If there’s one thing the UK is famed for it is its often temperamental weather. This usually settles somewhere on the spectrum between cold, damp and grey, or bright, and almost warm with sporadic showers. Yet last week saw temperatures skyrocket in London to a sizzling 40.2ºC(104.36ºF). When you consider that the average London temparature for July is usually around 22ºC (71.6ºF), then the term heatwave is an understatement.
The UK was not the only region to see temperatures rise to unprecedented levels so dramatically. In fact almost the entire northern hemisphere, including many other parts of Europe, China, North Africa and the United States succumbed to extreme heat. This fueled catastrophic events all around the world. Some UK airports were forced to close due to melting tarmac, hospital computer systems crashed, fires broke out all over London, France and Greece, with many having to flee their homes. On one day alone, Portugal and Spain reported in excess of 1000 heat-related deaths (Source:World Economic Forum 22 Jul 2022).
With such global heatwaves predicted to become a more frequent norm, as temperatures continue to rise, there is nolonger any denying that climate change is in fact very real, can be cruelly fatal and is happening right here, right now. For decades, feverish warnings from eminent scientist and infamous climate activists, have been met with the type of nonchalance or denial satirised in the comedy, Dont Look Up. In which a comet threatening an extinction level event, can clearly be seen in the sky, hurtling towards Earth, yet instead of trying to stop it, the global response is simply to “Dont Look Up”. For looking up would mean taking action. Taking action would mean huge monetary investment and making unpopular changes to the often profligate lifestyles we have come to enjoy.
However, attitudes are finally beginning to change on mass. Global warming is no longer something on our great great great grandchildrens horizons, as we have witnessed over the last few days, it is happening now. The past 7 years have been the hottest since records began.
As such, governments and corporations are increasingly turning to sustainable technology to literally save our world. This has borne not only hope, but many fascinating innovations which have me in awe.
For example Swiss Scientists at ETH Zurich have developed a technology which can make jet fuel from sunlight and air! The process creates a renewable and carbon-neutral form of kerosene which when burned would only release Co2 back into the air which was extracted from it in the first instance. So thats literally making fuel out of thin air!
Portugal has built an enormous floating solar park, the size of 4 football pitches, containing 12,000 solar panels. The solar park is moored on Portugals Alqueva reservoir, which happens to be Western Europes largest artificial lake,. The solar park will generate 7.5 gigawatt hours of electricity each year, which is enough to power 1,500 homes, at one third of the expense of a gas-fired plant. Similar floating parks have ben built all over the world, including China and Germany, in a bid to reduce reliance on environmentally destructive, fossil fuels.
Drone technology is being used to scale reforestation efforts. A devastating number of forests are lost to bush fires caused by climate change. Along with the loss of these vital lungs of the Earth is the beautiful biodiversity which supports our ecosystem. Drones are able to replant forests at a scale, speed, accuracy, and efficiency which cannot be achieved by human effort alone, helping to reverse much of the damage caused by global warming. As time is the crucial factor here, technology being used in this way is phenomenal:
Seemingly straight out of a science fiction novel, ELSA-d, a miniture satellite equipped with a powerful magnet is being used to clean-up pollution from space:
MIT scientist are ambitiously hoping to completely reverse climate change. Robots will be used to create giant bubbles which are then clumped together to form a raft the size of Brazil, then deployed into space. This raft will form a shield which reflects a significant amount of the suns heat away from Earth:
This creative innovation is exactly what I love about technology. The possibilities are almost limitless and when used for good can have a tremendous real world impact, preserving life as we know it.
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