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The bugs that eat plastic

By some estimates there are more than 8.3 billion tons of plastic on the planet – more than 6.3 billion tons of that is waste. Recycling isn’t an option for all of it. But scientists around the world are looking at organic solutions in the form of hungry bugs and the enzymes and bacteria they produce.

Among them: Dr. Chris Rinke and a team of researchers at Australia’s University of Queensland in 2022 published a study in Microbial Genomics about their work with the larvae of the darkling beetle Zophobas morio.

It found that the so-called “superworms,” which normally feed on such decaying material as dead leaves and animal carcasses, could survive on polystyrene alone. Most are able to complete their transition to adult beetles on just a diet of the synthetic resin commonly used for such items as disposable cups and surfboards.

“Our understanding is that superworms mechanically shred the polystyrene, ingest it, and then the bacteria in the worm’s gut further degrade the plastic. We found several encoded enzymes associated with polystyrene degradation in the gut bacteria,” Rinke tells KUST Review, adding that the team is also looking into the degradation of such other thermoplastics as polyethylene and polypropylene.

And, sure, your local waste-reclamation facility might set up a giant worm farm to decompose unwanted polystyrene, but Rinke tells NPR it  would be cheaper and easier to reproduce the enzymes that allow the larvae to digest, say, old dishwasher parts and packing material. A synthetic “enzyme cocktail” could be sprinkled over shredded waste. Add microbes to the material and you could create useful and more sustainable bioplastics.

Rinke cautions that it will take a while before the enzymes are available for industrial use.

“It will take sufficient research funding and several years of research to characterize the enzymes involved in polystyrene degradation, but once we have found the most efficient enzymes, we can offer a biological solution to degrade plastic waste,” he says.

In the meantime, he encourages consumers to avoid plastic, “especially single-use plastic packaging, whenever possible,” he tells KUST Review.

“If plastic needs to be used and eventually becomes waste, then one should recycle plastic waste as much as possible. Last but not least, it’s also important to ask local councils to increase the amount of plastic recycling,” he says.

ANOTHER HUNGRY, HUNGRY CATERPILLER

But the Zophobos morio isn’t the only insect bellying up to the plastics buffet.

Researchers in Poland published their results on a study of Tenebrio molitor in the journal Polymers.

The researchers fed the insect – commonly called a yellow mealworm and another species of darkling beetle – a diet of polystyrene foam (PS), two types of polyurethane (PU1 and PU2, like kitchen sponges and commercial insulation foam) and polyethylene foam (PE, commonly used in packing materials).

The researchers concluded that genetic variances among mealworm populations could account for different rates of consumption, but say 1 kilogram of PS, PU1, PU2 and PE could be consumed over 58 days by 40.5 kg, 46.0 kg, 36.5 kg and 30.9 kg of Z. morio, respectively.

FROM PEST TO PROMISE

The Polish researchers mention other plastivore species, including Galleria mellonella, a wax moth whose palate for plastics was discovered accidentally when a researcher put the caterpillars in a plastic bag and found later that they had eaten holes in it. The information that resulted was featured in a recent study from Brandon University in Canada.

The moth caterpillar larvae, which normally invade beehives and eat wax, can digest polyethylene – the kind of plastic found in shopping bags – and excrete ethylene glycol, a form of alcohol that can be used as antifreeze.

In the study, 60 waxworms consumed 30 square centimeters of the plastic in less than a week. The researchers published their results in Current Biology.

Although the waxworms can consume the plastics on their own, researchers also isolated an intestinal bacteria from the larvae that was able to survive on polyethylene as its sole source of nutrition for a year. Working together, the waxworms and the bacteria accelerate plastic biodegradation. Researchers caution, however, that the waxworms and their bacteria aren’t a solution to the plastics problem but point to possible future directions for waste management.

ENTER MICROBES

Different kinds of bugs – not insects but microbes – are also emerging as potential solutions to the world’s plastics-waste problem.

Researchers in 2016 discovered a bacterium in a Japanese garbage dump that had evolved naturally to eat plastic, and when they tweaked a promising enzyme to see how it evolved, they accidentally made the molecule even better at breaking down polyethylene terephthalate, the plastic used in soft-drink bottles.

