QUIZ

Originally plasma is a liquid component of blood that does not contain any more blood cells. However, when we talk here about plasma we always mean a gas that has been partially ionized by depositing energy.  We owe this confusion to scientist Irving Langmuir who introduced the term plasma to physics. Thanks a lot Irving ...

A catalyst is a substance that increases the rate of a reaction. There it is both a participant in the reaction and a product. In Pioneer we bring catalysts and plasma together to decompose even the super stable CO2.

2°C is a tipping point or a point-of-no-return after which we will be stuck "into a state of continuing loss of warm season arctic sea ice, sea level rise, amplified wildfire activity, shifts in agricultural yields, and greater stress on water supply."

All three options a feasible approaches to mitigate climate change. The active capture of CO2 has the advantage of even removing already emitted CO2 from the atmosphere. However, the storage for example underground comes with its own problems. We at Pioneer believe that the utilization of CO2 is the most appealing approach and that plasma is the tool to achieve this goal.

The glass walls and ceiling of the greenhouse prevent heat from leaving. Therefore, the greenhouse that warmed up during the day also stays warm at night.

Solar cells and nuclear power plants do not emit CO2 when producing energy. Of course nuclear power comes with its own problems like the disposal of radioactive waste. For that reason renewable sources like solar cells or wind turbines are considered the proper energy source of the future.

Even though quite some research is devoted to mitigating the amount of greenhouse gases released by cows, their emission of methane is still quite significant. Just as severe is the amount of forest that had to give way to cattle farming.

Indeed the main difference between climate and weather is time. Climate is the average weather. According to NASA "An easy way to remember the difference is that climate is what you expect, like a very hot summer, and weather is what you get, like a hot day with pop-up thunderstorms."

Actually both answers are kind of correct. Weather has been always changing and one hot day is not indication of climate change yet. But when a long term trend is observed it probably is.  Climate change leads to more extreme weather.

No loosing weight is not causing climate change. The fat that you carry around with you and that is converted to CO2 when you loose it, is part of the natural carbon cycle. The food you ate to gain weight comes from plants (either directly or because the animal whose meat you ate consumed the plant). The plant originally caught CO2 from the atmosphere to grow. See? The cycle is closed. The problem is when we add CO2 to the cycle that hasn't been there before, for instance by digging up fossil fuels and burning them.

All of these events are attributed to climate change. Extreme weather events, droughts, heat waves and rising sea levels are already having devastating effects on the most vulnerable countries and communities.

Albedo is the amount of diffusely reflected solar radiation over the total incoming solar radiation. The closer the albedo of a landscape is to 1 the better to prevent heating of the planet. Interestingly cutting down trees can actually increase the albedo. Of course it is not that simple though. Forests are essential carbon sinks and as recent studies show can induce cloud formation that increases the albedo even more.

The Gulf Stream transports warm water from the Gulf of Mexico across the Atlantic to Europe which causes the mild climate. An important driver of the stream is water that cools down, thus gets more dense, at the latitude of Scandinavia. The dense water sinks deeper thereby pulling the following water forward. Melting of glaciers and ice sheets makes the water less dense and therefore weakens the Gulf Stream.

TRUE! The absolute majority of scientists agrees about the existence of climate change and that it is because of human activity. See for instance the latest IPCC report. The small number of scientists that oppose the idea of anthropogenic climate change is actually a sign of vital scientific discourse, a competition of theories and ideas. However, with the evidence pointing towards climate change and explained by self-consistent theories, we must face the fact that climate change is a real threat.

The CO2 concentration in the atmosphere is steadily increasing since start of the industrial revolution. In 2020 it reached 412.5ppm which is the highest value in the last 800000 years!

In a non-thermal plasma only the electrons are pretty hot while the heavy particles like CO2 molecules stay near room temperature. Through collision with electrons the molecules start to vibrate without getting hotter. If the vibration is strong enough the molecule will be torn apart, in a very effective way.

A big issue with renewables is intermittency. Energy is not produced when it is needed or there are sudden spikes in energy production for example strong winds that cannot be recovered by the grid. The fact that renewable energy is often produced at remote locations like offshore makes it even more difficult. A reliable energy storage would solve the issue. At Pioneer we believe that the conversion of CO2 to valuable and stable chemicals by plasma-catalytic conversion using renewable energy is the proper way to store.

Greenhouse gases absorb energy, slowing or preventing the loss of heat to space - like the ceiling of a greenhouse. This keeps the Earth warmer than it would be otherwise and is called the greenhouse effect.

In plasma catalysis we combine a plasma treatment with a catalyst to increase the overall performance by synergistic effects. The catalyst is either placed inside the plasma or closely after. Since both processes by themself are already quite complicated you can imagine the difficulties understanding plasma catalysis. But it looks very promising!