs, plus a carrying capacity potentially many times that of a standard Boeing 747 plane, blimps could in future carry much of current air freight.
A recent report on mobility by the Smith School, for example, quoted an estimate by one developer, UK-owned SkyCat, that it could carry twice the weight of strawberries from Spain to the UK of a standard cargo plane, with a 90% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, much of which is from avoiding the huge fuel burn a jet engine uses to take off.
Other benefits included the possibility that airships would not need to use airports if they were fitted with "lifts" to pick up and land cargo. This in turn would reduce the need for trucking goods to and from transport hubs, and allow less well-connected areas, perhaps in inland Africa, to take part in international trade, said King. For the same reasons the blimps could also be used to reach devastated areas in need of humanitarian aid, he said.
The essential idea of airships – that they are buoyed by being lighter than air – can be traced back to the use of air lanterns in the third century BC. The technology began to come of age when the Frenchmen Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and the Marquis d'Arlandes made the first flight in a balloon in 1783. By the 1920s airships were making regular trips across the Atlantic, and in 1929 a graf zeppelin circumnavigated the planet in just over 21 days.
The craze for blimps came to an abrupt halt after the death of many people when the Hindenburg caught fire in New Jersey, US. However research and development "languished but never halted", said the Smith School report.
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