But more recently, a group of scientists in Sweden has found that microbes around the world are evolving to eat the plastic trash that has found its way into mountain peaks, ocean depths and remote tropical beaches. They published the results of their study, the first to assess the global potential of plastic-eating microbes in mBio.

Scanning 200 million genes, the researchers found 30,000 enzymes that could degrade 10 kinds of plastics.

The number and type of enzymes they found corresponded to the amount and type of plastics in their locations. One in four organisms examined carried an enzyme that could break down plastics.

“We did not expect to find such a large number of enzymes across so many different microbes and environmental habitats. This is a surprising discovery that really illustrates the scale of the issue,” Chalmers University researcher Jan Zrimec says in the Guardian.

The remarkable thing about these microbes and insects is that plastics are man-made and, in evolutionary terms, quite recent, says Khalifa University’s David Sheehan. “Yet microbes clearly have evolved enzymes that can degrade them in a short period of evolutionary time. If we can identify a panel of these enzymes, we could use enzyme engineering approaches to improve their activity and substrate range and produce these commercially much as we do with biological detergents.”

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Delivering a greener future

The buzzword for the logistics industry? GREEN

The industry is trending toward green logistics, ways of minimizing the environmental impact and carbon footprint of logistics activities. With 37 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions coming from the transport and logistics industry, transport is the easiest place to start.

“With respect to the environment, transportation is the most visible aspect of supply chains,” says Jacqueline Bloemhof, professor of operations research and logistics at Wageningen University, the Netherlands. “One of the main choices in transport is the mode of transportation — plane, ship, truck, rail, barge or pipelines — and each mode has different characteristics in terms of costs, transit time, accessibility and environmental performance.”

Niklas Simm, Ph.D. candidate at Linköping University, Sweden, says for years, logistics professionals have not prioritized environmental concerns, despite academia’s steady increase in research interest: “The basic premise of logistics has been to manage and organize flows of goods in a resource-efficient manner. However, with the development of the U.N.’s global goals for sustainable development and emerging environmental interest, logistics operators have acknowledged an increased public interest in environmental questions, changing the perception of logistics and adding a new dimension. Supply chain organizations have begun to take responsibility for their logistics practices and have seen the need to consider the environmental effects of their practices.”

While there’s more to greenifying the industry than just the physical transportation of goods — think green packaging materials, space-saving packing, reducing returns and failed deliveries, improving warehouse layouts — transport is a major concern to companies looking to reduce their carbon footprint. Logistics giant DHL, for example, developed a “Green Logics Toolkit.”

“In today’s globalized and interconnected society, modern consumers demand goods that are both affordable and readily available at a moment’s notice,” Mohamed bin Thamer Al Kaabi, Bahrain’s minister of transportation and telecommunications, told the World Economic Forum. “This depends on reliable and resilient supply chains. But supply chains are only as good as their weakest link — and, as the past few years have shown, that weak link often ends up being transportation.”

KEEP ON TRUCKING

According to CITEPA, a France-based organization that collects, analyzes and disseminates information about climate change, light duty trucks account for 20 percent of greenhouse gas emissions from transport, and heavy duty trucks account for 22 percent.

In a product’s journey from warehouse to consumer, the final step is known as the “last mile of delivery.” Last-mile delivery is the most expensive and time-consuming part of the process and covers the product’s actual delivery to the recipient. This is a hotbed of inefficiency because a shipment’s final leg typically involves multiple stops with low drop sizes.

Emrah Demir, professor of operational research at Cardiff University, says the last mile is an increasingly powerful force reshaping supply networks around the world: “Customers wish to have on-time delivery of the products, which might be very difficult task for the logistic service providers because of various operational challenges and uncertainties.”

Because warehouses have moved farther from city centers, the distance traveled to deliver goods has significantly increased. Additionally, most deliveries are home deliveries, increasing the number of stops for a delivery service. Changing to a pick-up point service encourages customers to use clean mobility solutions, such as walking, public transport or cycling, especially in urban areas. But most importantly, perhaps, is the increase in order frequency. Online shopping has intensified, particularly thanks to the global COVID-19 pandemic changing consumer behaviors.

