Intuitive Interactions: Environmental Recovery page

I have written a number of articles proposing methods of using technology to combat human-induced climate change. These are in the form of down-loadable articles in pdf format. I shall be adding to them and editing them periodically, so please look back from time to time. Please email me with any comments or suggestions for improvement you may have. I will acknowledge the authorship of any suggestions that I imclude in ny of these documents.

These articles are all copyright. If you want to print them in any newspaper, magazine or journal, please contact me. If you want to use the technology, however, my purpose of publishing this information here, rather than patenting the ideas contained in them, is to make sure that it is freely available for all to use, and so that others cannot steal my ideas by patenting the technology.

I am a consultant engineer, and if you wish to consult me over any application specifics, you may use email, zoom, WhatsApp or other internet technologies to talk to me. If you are applying the technology for altruistic motives and only covering your expenses, I won't charge for this. If you are doing this for personal or business gain, you may expect to pay a reasonable price for my time; in the case of newly starting businesses, this payment may be deferred until the business is in profit.

Sustainability: There seems to be some doubt about how to define sustainability. For instance people seem to think that planting trees is a sustainable way of removing carbon dioxide from the environment. It is true that trees absorb large quantities of carbon dioxide, but trees die and rot, get burnt in forest fires and as fuel or used for construction of buildings that will eventually be demolished. Each of these will eventually return all of the absorbed carbon dioxide to the environment. Sustainability is all about what will happen to the quality of life on this planet if our current practices continue for ten years, a hundred years, a thousand years ten-thousand years or more.
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A Future Free from Fossil Fuels: This document refers to eleven others that I have written, (the next 11 below), which, when combined, provide a comprehensive system whereby we can all use liquid-fuelled cars, buses, lorries, trains, ships and aeroplanes, supply all of our industries with the power they need as well as heating and air conditioning our homes and places of work without extracting and refining any more fossil fuels and without using nuclear energy.
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Clean Electricity Generation - Capturing Wave Energy with Nodding Ducks. Waves from a large ocean carry a huge amount of power, which peaks between latitudes 30°-70° north and south of the equator with values of 40-100 kW per metre of wave-front off coasts facing large oceans. This document proposes the use of large arrays of "nodding ducks" made of recycled plastic to pump water through a turbine and alternator set to generate electricity. An array of about 25m wide intercepting 1000m of wave-front could generate between 6 and 15 MW for a capital cost of between ŁUK 120,000 and ŁUK 180,000 per MW.
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Electricity from Kites: For landlocked countries or those having insufficient wave power available on their shores, it is possible to generate electrical power by flying kites with wind turbines and generators attached to their wings. The proposed system is for a kite the size of a wide-bodied jet to fly at an altitude of 1000 to 5000 feet, (300 to 1500 metres), carrying 6 or 8 turbine/generator sets with a combined output of 2 to 12 MW depending on wind speed. Each tether point could have several kites using the same airstrip. The capital cost of generating power with this system is between $US 450,000 and $US 670,000 per megawatt.
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Electricity from Disused Cooling Towers: There are thousands of disused natural draught cooling towers around the world. If you have ever walked close to the base of one in operation, there is a powerful wind that can nearly knock you off your feet. By fitting the air-gap at the base of the tower with ducts and wind turbines connected to alternators, electricity can be generated. It is also possible to utilise spare cooling tower capacity on production sites in this way.
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Gas Separation using Continuous Gas Centrifuge: This is an area where more research work needs to be done. Gas separation by a cascade of gas centrifuges is used in the nuclear industry for isotope separation; here the molecular weight differences are tiny, less than 0.25% usually. In industrial processes, molecular weight differences are one or two orders of magnitude bigger, making centrifugal separation far easier. There are industrial applications of continuous liquid centrifuge, for instance the separation of cream and milk; in principle, the separation of gases using a multi-disc centrifuge is no different.
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Carbon Capture and Sequestration: The proposal is for taking Carbon Dioxide out of the environment at a rate of 10,000 tonnes per day or 3.6 million tonnes per year for a capital cost of around $US 20 million. The carbon dioxide is produced as a liquid at high pressure which can be sequestered by pumping it down disused oil or gas wells more than 1.5 km deep, (so that the gas is in equilibrium with the ground pressure).
