Car Paint That Packs a Charge

The case was brought by island nations that are losing the battle against rising seas. Last year, the UN General Assembly asked that its highest court issue an opinion on the obligations of states to address climate change. The Associated Press reports that sea levels rose by a global average of nearly four inches from 1990 to 2020, with parts of the Pacific experiencing even more.

It’s the largest case that the International Court of Justice has ever heard, with 15 judges from around the world set to hear from more than 90 governments. While the court’s decision would not be binding on countries, it could support those states seeking help, and it might tell developed nations what they should be doing to mitigate the impacts of global warming. It might also lead to the basis for lawsuits inside some countries. The legal case was the result of efforts begun by law students at the University of the South Pacific in Vanuatu.

The hearing last week began just days after the COP29 climate conference ended, which was severely criticized for failing to agree on adequate compensation to help poorer nations cope with climate change. On Wednesday last week, Margaret L. Taylor, a representative of the U.S. government, sparked outcry when she said that the existing UN system addressing climate change is sufficient. The New York Times reports that small island nations and environmental groups pointed out the ineffectiveness of that system, which they said should not be allowed to dilute the responsibility for the crisis.

Fiji’s ambassador to the UN told the Associated Press that the climate crisis was one of survival and equity. The country’s people bear the brunt of its impacts but contribute an extremely small percent of global emissions.

The court is expected to issue its opinion next year.

Scientists at the Alfred Wegener Institute in Germany sought to identify the cause of these sudden and unanticipated increases. They found that man-made greenhouse gases, volcanoes, and the El Niño weather phenomenon could explain much of the warming but not all of it. They noticed that last year was unlike any other because of its low albedo. Albedo is the fraction (percentage) of light or solar energy that is reflected into space. Albedo has been in decline since the 1970s, in part because of the loss of Arctic snow and sea ice and more recently the decline in Antarctic sea ice. As ice melts, the water or earth below it absorbs more energy and warms up. However, those snow and sea ice declines didn’t account for all the decrease in albedo.

Now, the researchers are suggesting that last year’s increase in warming was because Earth is less able to reflect heat from sunlight because certain types of clouds are disappearing that have high albedo, specifically ones that form at lower altitudes and in middle latitudes.

What’s leading to fewer of those clouds? Mostly it’s from greenhouse gas emissions, but some of the decline could be from more stringent regulations in the shipping industry to eliminate fuels with sulfur-dioxide, which reduced pollutants that, ironically, created low-level clouds.

The cloud study was published in the journal Science.

On December 5, that possibility entered the consciousness of around five million people in Oregon and California following an earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter Scale that struck off the coast of Petrolia, California—about 200 miles north of San Francisco. Shortly after, text alerts went to residents as far south as the Bay Area warning of a possible tsunami.

An hour later, the warning was canceled but not the lingering revelation that tsunamis, albeit rare, are a possibility. In fact, the California Geological Survey says that since the 1800s, about 150 have struck the coast with the majority being a whimper of a wave to others more devastating, the most recent of which followed a volcanic eruption near Tonga in the South Pacific and caused nearly $10 million in flood damage in parts of Santa Cruz and Ventura. In 2011, an earthquake in Japan resulted in over $100 million in damage to California marinas and harbors.

Tsunamis are not one but a series of waves, the first of which is usually not the highest that can be over 50 feet tall. Tsunamis can inundate land up to one mile from the shore, so beaches, lagoons, bays, estuaries, tidal flats, and river mouths are dangerous places to be.

The December 5 tremblor was a strike slip earthquake with lateral motion on the Mendocino fracture zone, where two plates move past each other in a side to side motion but not with much up and down movement needed to generate a tsunami.

In addition to official alerts, how would coastal inhabitants know if a tsunami is possible in their area? According to the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services, hearing a loud ocean roar and seeing water recede unusually far to expose the sea floor may indicate a tsunami is imminent and may last for several hours. If you live in California, the state publishes a Tsunami Hazard Area Map. Also, if there was a strong earthquake lasting longer than 20 seconds and you are in a tsunami hazard zone, evacuate to higher ground as soon as it is safe.

The company is exploring coating vehicles with “solar paint” to harness the sun’s energy. The paint, which is actually a paste of solar modules thinner than a human hair, could produce enough electricity for a midsize SUV to travel up to 7,456 miles (12,000 kilometers) a year—whether it’s parked or moving. That figure would vary by location, but in sunny Los Angeles, it could mean drivers would never have to plug in again—or if they did, the surplus energy could power their homes.

The cars would have a typical paint job over the paste, although it would be a special nanoparticle-based concoction that would let solar energy pass through to charge the battery. Mercedes doesn’t reveal the ingredients of the paste, only that it has a high level of efficiency, contains no rare earth metals or silicon, and uses only non-toxic, readily available raw materials. They add that it’s recyclable and cheaper to produce than conventional solar modules.

Mercedes says the solar paint is still in R&D, and it could be a few years before we see vehicles coated with it in a showroom, but it begs the question: Why stop with cars? Maybe let’s apply it to buildings and roads? Now, that would be a “brilliant” solution.
 

Could Edible Plastic Reduce the Growing Scourge? (bonus content)

There have been two developments toward solving the plastic and microplastic problem. First, scientists at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel have made a new kind of material that is resilient and affordable and can be degraded by bacteria.  

They created a composite using an amino acid called tyrosine and cellulose to form a strong material. They hope it could meet the needs of various industries from cars to airplanes and bikes. They say their material is edible, both ingredients being found in cheese, but they say they don’t know if it's tasty, as their process was not done in hygienic conditions. The study was published in the journal ACS Nano.

Edibility is the feature of another new plastic replacement, which has been developed at MIT. Researchers there have made small particles that can replace plastic beads used in cleansers, cosmetics, and other beauty products. They break down into harmless sugars and amino acids and could also be used to fortify foods with nutrients, like vitamin A and iron, to help the nearly three billion people who have deficiencies.

They tested the particles’ use in cleaners by mixing them with soap foam and found it could remove permanent markers and even waterproof eyeliner from skin more effectively than just soap. The MIT scientists hope their particles could reduce the amount of microplastics released into the environment. The study was published in the journal Nature Chemical Engineering.