IMAGE: Abjad Design

“In 2022, retail e-commerce sales were estimated to exceed 5.7 trillion U.S. dollars worldwide,” Demir tells KUST Review. “This figure is expected to reach new heights in the coming years.”

DHL’s Green Logistics Toolkit recommends route optimization to reduce time and distance to destinations, lowering fuel consumption and reducing both emissions and costs. It also suggested training delivery drivers in eco-driving – driving behaviors that reduce emissions and fuel consumption – and using green fuels or electric vehicles.

The path to decarbonizing road freight transport seems straightforward: electrify. Dependence on fossil fuels remains one of the greatest challenges facing logistics, especially because effective, economically viable solutions have yet to be found. Many businesses, however, are shifting to EV fleets, which offer lower operating costs and less downtime. EVs offer another advantage too: They can be easily integrated into a greater cloud-connected supply chain network allowing AI-powered technologies to streamline operations.

Demir thinks EVs are the only option for delivery vehicles.

“For last-mile urban transportation, the future is EVs, but the technology is not there yet for heavy goods vehicles,” Demir tells KUST Review. “Phasing out fossil fuel road freight vehicles is an essential step to reducing emissions and combatting climate change.”

He points to the U.K.’s plans to ban sales of new diesel and petrol vans by 2030; require all new vans to be fully zero emission at the tailpipe from 2035; and ban the sale of all non-zero emission heavy duty vehicles by 2040 and lighter HDVs from 2035.

“Phasing out fossil fuel road freight vehicles will not only reduce emissions but also improve air quality and create new jobs in the green energy sector,” Demir says.

Limited electric recharging and hydrogen refilling stations in urban areas is an important drawback, however. Currently, light duty electric vans can travel around 250 kilometers before they need to be recharged. As technology develops and more electric vehicles are used, charging speeds will be reduced and more recharging hubs will become available in the network, but in the early days of the transition, recharging stations are a hard find.

“(EVs) are environmentally friendly since their engines have almost no emissions and emissions in electric power stations can be controlled,” Bloemhof says. “With their limited range, they are better suited to city transport, and to compensate for the short range, a dense power re-supply network could be set up, possibly in conjunction with a swap of batteries.”

Intelligent fleet management can also be put to better use here. Algorithms can prioritize dispatch of an eco-friendly fleet, encouraging consumers to choose eco-friendly delivery methods to get their items sooner.

IMAGE: Abjad Design

Alix Vargas spent 2020 working with Connected Places Catapult, an innovation accelerator in the U.K. There, she focused on sustainable collaborative logistics using planning algorithms to better manage freight logistics between companies: “Optimized truck journeys through collaboration will lead to a reduced total distance traveled and reduced number of trucks on the road with a consequent reduction in environmental and social costs.”

These algorithms and their associated platform can help potential collaborators trust each other, share data and build a new business model based on collaborative networks.

“Collaboration would reduce the number of heavy goods vehicles on the motorways, decrease emissions, reduce empty running, and identify routes and journeys where operators can consolidate their loads into single-vehicle trips,” Vargas explains.

Kardinal is a delivery-optimization platform for the logisticians. It recommends decreasing the number of vehicles used and the number of kilometers traveled. This can be achieved by optimizing routes and loading trucks to full capacity.

Kardinal also highlights the role companies need to play in raising awareness of a delivery’s environmental cost. A survey by the French Senate in May 2021 found that 93 percent of respondents felt insufficiently informed about the environmental impact of the delivery of their online purchases, and more than 85 percent thought it would have an impact on their choice of delivery method.

Cardiff University’s Demir thinks there’s more to it than simply optimizing the route:

“The traditional approach in route optimization was to reduce traveling distance, but all research in green logistics shows there are many other factors affecting fuel consumption,” Demir tells KUST Review. “Vehicle speed, congestion, road gradient, payload and driver behavior are all factors affecting fuel consumption alongside traveling distance. My own Ph.D. in 2012 looked at these factors, and only now have more and more software packages started looking at these factors together.”

According to an IBM Research Insights report, 57 percent of consumers are willing to change their ecommerce purchasing habits to reduce their environmental impact. Another study by UNiDAYS, a discount website for students in the United Kingdom, found 80 percent of Gen Z students would consider paying more for sustainably delivered products.