To balance our current consumption of fossil fuels, we need a little over 10,000 such systems to be in use around the world. To capture enough carbon dioxide to bring the global environemntal carbon dioxide level down to pre-industrial levels within ten years would require approximately 95 times this number of systems to be in service.
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Turning Carbon Dioxide into a Useful Fuel: One way to reduce the use of fossil fuels is to convert CO2 captured from the environment into a useful fuel. This can be done by passing a mixture of CO2 and hydrogen at high pressure through an electric arc. This heats it to more than 4000 deg C at which temperature it dissociates to CO and oxygen, (but keeping it below 4800 deg C beyond which CO further dissociates into C + O), and immediately quenching it to below 880 deg C with a spray of water. The process produces a 24% solution of methanol and other oxygenated hydrocarbons, which is further purified to form a useful fuel of 90% methanol in water. This provides a fuel that can be supplied using the existing liquid fuel distribution infrastructure. It is possible to fine tune process conditions to obtain a proportion of methane in the product which can be directed to the existing infrastructure of the gas distribution network. Raising the arc temperature to above 4780 deg C will generate increasing quantites of methane as the temperature rises.
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Internal Combustion Engine Water Injection: By injecting sufficient water into the combustion chamber of an internal combustion engine, it runs more efficiently (nearly 60% reduction in fuel consumption for the same power output) and much cleaner. It is possible to eliminate the presence of NOx, CO and unburnt fuel in the exhaust gases and so obviate the requirement for a catalytic converter. This is an area where more research is needed to prove the theory.
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The Management of Critical Strategic Infrastructure: Critical Strategic Infrastructures are those systems that when they fail, much of society experiences a serious degradation of the quality of life. Management of these systems must be done by national or international governement and this requires the management teams to have a sufficient understanding of the technologies to ensure that decisions fully address the strategic implications. This requires the decision-makers to have appropriate education and qualifications in both the technologies concerned and in government-level management.
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Electricity Grid Stability: The rise in the quantities of renewable energy being put into the grid has had a detrimental effect on grid stability, which depends at present on generation being dominated by the large rotating masses of the steam powered generators that use fossil or nuclear fuels. Because of this, the outputs of many renewable generators are restricted, which results in a large proportion of the available renewable energy being unused. This document proposes a scheme for control of the grid that ensures stability whilst ensuring the maximum use of renewable sources and minimising the electricity generated by steam turbine driven alternators. The proposal requires further research to generate a computer-based model for the accurate identification of problems on the network and for taking the right corrective action.
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Nuclear Power Station Operational Risk: this document considers the operational risks associated with the increasing use of nuclear power to generate electricity across the whole planet, and asks the reader to consider the advisability of a long-term future with reactor melt-downs every 15-30 years and the need to dispose of approximately 15,000 tonnes of high level radioactive waste each year. Both of these figures will get worse as more new reactors are commissioned.
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Wind Turbine Design: Current wind turbine designs use 3-bladed rotors with a radius of 27m or more where the blade tips travel at around 200 km/h. This is noisy, inefficient and makes them susceptible to erosion and damage from wind-bourne grit, hail-stones and bird-strikes. The blade profile is only truly efficient at the lowest wind velocities. The proposed design can have 36 or more blades that maintain an optimum profile at all wind velocities and other air conditions.
The same mechanism could be applied to the propellers of fixed-wing aircraft, to the rotors of helicopters, or to the impellers of high bypass jet engines. The availability of an optimum impeller profile at all conditions of air velocity, temperature, pressure, density and humidity will bring significant benefits to fuel consumption. The same technology can be applied also to the turbines of generator kites, see item 4 above.
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Making Hydraulic Machinery more Efficient: The diesel engine providing the power runs at constant speed driving an electrical alternator. Each of the points of use of hydraulic power has a reversible gear pump powered by a variable speed electric motor. All of the manual controls use an electronic joystick similar to those used on the more sophistocated computer games and simulators which adjusts the speeds and direction of the electrically powered gear pumps on each hydraulic ram. The result is smoother and more precise control of the machine. Many hydraulic operations involve a reduction of pressure, allowing energy to be recovered through the motor speed control system and stored in a vehicle propulsion battery. Initial tests suggest that a saving of up to 60% of diesel fuel can be achieved. The greater precision enables reduction in rework and a less stressful task for the operator.
