Dr. John Flake from LSU Engineering joins the show for an interview during hour two. Dr. Flake is on to discuss renewable energy.
Each day, many of the products we use, whether we know it or not, are produced from natural gas or crude oil using carbon- and energy-intensive processes. But what if we could make those same products using CO2, thereby drastically reducing or even eliminating our carbon footprint?
That is the ultimate goal of a project being conducted by researchers from LSU and the University of Delaware, thanks to a four-year, $4 million grant from the National Science Foundation Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, or NSF EPSCOR, program.
The immediate objective for the group is to make electrolyzers that convert CO2 into multi-carbon products more durable and efficient. A common example of an electrolyzer is one that generates hydrogen and oxygen from the electrolysis of water. This project seeks to use electricity from renewables to drive a sort of “reverse combustion reaction.”
To put it simply, Louisiana is trying to get their carbon footprint to zero as soon as possible. The interview is filled with what was being done by various industries before the efforts to reduce carbon footprint and what is happening now.