IMAGE: Abjad Design

With the rise of the gig economy, crowdsourcing platforms are stepping up to ease last mile delivery difficulties in cities. Local, non-professional couriers who use their own transportation can make deliveries. And with the ongoing integration and enhancement of automation across industries, delivery robots and drones are becoming a reality quickly.

“Using drones and delivery robots as assistants in parcel delivery is a new service option, as seen in Amazon, UPS, Walmart, Alibaba, etc.,” Demir says. “With their joint work as assistants, the delivery services can be carried out more efficiently and environment friendly. When an adequate number of assistants is deployed, the cooperated delivery system would reduce the required energy consumption and the amount of CO2 emissions generated.”

Until then, Bloemhof says, an important aspect in green transportation is the choice of fuel. “Modern gasoline is cleaner compared to old gasoline as we focused on removing lead additives. Now, biofuels based on corn or on organic waste can easily be mixed with standard gasoline, but more extensive use requires adapting engines, which is quite expensive.”

Demir is happy to see autonomous vehicles introduced in the transport sector. It’s a major step forward, he says:

“Autonomous vehicles reduce emissions and air pollutants, protecting the environment and improving people’s lives. For example, truck platooning technology can be used to control the position of all vehicles in the platoon, permitting the group to operate extremely closely, reducing wind resistance and decreasing fuel consumption. The future of transportation will be seamless mobility where all modes and (semi-) autonomous vehicles are fully connected and integrated into a single network of information exchange.

“In an ongoing research study, the Giro Zero project assessed the viability of adopting alternative technologies, such as low carbon vehicle technologies like electric vehicles, and hydrogen, and dynamic planning tools that enhance the planning and execution of trips run by trucking companies in Colombia. Similar country-specific studies can shed a light on the transition to cleaner technologies by using real-life transport data and considering the requirements of the country.”

ADVANCES AT SEA

Today’s globalized and interconnected supply chains mean that some 80-90 percent of the world’s goods are transported by sea. Each year, container ships ferrying these goods emit upward of 1 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide, accounting for 3 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions.

The European Commission projects these emissions to increase if measures aren’t taken. The commission has made several legislative proposals as part of its Fit for 55 package, which aims to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55 percent by 2030. One such proposal is to support demand for marine renewable and low-carbon fuels and boost alternative fuel infrastructures.

IMAGE: Abjad
How will energy transition impact gas and oil?

The oil and gas industry plays a major role in driving economic and social growth. According to BP’s energy outlook 2030, the world’s primary energy consumption will grow 39 percent over the next 20 years. Concerns over environmental impact and future availability have prompted a transition to low carbon industry, but there has been little research into the impact of this transition on the oil and gas supply chain. Read more›››

“Even though the evolution process from high carbon to low carbon energy is currently very slow, we should be identifying how the shift will affect the supply chain of oil and gas,” Marisa P. de Brito said at the Asian Conference on Sustainability, Energy and the Environment in 2013. De Brito, lecturer in sustainable supply chain management and circular economies at Breda University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands, investigated the impact of energy transition on sustainable supply chain management of oil and gas

Her review of sustainability reports of companies in the oil and gas industry noted that the energy transition is an issue attracting considerable attention. However, as the players in this space move toward becoming energy companies, not just oil and gas producers, focus shifts to the infrastructure supporting alternative energy sources too.

“We are seeing increased efforts concentrated on improving efficiency of operations and products, which could help in addressing sustainability issues, especially in terms of carbon emission reduction,” de Brito said. “Around 73 percent of the companies we looked at discussed issues related to supply chain management in their reports. Of these, 18 companies disclosed that they are in planning and/or research and development phase of alternative energy sources and significant investment must be made in their supply chains to develop production and logistics infrastructure that can deliver this energy.

De Brito emphasized that logistics infrastructure such as storage and transport systems must be efficient so as to reduce cost and time to deliver supplies to users because many production sites are located in remote areas. The sustainability concerns plaguing the oil and gas supply chain – such as sustainable sourcing; clean production; water and waste management; and the carbon footprint of the production process and logistics activities – are the same facing the development of alternative energy.

“As one of the major players in the energy sector, the oil and gas industry will be affected by the energy transition. They can either continue doing what they do best — exploring and producing oil and gas —but risk running out of business in the long run, or get involved in the so-called clean energy race to remain resilient against the changes in their business environment.”