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Heliostat Domestic Water Heater: This is a proposed design for a domestic solar water heater to provide water in sufficient quantity and at a high-enough temperature for showers, baths, laundry, dish-washing and domestic cleaning in high latitudes, to within 6 degrees of the arctic circle.
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Kinetic Water Wheel: This is intended to provide clean domestic-scale electricity generation in areas where, because of frequent cloud cover, high rainfall, mountains or steep-sided valleys, solar photovoltaic cells and wind turbines are unsatisfactory, and where dams cannot be used for environmental or conservation reasons. The water wheel uses the kinetic energy of the flow rate to drive a paddle-wheel on a floating raft.
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Off-Grid Domestic Lighting: This is a proposal to change over your domestic lighting circuits to renewable energy sources that charge a 12v battery that runs LED lighting at 12v to provide all the domestic lighting you need.
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Reusing the Heat from Waste Water: a well-insulated waste water holding tank will receive any water from baths, showers, washing, etc. that is warmer than what is already in the tank. This tank is used as the primary energy source for a heat-pump energy recovery system and will provide a significant reduction in the domestic heating energy reuired.
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Solar Powered Air-Conditioning: In many hot countries one of the biggest uses of electricity is for powering air conditioning, and much of this power still comes from fossil fuels. By using an ammonia absorption refrigeration system built into the fabric of a purpose-designed building, with the evaporator heated by a heliostat trough mirror mounted on the sunward slope of the roof, and with the heat exchanger mounted on the shaded side of the building, all of the cooling required can be obtained from solar power.
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Lifeboat Design: I often watch a program on BBC2 (UK TV) called "Saving Lives at Sea" about the voluntary activities of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, (RNLI). As I watch, it often seems to me that their work could be facilitated by some design improvements to the vessels and systems that they use. This document makes some proposals and I would welcome feedback from those involved in the RNLI regarding the practicality of these ideas.
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Heated and Insulated Bat-Box: The bat is a protected species group in many countries. Many die over the winter from predation, cold or starvation. Bats hibernate over winter in areas that experience frost, and hibernation requires an environment with an ambient temperature between -2°C and +12°C. Below -2°C they freeze to death because, whilst hibernating, their metabolism is so slow that they cannot generate enough heat to stop body fluids from freezing. Above 12°C they may wake up from hibernation, their metabolism speeds up and they need to feed, but at 12°C in winter there are few, if any, of their insect prey flying, so they burn energy without having the means of recovering it. Many die of starvation during a mild spell in winter.
The document contains a design for a heated and insulated bat-box that can easily be made by a competent DIYer. It can be powered by renewable electricity and will keep bats protected from weather extremes that lie outside the range they need.
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I have built a bat-box according to this design and have kept a photographic record of the process.
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Bike-Line: Bike-Line is both a business opportunity and an exclusive club. It enables commuters committed to be environmentally conscious, but who live too far from their work to cycle all the way, to combine cycling for much of the journey with using public transport for the rest.
The member cycles from his home each morning to the nearest or most convenient railway station where he parks his bike in the Bike-Line secure garage. He takes the train to his destination and then collects his second bike from the Bike-Line secure garage and cycles the rest of his journey to work. At the end of his working day, this procedure is reversed.
There is a Bike-Line secure garage and shop at every railway station, bus station, airport and ferry port. The shop offers bicycle purchase, lease or hire deals, discounted for members, as well as secure bicycle parking. Bicycle maintenance, insurance and accessories are available in the shop. Some of the merchandise carries the exclusive discreet Bike-Line members' logo, including business wear: neck-ties, silk scarves, business shirts, ladies blouses and lapel badges.
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Jackin' Houses: Global warming has resulted in many houses getting flooded during times of extreme weather. This document proposes methods whereby such houses may be lifted up with specially designed equipment and the foundations extended so that, whilst the garden and surroundings may be flooded, the house is high enough to remain dry and free from flood damage.
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Ultimate Recycling: For long-term sustainability of our environment, we need to do much more recycling and ultimately discard nothing to landfill and dump nothing into the sea or into the atmosphere. This document considers how to handle the majority of our manufactured products when they reach the ends of their lives.
