Top 10 Emerging Technologies of 2021 5
Today 2% or less of global private and commercial
roadway transportation fleets produce zero
emissions, despite Tesla’s highly visible initial
success in driving consumer interest. Meanwhile
bulk shipping, both rail and seaborne, has devised
low-carbon solutions. Yet many of them, such as
the Coradia iLint, a passenger train powered by
hydrogen fuel cells and manufactured by Alstom,
have yet to be applied at scale. The barriers are not
just technological but also political, given that such
transformational programmes require significant
capital investment.
In the US, an estimated 13% of total carbon
emissions come from fuel used for heating and
cooking in residential and commercial buildings.
Reducing that number there and elsewhere
will require net-zero emissions HVAC (heating,
ventilation and air-conditioning) and passive solar
environmental systems to become commonplace. It
will also be important to switch to natural and novel
building materials such as renewable timbers and
low-carbon cement.
As renewable energy sources become abundant,
it will be necessary to employ them to decarbonize
pervasive sources of greenhouse gases. One
example is “green” hydrogen. When produced
without using carbon-based fuels, hydrogen can
become a non-polluting fuel while also serving the
chemical industry as a basic ingredient with no
carbon footprint. Similarly, if data centres, which
often require megawatts of electricity, are co-
located with the same renewable energy sources,
their carbon footprint is dramatically reduced.
Meeting the power generation goals set by
nations and industries requires a radical
expansion of photovoltaic, wind, hydroelectric,
tidal, nuclear and other zero-emissions
technologies. Some critical hurdles remain.
Reliable, efficient and affordable energy storage
at the industrial scale is nascent. Carbon-free,
fission-based nuclear energy (including disposal
of its waste products) that is both safe and
affordable is also still aspirational. To lessen the
pollution from existing fossil-fuel power generation
will require bringing on far more technologies that
capture, reuse and sequester carbon.
In the agriculture sector, protein substitutes such as
the Impossible Burger and Beyond Meat will need
to take over a much greater share of the market to
mitigate the massive levels of carbon and methane
produced in raising livestock. Data from sensors
connected via the internet of things will increasingly
enable intelligent land and crop management ,as
well as fertiliser and water use, aiding in further
carbon reductions.
In addition to the myriad technological challenges to
rapid decarbonization, nations must develop global
governance methods to ensure energy equality.
Emerging economies cannot face identical carbon
reduction targets that would stifle development.
Nations will also need to thoughtfully allocate
land to expand infrastructure for renewables.
And to ensure compliance with global accords,
governments will need global environmental
monitoring infrastructure, similar to the protocols of
the International Atomic Energy Agency.
REUTERS/Toby Melville