De Brito’s points remain salient almost a decade on. The oil and gas industry continues to face increasing demands to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the strategic challenge of balancing short-term returns with its long-term operations. Reimagining existing supply chains can build a sustainable and efficient network for the movement of energy products‹‹‹ Read less

Danish shipping company Maersk has started to pivot toward carbon-neutral methanol-powered ships to offset the 33 million tons of carbon dioxide it emitted in 2020. Fully electric tanker ships and even the world’s first autonomous electric cargo carrier are also helping to wean the industry off fossil fuels. Norwegian chemical company Yara launched the fully electric, fully autonomous cargo ship in 2021 to demo the journey between two cities on the Norwegian coast.

The International Council on Clean Transportation says hydrogen could fuel 43 percent of voyages between the United States and China without any changes to fuel capacity or operations and 99 percent of voyages with minor changes.

For the shipping industry, it’s not just what fuel it uses, but what fuel it delivers too.

Changes to the oil and gas industry as the world shifts from fossil fuels will directly impact the shipping sector too: Thirty-six percent of current trade is transporting energy goods, primarily oil, coal and gas. The shipping freight industry’s biggest problem right now? Declines in shipments of oil and gas outweigh growth of transport of new fuels. Different forms of energy would not be difficult for freight companies to deliver, given existing infrastructure and familiarity with the cargo. While no shipping vessels have been tested with hydrogen, retrofitting existing ships with hydrogen fuel cells should be relatively easy.

And, if we can figure out hydrogen transportation, bioenergy and hydrogen shipments have the potential to be as high as coal and gas shipments, but such increases still do not offset an overall decline in energy products transported by sea.

UP IN THE AIR

According to the Air Transport Action Group, air transport as a whole represents 2.1 percent of global carbon emissions. Air freight produces around 10 times more CO2 than transportation by ship.

Jet fuels created from waste products and other sustainable feedstocks have the potential to reduce these emissions by 80 percent. These are known as sustainable aviation fuels (SAF), and their development could be the key to sustainable air travel.

The International Air Transport Association says more than 450,000 flights have taken to the skies using SAF and more than 50 airlines have experience with the product.

SAFs can be mixed with traditional liquid aviation fuel but they’re also known as drop-in fuels — they can replace traditional fuels without any changes to the engines or systems of modern aircraft. However, SAFs are more expensive, which limits their uptake. Lufthansa Cargo and Air France KLM Martinair have adopted SAF programs for their air cargo activities but scaling up their use to a global market requires substantial investment.

Battery-powered aircraft are also an option. Working toward electrifying air freight is an important step since electrified commercial flights remain out of reach. Larger-capacity electric planes require major advancements in battery technology but smaller flight distances could benefit.

Eviation, an electric aircraft manufacturer, offers a freighter version of its planes that could be used to cover shorter, primarily domestic routes.
Beyond the fuels used, advances in AI and digitalization can support and accelerate sustainable air freight logistics. Blockchain technology, for example, could help provide companies with “fully traceable environmental attributes of SAF to help decarbonize air travel” — so says Avelia, a blockchain solution backed by Shell, Accenture and Amex GBT.

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Reports of nuclear’s death are
exaggerated

As nations battle rising energy costs and world temperatures, nuclear looks to remain an important part of the clean-energy mix, even in countries that had previously stopped investing in the technology.

Japan, for example, turned against nuclear after the 2011 Fukushima disaster, when a tsunami and earthquake struck, leading to power loss and the failure of cooling systems in three reactors. But the country in 2022 announced that it would restart old plants. extend the life of plants past the 60-year limit and build next-generation reactors.

We need more electricity production, we need clean electricity and we need a stable energy system.

– Elisabeth Svantesson, Swedish finance minister

Other countries are also reinvesting. Many U.S. states with the most vigorous climate goals are putting millions of dollars into nuclear power.

“We are moving expeditiously toward a clean energy mix, but that is going to take a while,” Joe Fiordaliso, president of the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, says in an article for Pewtrusts.org. “We can’t build renewables fast enough, and people still need energy. Nukes are an important interim part of the mix.”

