Four For Friday | June 14, 2024
LF127 | War's carbon footprint, concrete batteries, algae-powered power stations and can China get rich before it gets old?
Welcome to Looking Forward’s Four For Friday. Four things that have piqued my interest this week. Enjoy!
Ukraine war is emitting more CO2 than most countries
Important work showing the climate disaster that is conflict - in addition to the terrible human cost, the two years of the Russian war on Ukraine has generated more carbon emissions than 175 countries do an a year; roughly the equivalent of running 90 million petrol cars for a year.
New technology turns concrete into a battery
On the more upbeat side, an additive to concrete can turn it into a super-capacitor, so your house and the roads ccould become a giant, much cheaper, battery.
Algae as a new carbon negative power source
Perhaps even more exciting is an entirely new source of energy; a research project has shown it’s possible to harness algae’s photosynthesis properties to create a new energy source and remove carbon from the atmosphere:
‘Photosynthesis produces oxygen and electrons. Our model traps the electrons, which allows us to generate electricity. So more than being a zero-emission technology, it's a negative carbon emission technology: it absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and gives you a current. Its only byproduct is water.’
Is China too old to get rich?
A provocative idea that China has aged too quickly to ever become a rich country, and the continued 5% growth rate its leaders are targeting is unrealistic and hasn’t been achieved by others.
‘Historically, no country has managed to achieve 4% growth in the subsequent 12 years after the elderly made up 15% of the population. The average growth rate for high-income countries during this period is just 1.8%.’
The article suggests both rapid demographic and economic policies would be needed to overcome the slowing impact of its aging population. This is a topic that we’re exploring in Montreal this weekend (and discussed at length in the conference briefing paper.)
That’s all for this week. As always, feedback welcome. Feel free to share insights or links of interest.
- Stephen