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Space technology helps mitigate climate change
5 January 2010
| Space technologies that originally was developed for Europe's space programmes have led to a number of inventions that benefit the environment and save energy. Satellite-based systems are reducing vehicles’ carbon dioxide emissions, remote-sensing technology is making wind turbines more efficient, and information from weather satellites is helping solar cells to produce more energy.
Credits: ESA | |  |  | |
| | | | Space tech for renewable energy
| ESA’s expertise from its Aeolus satellite programme helped the French company Leosphere to improve their instrument to maximise the amount of electricity from new wind turbines. The instrument can measure wind speed and direction from the ground up to heights of 200 metres. Developed during the company’s start-up phase at ESA’s Business Incubation Centre (BIC) in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, the instrument make use of the ‘lidar’ technology similar to that which ESA will use on its Aeolus satellite to provide global observations of wind profiles from space. More instruments based on the same technology have followed and these are now being used in more than 100 countries.
Credits: ESA, Leosphere | | | | |
| | | | | By using data from weather satellites, the Italian company Flyby has developed a control system that can accurately predict the power output of photovoltaic power plants. This information is used to design improved systems and quickly identify faults in operating photovoltaic plants – faults that can reduce energy production by more than 10% a year. The system is used in several photovoltaic systems in Italy.
Credits: ESA, Flyby, Enel Green Power | | | | |
| | | | Space sensors reduce emissions from heating systems
| Miniaturised ceramic gas sensor technology, developed originally for measuring oxygen levels around spacecraft reentry vehicles, is now being used in systems that accurately control heater combustion, one of the major sources of pollutants. They reduce exhaust gases that are harmful for the environment and at the same time lessen the fuel consumption by 10–15%. Developed by TU Dresden and German company EXCUBE from European space technology, and supported by ESA’s Technology Transfer Programme and its partner MST, this technology is now used by the German company ESCUBE in systems controlling industrial heaters.
Credits: ESA, EXCUBE | | | | |
| | | | | Several innovators have come up with interesting developments that use the conventional satnav systems to reduce fuel consumption and pollution by cars. Regional winners in the European Satellite Navigation Competition 2008 Alex Ackerman and Yossef Shiri have developed the intelligent GreenDrive system that combines information on the type of car, its location and the road conditions to advise the driver on the most economical driving style to use: when to accelerate, when to brake and when to keep the speed constant. On average, this can result in a 15–25% fuel saving. Winner in the same competition in 2007, Prof. Gerhard Güttler proposed the Galileo-Ecodrive system. By using data on a road’s geodetic height profile and the same satnav information, Güttler’s system optimises the operation of auxiliary devices such as electricity generators, air conditioning, power steering, the deep freezers used on trucks for perishable goods and the moveable parts of a cement mixer –devices that consume up to 20% of the fuel.
Credits: ESA, Road-Guard | | | | |
| | | | Changing lifestyles
| A reduction in harmful emissions requires a change in our habits, and for this more awareness is needed. Andreas Zachariah from the UK has developed a helpful system called Carbon Diem (previously named Carbon Hero) to track carbon footprints in real time. The concept is to help reduce global warming by making people more aware of their carbon footprint, encouraging them to change their mode of travel. Carbon Diem uses satnav information to track in real time people’s movement and to calculate their carbon footprint.
Credits: ESA, Carbon Diem | | | | |
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| | Technology Transfer Programme Office Space tech helping the environment Space technology optimises windmill efficiencyMore efficient solar power with space technologySpace technology helps find space, reduce pollution, and save moneySaving on fuel and safeguarding the environment with smart drivingSatellite helps make transportation of dangerous waste saferSpace sensor perks up medical analysis and environmental protectionEcodrive - reduces vehicles fuel consumptionTracking your carbon footprint DOWN TO EARTH:
How space technology improves our lives ESA on Youtube  Space: Technology
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