Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-42gr6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-16T09:55:37.726Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Sustainable integration of human activities into the global ecosystem

Part of: Solar Energy and the Circular Economy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 September 2020

Philippe Lorge
Philippe Lorge*
Affiliation:
H2WIN S.A. Rue du gendarme, N°4, NivellesB-1400, Belgium
*
Address all correspondence to Philippe Lorge at dr.philippe.lorge@h2win.com
Get access

Abstract

The sustainable integration of human activities into the global ecosystem is discussed, pointing out fatal anthropogenic heat as a major ecological problem and proposing global technical and economical solutions.

For human sake, we must get out of the “thermal age” and implement the “electroprotonic era” as soon as possible. Contrary to thermal power, electroprotonic is sustainable and can be produced by photoenzymatic systems, a cheap way to produce hydrogen (H2) or ammonia (NH3). We can accelerate the advent of this new era if we re-integrate external costs generated by thermal energies into their final prices. The author is leading the H2GREEN project in Belgium as an entrepreneur for more than a decade, which develops the photoenzymatic production of dihydrogen from water. The aim of the H2GREEN project is to contribute to the launch of a low-cost, renewable Hydrogen-based local economy as an energy carrier. Among the difficulties of this launch, the most important is certainly the lack of competitiveness due to the unfair competition of carbon products that externalizes their costs (CO2, oil spills, lethal pollution, armed conflicts, political oppression, foreign dependence, etc.).

Keywords

biomimetic (chemical reaction)economicsenergy storageenvironmentally protectivesociety
Type
Perspective
Information
MRS Energy & Sustainability , Volume 7 , 2020 , E29
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author 2020, published on behalf of Materials Research Society by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

H2WIN – Hydrogen to Worldwide INtegration – is a private company developing a hydrogen bio-generator: H2GREEN – H2 Generation by REnewable ENergy – which, for a low investment cost, will enable hydrogen to be produced locally with a high yield from water and light (sun or electrical) thanks to an enzymatic system inspired by nature (Biomimicry). The author is a collaborator of the University of Liège not as an independent academic scientist, but a private-sector entrepreneur.

References

Notz, D.: Arctic sea ice in CMIP6. Geophys. Res. Lett. 47, 10 (2020).Google Scholar
IPCC Report (2019). Available at: https://www.ipcc.ch/reports/ (accessed July 16, 2020).Google Scholar
Chem, Q. and Braun, A.: Protons and the hydrogen economy. MRS Energy Sustain. 4, 1–4 (2017).Google Scholar
Kok, B., Forbush, B., and McGloin, M.: Cooperation of charges in photosynthetic 02 evolution – I. A linear four step mechanism. Photochem. Photobiol. 11, 457–475 (1970).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moser, C.C., Page, C.C., and Dutton, P.L.: Tunneling in PSII. Photochem. Photobiol. Sci. 4, 933–939 (2005).CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rutherford, A.W., Mullet, J.E., and Crofts, A.R.: Measurement of the midpoint potential of the pheophytin acceptor of photosystem II. FEBS Lett. 123, 235–237 (1981).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klimov, V.V.: Discovery of pheophytin function in the photosynthetic energy conversion as the primary electron acceptor of photosystem II. Photosynth. Res. 76, 247–253 (2003).CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Walker, D.A.: Biofuels, facts, fantasy and feasibility (2009). J. Appl. Phycol. 21, 509–517 (2009).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lorge, P.: Method for dissociating water using photosystem II (PSII). Belgian patent deposit 0598 (2013), EP 3044349 (2019), USP 10,519,553 B2 (2019).Google Scholar
Franck, F., Juneau, P., and Popovic, R.: Resolution of the photosystem I and photosystem II contributions to chlorophyll fluorescence of intact leaves at room temperature. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1556, 239–246 (2002).CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lorge, P., Franck, F., Remacle, C., Job, N., Cardol, P., Godaux, D., Caldarella, G., and Ghysels, B.: Core-enzyme presenting catalytic activity. Pat. Pend. EP19208893.8 (2019).Google Scholar
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade - GATT (1947). Available at: https://www.wto.org/english/docs_e/legal_e/gatt47_01_e.htm (accessed June 26, 2020).Google Scholar
Treaty of Rome (1957). Available at: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=LEGISSUM%3Axy0023 (accessed June 26, 2020).Google Scholar
World Trade Organization – WTO (1994). Available at: https://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/tif_e/tif_e.htm (accessed June 26, 2020).Google Scholar
Kyoto Protocol (1997). Available at: https://www.kyotoprotocol.com/ (accessed June 26, 2020).Google Scholar
European Commission, EU ETS Handbook. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/clima/publications_en#Ets (accessed June 26, 2020).Google Scholar
Andrew, B.: Market failure, government failure and externalities in climate change mitigation: The case for a carbon tax. Public Admin. Dev. 28, 393–401 (2008).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gabor, D. Nobel Lectures, Physics 1971-1980, Editor Stig Lundqvist, World Scientific Publishing Co., Singapore, 1992.Google Scholar