The U.S.’ first new reactor in 40 years came on line in Georgia in 2023.

Sweden’s parliament in June green-lit plans to build new nuclear reactors. The country plans to build 10 in the next 20 years as part of a target to reach net-zero emissions by 2045. The country 40 years ago voted to phase out nuclear power.

“This creates the conditions for nuclear power,” Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson said in parliament per Reuters. “We need more electricity production, we need clean electricity and we need a stable energy system.”

As of May 2022, there were 439 nuclear plants operating in about 30 countries. The United States had the most, with 92.

One of the newest of the world’s plants, however, is the UAE’s Barakah facility, which opened in 2020 and began operating commercially in 2021. Three reactors at the plant are in operation with the fourth expected to go online in 2024.

“Nuclear is really important in the energy portfolio. For the UAE to embark on the nuclear program is important for the country’s energy security mix as well as to reduce carbon emissions,” says Saeed Al Ameri, a professor in Khalifa University’s Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering.

It is … crucial to use cost-effective and proven solutions to provide secure access to 24/7 low-carbon electricity to support socioeconomic development for everyone.

– Henry Preston, World Nuclear Association

Mohamed Ibrahim Al Hammadi, president of the World Association of Nuclear Operators, was also keen on the technology’s future in the UAE when he spoke in 2022 at the opening of the Barakah plant’s third reactor. “The Barakah plant is spearheading the decarbonisation of the power sector, sustainably generating abundant electricity to meet growing demand and power growth,” he said.

Other countries in the MENA region, including Saudi Arabia and Egypt, are also investing in nuclear, KU’s Al Ameri adds. Egypt began construction on its El Dabaa site on the Mediterranean coast in 2022.

Meanwhile in France, President Emmanuel Macron in 2022 announced six new reactors to come online by 2050.

That year is important, says Henry Preston of the World Nuclear Association.

“Demand for electricity is set to increase at least 50 percent by 2050, with the global population, electrification and access to electricity all projected to increase,” he tells KUST Review. “It is therefore crucial to use cost-effective and proven solutions to provide secure access to 24/7 low-carbon electricity to support socioeconomic development for everyone.”

LOW-CARBON BACKBONE

The International Energy Agency, an intergovernmental organization based in Paris, in a 2019 report called nuclear, along with hydropower, “the backbone of low-carbon energy generation,” providing 75 percent of global low-carbon energy generation.

This has reduced CO2 emissions by more than 70 gigatons over 50 years, Preston says. To put that into perspective, a single gigaton is equivalent to about twice the mass of all humans on Earth. Seventy gigatons also equals nearly two years of global energy-related emissions, Preston says.

We know that nuclear is clean. Operation cost is not expensive. And it continuously supplies energy to the grid.

– Saeed Al Ameri, Khalifa University

And as the U.S. Office of Nuclear Energy points out, reactors have small physical footprints, needing little more than a square mile to operate. The Nuclear Energy Institute says a wind farm producing about the same amount of electricity needs 360 times more land area. Solar farms are slightly more compact, needing about 75 times more space to produce the same amount of electricity.

Land use is one of the issues addressed in Simon Friederich and Maarten Boudry’s 2022 paper in Philosophy & Technology on the ethics of nuclear energy in times of climate change. They conclude that even considering such issues as waste disposal and diminishing uranium reserves, “From the point of view of climate-change mitigation, investments in nuclear energy as part of a broader energy portfolio will be ethically required to minimize the risks of decarbonization failure.”

LOOKING AHEAD

The 2019 International Energy Agency report foresaw risks of steep declines in nuclear’s use in advanced economies. And there are drawbacks to the technology, to be sure: It’s expensive to build and slow to roll out. The power it produces is also expensive, rising 40 percent per kilowatt since 2011 while solar’s price is falling. And what to do with the waste remains an issue. But the World Nuclear Association’s Preston remains enthusiastic.

“Reactors online today can expect to operate for 60-80 years, so I think there is also a growing appreciation that nuclear power plant construction and operation generates thousands of long-term, high-quality jobs, along with substantial socioeconomic benefits into the local, regional and national economies,” Preston says.

KU’s Al Ameri is similarly enthusiastic. “In terms of the technology itself, we know that nuclear is clean. Operation cost is not expensive. And it continuously supplies energy to the grid.”