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Compostable Waste Disposal: Currently much compostable waste goes to landfill. This document proposes a method whereby all compostable waste is used to generate high quality garden or agricultural compost plus methane gas for domestic use. Compostable waste includes, (but is not limited to), garden waste, food waste and disposable babies' nappies. This could generate a significant net income for the local authorities that are responsible for disposal of such waste through the sale of rich, sterile compost and methane gas.
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Untreated Sewage Dumped into Rivers, Lakes and the Sea during Storms: This pollutes waters used for recreation, kills river fish and marine life and causes a considerable nuisance from the smell and appearance. It happens because, throughout the UK, the water companies fail to segregate storm water from foul water. This means that, during and after a storm, sewage treatment facilities are overwhelmed.
The simple answer to this problem is to segregate foul water from storm-water at source. Storm-water can safely be directed into rivers via settling ponds; foul water needs complex treatment processes. Why dilute foul water with storm water? The cheapest and quickest way to achieve this now is to take foul water along the same sewers but keep it separate by using plastic foul-water pipes within the storm-water sewers.
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Electrolytic Chromatography: is used for analytical purposes at present. It could be used on an industrial scale for the economic: extraction of scarce minerals from seawater; extraction of environmentally harmful materials from industrial waste; or for further purification of minerals available in solution form, for instance for the recovery of Lithium from scrapped vehicle propulsion batteries.
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Sequestering Plastic Waste in Disused Coalmines: There are many disused coalmines throughout this planet. Compressing plastic waste into bales that are then packed into these mines sequesters carbon that would otherwise return to the environment.
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Landfill Mining: Landfill sites used since the start of the industrial revolution contain increasing amounts of valuable recoverable minerals such as lead, zinc, copper and tin. As these substances become scarcer and the price increases, it will become more attractive to mine these ancient landfill sites to extract these minerals. More recent landfill sites may contain plastics that can be recycled or sequestered. The landfill area thus rendered free of harmful substances could then be used for agriculture or housing.
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Overland Transportation of Heavy Freight: Overland transportation of heavy freight is currently done via road or rail. This document proposes ways of making this more efficient, of enabling the climbing or descending of steeper slopes and of minimising transport disruption caused by unexpected snow or ice. This is achieved by having every wheel electrically powered and controlled to eliminate skidding or wheelspin. The electrical power is generated by a high efficiency diesel engine running at constant speed and coupled to an alternator.
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Making Electric Vehicle Propulsion Batteries Safer: Electric vehicle propulsion batteries can suffer random faults that cause them to catch fire; this can also happen as a result of a road accident. These fires cannot be extinguished, so they are catastrophic and the whole vehicle and contents are totally destroyed. This document proposes a means of making such batteries safer and of limiting the extent of the collateral damage when a cell fails.
There have been some disastrous fires at recycling facilities where vehicle propulsion batteries have spontaneously caught fire. This document also contains proposals for making the recycling of such batteries safer and easier.
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HGV Blind Spot Elimination: In a report from 2019, the UK Department of transport reported 480 accidents attributed to blind spot problems of which 467 caused injuries and 44 caused deaths. London has a Direct Vision Standard (DVS) which requires all vehicles over 12 tonnes gross to have a certificate of conformity before entering most of the Greater London Area. The problem arises when an articulated lorry tractor can at different times pull different trailers, some of which are differently and incompatibly equipped with cameras and proximity sensors. This document proposes a solution to this problem.
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How to double the UK's rail capacity: In many countries, double deck passenger carriages are used. This doubles the capacity of busy commuter lines without running any more trains. To do this in the UK requires an extra ten inches, (25cm), of clearance in bridges and tunnels. This could easily be achieved at present by lowering the track-bed, as has already been done to enable electrification of train propulsion.
Stacked shipping containers are carried on many lines throughout the world. This requires an extra six feet, (1.85m), above the UK standard clearance for bridges and tunnels. This is more difficult to achieve, and may not be economically justified at present. But future environmental concerns about the transport of shipping containers by road may mean that this will become more attractive in the future.
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"Intuitive Interactions"

The Environmental Recoveries Technology page of John McCulloch's website