Out of Thin Air
December 5, 2014
“There is something of the marvelous in all things of nature.”
~ Aristotle
Philosophers, mystics and poets throughout time have likened the element of fire to creativity. Now the “spark” of creative genius is being used to discover and develop ground-breaking new technologies that create fuel out of the other elements: air, water and earth.
Researchers in the UK, led by Nobel-prize-winning Professor Sir Andrei Gem of Manchester University, have made recent discoveries about graphene (a form of carbon graphite – the stuff in pencil lead) that could enable the creation of a device that would generate clean electricity by extracting hydrogen fuel from the atmosphere. Yes, you read that correctly; this new knowledge could one day lead to a carbon-free fuel that is created out of the air.
Sunfire GmbH, a German company, has recently developed a machine that converts water (H2O) and carbon dioxide (CO2) that has been harvested from the atmosphere into synthetic, cleanly produced petroleum, diesel and kerosene.
So these represent two breakthroughs in producing clean fuels, one utilizing the air and one using water; what about earth?
The first bus powered by human and food waste has begun service between Bristol and Bath in the UK. The 40-seat “Bio-Bus” runs on a fuel generated through the treatment of sewage and food waste (think of the ending scene from the 1985 movie Back to the Future when Doc Brown powers his time-traveling DeLorean by feeding banana peels and trash into a machine labeled “Mr. Fusion”). The bus can travel up to 186 miles (300km in the UK) on a single tank of this biomethane gas, which is made using the waste generated during one year by about five people. A single person’s annual waste would provide enough fuel to run the bus for 37 miles (60km). In case you are wondering, impurities are removed from the fuel, allowing for virtually odor-free emissions.
It seems such a beautiful irony that, after all the destruction that man’s drive for dominance over nature has wrought, the solutions to saving the air, water and earth that are key to our very survival are being found in the elements themselves.
“The poetry of the Earth is never dead.”
~ John Keats
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Have you been eating Thanksgiving leftovers for a week? Lighten up with tangy and tasty Yogurt Mushroom Soup.
Yogurt Mushroom Soup
This tangy and simple to prepare soup is a delicious alternative to the usual cream-based mushroom soup.
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
8 oz of cremini or button mushrooms, cleaned & sliced thinly
1 clove of garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
A pinch of crumbled, dried rosemary
1 teaspoon sherry vinegar or balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon organic soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon Spanish smoked paprika
Salt and black pepper, to taste
3 cups vegetable broth
1 cup whole milk yogurt (European/thin style)
Add oil to soup pot or large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add sliced mushrooms and stir until they begin to soften and release their liquid (a few minutes). Lower the heat to medium and add the garlic, thyme, rosemary, vinegar, soy sauce and smoke paprika. Stir until combined. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Add the broth to the pan and heat until simmering. Scoop 1/2 cup of the hot broth from the pan and stir it into the 1 cup of yogurt until mixed. Add the yogurt/broth mixture to the soup pot and stir it in gradually. Bring back to a simmer.
Taste and add additional salt and pepper, if desired.
Serve hot.
Serves 4
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