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UAE to help build lunar-orbiting station

The UAE’s deal to contribute the airlock for the planned lunar-orbiting Gateway station marks a significant milestone for the nation, a Khalifa University expert on the space sector says.

“The Gateway project is a fundamental part of the Artemis program and sets up the stage for further exploring the moon by developing and maintaining a manned space station in lunar orbit. The UAE’s recent partnership with NASA on this project highlights the country’s dedication to becoming a major player in the space sector in the coming years,” Mohamed Ramy El-Maarry, director of the Space and Planetary Science Center at Khalifa University, tells KUST Review.

Gateway, the space station expected to orbit the moon, will serve as a science lab and temporary lodging as astronauts explore the moon and test its materials. The Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre will provide the airlock that will allow people and supplies to enter and exit the station. The deal also includes the potential for UAE astronauts to participate in future moon missions.

President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Jan. 7 announced the project on X, formerly Twitter: “I was pleased to attend with my brother Mohammed bin Rashid the launch of the UAE’s contributions to the historic lunar Gateway, which will serve as humanity’s first space station around the moon.

“Through our long-term investment in space exploration and scientific innovation, the UAE is determined to work alongside its international partners to enable collective progress for all.”

The project is part of NASA’s Artemis program aimed at returning astronauts to the moon by 2024 and the next frontier — an eventual human mission to Mars.

IMAGE: Pixabay

The UAE’s Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center is the latest member to join the international partnership of the lunar Gateway project consisting of the European Space Agency, the Canadian Space Agency and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency.

Gateway is expected to serve as a layover for future missions deeper into the cosmos with a docking port, part of the airlock to be provided by the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre, for those deep-space missions.

The agreement reinforces scientific ties between the UAE and the United States.

“By combining our resources, scientific capacity and technical skill, the U.S. and UAE will further our collective vision for space and ensure it presents extraordinary opportunities for everyone here on Earth,” U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, who also chairs the U.S. National Space Council, said in a press release.

The UAE’s space program has moved at a rapid pace since its launch in 2017. Accomplishments include sending its first two UAE astronauts to the ISS and its first spacewalk.

In conjunction with NASA, Hazza al Mansoori completed an eight-day stay on the ISS in 2019. Sultan al Neyadi in 2023 completed six months on the ISS, numerous scientific experiments and the first space walk by an Arab.

It has been over five decades since a human walked on the moon but the UAE space program has its sights set on being there for a lunar-exploration revival.

Along with the crew airlock and ongoing engineering services to the ISS, the agreement with NASA includes UAE access to the space station and the opportunity for its own astronauts to embark on lunar missions.

NASA has scheduled a Jan. 31 town hall meeting about the Gateway project with presentations and panels.

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A fair wind

Offshore wind farms could potentially produce more energy than the world currently consumes, but procedures, permits and regulatory administration present challenges. A 2019 report by the International Energy Agency estimates that the offshore wind potential is equivalent to approximately 18 times the global energy expenditure.

And this industry is growing: Many countries around the world are developing offshore wind farms and investing in the sector. By 2030, an estimated 35 countries will have offshore wind turbines — nearly double the number of countries participating today.

Global Market Insights reports the “offshore wind energy market passed U.S.$47.5 billion in 2022,” and estimates a compound annual growth rate in excess of 16.2 percent between 2023-2032.

Rebecca Williams, global head of offshore wind at the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC), believes offshore wind will be at the heart of the world’s energy system by 2050.

And for good reason. First, they are emissions-free. No wildlife is displaced as wind farms don’t need large land masses, and there are no neighbors to bother with noise pollution. Plus, being offshore, they aren’t subject to the dying winds that plague land turbines. Higher wind force and consistent movement means more electricity.

Environmental perks aren’t the only benefits offshore wind farms provide. Experts see potential for economic growth in this sector, possibly creating millions of jobs globally.

CAPTION: Dec, 2015, 196 countries adopt the Paris Agreement IMAGE: Arnaud Bouissou

However, in order to achieve the 1.5-degree global temperature increase limit set out by the 2015 Paris Agreement, offshore wind turbine production would have to quadruple, according to the energy council.

