Humanity’s world isn’t doing too hot. This is known. Nothing controversial about it. We have problems.
Most of whom revolve around our extraction of, and our dependency on, energy. Fossil fuels, to be specific. A habit that it’s turning out to be very difficult to shed. For both its accessibility and for the massive amount of money the oil business generates. And yet, we need to get off it.
Which is where an unlikely candidate is emerging to the surface. Not solar or wind, nor fission or fusion. But iron.
Yes; iron. The very building block which we’ve engineered human civilization around since the late bronze age collapse. Iron stands poised to fill a number of energy industry gaps. As a new, sustainable, and emissionless fuel.
Fucked with my head when I heard about it too. But it’s not all that strange. Not really. Looksee here…
Currently, we get energy from fossil fuels by burning it. Unlocking chemical energy by breaking the carbon and hydrogen bonds apart with heat. Generating even more heat. Which, in turn, we capture as axis momentum, and later as electricity. Unfortunately, fossil fuels generate not just heat, but also gases. Carbon dioxide primarily among which. And all of them are considered greenhouse gases. That is to say, gases that make our atmosphere keep more and more solar heat inside its bubble.
Now, imagine burning something other than fossil fuels. Something that just so happens doesn’t emit any gases whatsoever, either greenhouse or otherwise. That fuel is iron. Burning iron creates nothing but rust (Fe2O3). Rust and heat. Since there’s no carbon in it, there’re no gaseous discharges.
All well and good, but as it turns out, it gets better. That rust, our slag produce from burning our iron, can be turned back to the same amount of iron that we just fuelled our power plant with. By turning up the heat, to somewhere between 600 and 1400 degrees Celsius (depending on the specific process) and wash the rust with hydrogen. Which reacts to the oxygen bound to the iron. And out we get the pure iron once more, and nothing but water (H2O). Which means we can stick our initial fuel right back into the power plant. Presto! A rechargeable fuel source!
This is unimaginably cool. And simple to boot. Iron is one of the most common elements on the planet. It’s heavy, absolutely, so it won’t work well as a car or air plane fuel. But for ships, trains, and the industry sector, it seems a little too good to be true. But despite being heavy, it is safe. Unlike fuel cells or hydrogen gas. And it won’t lose energy efficiency over distances, like what electric currents are want to do. What we got in iron as a fuel is a rechargable and safe sort of chemical battery with absolutely no emissions associated with its use or recharge.
Granted, iron power won’t solve all our energy problems. You still need to spend energy to get it lit up to begin with, and also when you want to recharge it. Iron needs to work in tandem with other power sources.
That being said, some forty percent of our current energy needs could easily be replaced with iron power. That’s not counting transport emissions from train and seaway traffic. And that’s just straight up absolutely spectacular!
Who would have thunk, that such a big piece of the sustainable future that we need, would come from something so old. Something so simple. And who would have thought that the Iron Age would just swing back into fashion like it never went anywhere…
/Sebastian Lindberg 4/7-2023
WastedWords 