The Friday Report: April 8th, 2022

Hydrogen, Fuel of the Future:  Nuclear Fusion Energy Production an Achievable Goal 

Scientists are trying to duplicate an amazing natural process, the sun acting as a fusion reactor, generating tremendous carbon-free energy.  This provides the warmth and light which makes life on planet Earth possible. 

By replicating the nuclear fusion process, clean electricity will be generated.  This is very different from nuclear fission, the nuclear energy-producing technology currently in use.   Nuclear fission involves splitting atoms, instead of combining them.  In contrast, with nuclear fusion, radioactive meltdowns such as what can occur in a fission reactor are not possible.  In addition, nuclear fusion does not produce long-lived radioactive waste. 

The fuel for nuclear fusion is hydrogen, found naturally in tremendous abundance.  As it can be extracted from seawater, the cost for hydrogen as fuel is very low. 

For more details, please keep reading here. 

Can Food Waste Be Converted to Energy to Power America? 

Countries around the world are concerned about the availability and access to fuel and energy supplies of oil and gas.  With the recent war in Ukraine, efforts to diversify energy needs has begun to take center stage.  In combination with this need is the mandate to reduce emissions, methane, and other climate-damaging substances. 

Can food waste become an alternative to natural gas?  As organic matter decays, including food waste, biogas is released and can be collected then purified to produce biomethane (methane gas).  Chemically identical to natural gas, biomethane can be used in similar ways and can be burned to generate electricity. 

Biomethane is more environmentally friendly in terms of harmful emissions and only releases carbon which is already in circulation.  The burning of natural gas, however, does release carbon that otherwise would have not been in the atmosphere. 

Biomethane can found and generated in countries around the world, not only in those with oil and gas deposits. There are concerns about the scalability of biomethane production as this relies on waste material.  Examples of waste material that can be used to produce biomethane include:  sewage sludge, seaweed, grass clippings, animal fat and forestry waste.   

By 2030, the European Commission anticipates increasing production of biomethane by 10-fold. 

For more details, please continue reading here. 

Simple Email Messages are the Source of Most Cyberattacks 

Trend Micro reported recently that nearly 75% of cyberattacks begin with an email message.  Educating employees about the nature of phishing and the signs of emails which leverage this strategy can protect both employees and their companies. 

With so many people working remotely today, cybercriminals are aware that security may be lax and frequently leverage phishing.  The goal is to get the email recipient to click, enabling ransomware to take hold.  Ransomware is a profitable crime that does not take much effort.  Cybercriminals now even offer Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) as well as initial access brokers. 

Trend Micro reported that its threat detection efforts increased 42% year-on-year in 2021. 

For more details, please continue reading here.