Chinese scientists explore new ways to reduce carbon emissions
Author: Holly Chik
Chinese scientists have been working to explore technological possibilities to reduce greenhouse gases as the country presses ahead to peak its carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. In some recent moves, researchers have designed the flow battery for better energy storage, proposed a new eco-friendly cooling strategy and tried to utilize microalgae to capture the carbon. A team from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has developed the vanadium flow battery energy storage technology, which the researchers say is safe, reliable, enduring, recyclable and eco-friendly. In September, a power storage utility based on the technology has been built in the northeastern Chinese city of Dalian in Liaoning Province, with the capacity to meet the electricity demand of some 200,000 people for one day. The station works like a reservoir of power. At electricity troughs, the batteries will be charged through renewable energy sources, and during peak-load hours, the chemical energy in them can transform into electricity for use.