“Offshore wind is at the very center of global ambitions to deliver a fossil-fuel free future that limits global heating to 1.5C,” the council’s Williams says. “However, to achieve this, “global capacity should exceed 365 GW by 2030.”

The International Renewable Energy Agency agrees, requiring a further growth to an estimated 2 terawatts by 2050 to meet the 1.5C goal. However, current pace of development suggests global production will achieve only 66 percent of this target by 2030.

Even countries rich in other resources are looking into offshore wind’s potential. In the UAE, the government’s renewable-energy company Masdar and the National Petroleum Construction Co. in 2022 entered into an agreement to investigate the technology.

By leveraging each other’s world-class expertise in our respective fields, our combined efforts could play a vital role in achieving the UAE’s clean energy objectives and support our nation’s net-zero commitment,says Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, Masdar CEO in Offshorewind.biz.

Masdar also has a stake in the Hywind Scotland offshore wind farm and in 2022 signed an agreement with Cosmo Energy Holdings Co. to explore offshore wind projects in Japan. Hywind is the world’s first floating wind farm.

Offshore wind energy faces obstacles, however.

IMAGE: Shutterstock

The farms are difficult to build in deep waters. They are expensive, hard to maintain and risk damage from high waves and winds during storms.

Hitting the 2 terawatt target would translate to roughly U.S.$500 billion in capital expenditure this decade, and U.S.$3 trillion by 2050, according to Williams.

Currently, two types of offshore turbines are in use — those that are fixed to the ocean floor and those, like Hywind, that float.

The deepest fixed-bottom turbine currently reaches a depth of 57.4 meters. This means they need to be closer to shore in shallower waters.

Floating turbines, however, can be built in much deeper water. Turbines in deeper water and farther offshore generate significantly more power, utilizing high, consistent winds and have no barriers nearby to block them.

Because so much more power can be generated from these deep-water titans (some stand over 490 feet tall), a lot of time is spent minimizing the challenges they face. One such challenge is hurricanes.

In search of a possible way to mitigate this risk, a team of researchers at the University of Colorado recently collaborated on a new blade design inspired by something that handles strong storms well — the palm tree.

The design uses lighter materials, which could bring down the cost and leave the structure less vulnerable to damage in high winds. It could also make it possible to have one big turbine as opposed to many smaller ones. This would reduce installation and material costs.

The team also hopes that its design will outlast current turbines, which have a lifespan of approximately 20 years.

While protecting turbines is a priority for some, other countries battle to get projects off the ground due to governmental regulations.

A country like Vietnam, for example, with a lengthy coastline of over 3,000 kilometers and winds that can reach up to 10 meters per second, has the potential to be the leader in offshore wind in Southeast Asia. But a 2022 study by the International Renewable Energy Agency estimates the process to get from the beginning phase of a project to actual operation is approximately seven years — the first five years of which is simply project development.

“Many markets need to build a sector from the very beginning,” Williams tells KUST Review.

One of the major hindrances to acquiring approvals is uncertainty about the effects on marine life. Development in offshore wind energy may offer a limitless supply of energy but protecting the oceans’ ecosystems is also important

Currently, information about the impacts of offshore wind farms on marine life is sparse or conflicting. A 2022 study by a team at Basque Research and Technology Alliance suggests that more data is needed. The team proposes the full impact will be known only when more studies are done across greater-sized areas — currently most publications are based on studies on small areas, quite close to the shore, and farms with few turbines. It also recommends monitoring specific and protected ecosystems.

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One organization that is working to ensure the protection of marine life from offshore wind development is U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It works to provide wind developers with research on marine-life impact that can assist with decisions on where to build, the construction process, and functionality once the farm is up and running.

Overall, Williams is positive for the future of offshore wind farms, both floating and fixed: “There are challenges in delivering on this huge potential, but the sector is also a beacon of hope for international collaboration that delivers climate action. Initiatives like the Global Offshore Wind Alliance, which was founded by GWEC, (the International Renewable Energy Agency) and the government of Denmark, are bringing together countries all over the world, with big and small offshore markets, to share expertise and knowledge that will help make potential clean energy into actual clean energy,” she tells KUST Review

High, consistent winds in deep water help turbines generate more power than those on land or close to the shoreline.