Sustainable integration of human activities into the global ecosystem
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PERSPECTIVE Sustainable integration of human activities into the global ecosystem
Philippe Lorge, H2WIN S.A. Rue du gendarme, N°4, Nivelles B-1400, Belgium* Address all correspondence to Philippe Lorge at [email protected] * 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. (Received 26 May 2020; accepted 16 July 2020)
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 Hydrogenbased 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.).
DISCUSSION POINTS • Ecological problems: Countless deteriorations in our ecosystem are caused by human activity causing premature deaths, social instability, immigration, or wars that are the premises of our hardliving conditions in a few decades from now. A very simple experiment “earth on the rocks” ease to realize the major consequences of the fatal heat emitted by human activities and transmitted to the oceans by convection and irradiation through the lower layers of the atmosphere. • Technological strategy: Transition from “thermal age” (combustion or nuclear) to “electroprotonic era” using energy and chemical vectors that limits thermal emissions in low atmosphere and air pollution is the strategy proposed to significantly smooth human ecosystem impact. • Technical solutions: Extensive use of molecular biomimicry through the integration of Mother Nature tools like enzymes into engineering systems has a huge potential. In particular, the use of redox enzymes inspired by photosynthesis in electrochemical devices for the production of energy vectors, ammonia, or carbohydrates
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