What I'm going to do is, I'm going to explain to you an extreme green concept that was developed at NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. But before I do that, we have to go over the definition of what green is, 'cause a lot of us have a different definition of it. Green. The product is created through environmentally and socially conscious means. There's plenty of things that are being called green now. What does it actually mean? We use three metrics to determine green. The first metric is: Is it sustainable? Which means, are you preserving what you are doing for future use or for future generations? Is it alternative? Is it different than what is being used today, or does it have a lower carbon footprint than what's used conventionally? And three: Is it renewable? Does it come from Earth's natural replenishing resources, such as sun, wind and water?
Sada ću vam objasniti ekstremno ekološki koncept koji je razvijen u NASA-inom Istraživačkom centru Glen u Klivlendu u Ohaju. Ali pre nego što uradim to, moramo da prođemo definiciju toga šta je zapravo ekološki jer mnogi od nas imaju različite definicije toga. Zeleno. Proizvod je dobijen sredstvima koja su ekološki i društveno svesna. Dosta stvari se sada naziva zelenim. Šta to zapravo znači? Za određivanje toga šta je zeleno koristimo tri mere. Prva je: da li je održivo? To znači, da li čuvate ono što radite za buduću upotrebu ili za buduće generacije? Da li je alternativno? Da li je drugačije od onoga što se trenutno koristi ili ima manje emisije ugljenika od onog što se obično koristi? I treće: da li je obnovljivo? Da li potiče od prirodnih obnovljivih resursa planete Zemlje, poput sunca, vetra i vode?
Now, my task at NASA is to develop the next generation of aviation fuels. Extreme green. Why aviation? The field of aviation uses more fuel than just about every other combined. We need to find an alternative. Also it's a national aeronautics directive. One of the national aeronautics goals is to develop the next generation of fuels, biofuels, using domestic and safe, friendly resources. Now, combating that challenge we have to also meet the big three metric — Actually, extreme green for us is all three together; that's why you see the plus there. I was told to say that. So it has to be the big three at GRC. That's another metric. Ninety-seven percent of the world's water is saltwater. How about we use that? Combine that with number three. Do not use arable land. Because crops are already growing on that land that's very scarce around the world. Number two: Don't compete with food crops. That's already a well established entity, they don't need another entry. And lastly the most precious resource we have on this Earth is fresh water. Don't use fresh water. If 97.5 percent of the world's water is saltwater, 2.5 percent is fresh water. Less than a half percent of that is accessible for human use. But 60 percent of the population lives within that one percent.
Moj zadatak u NASA-i je da razvijem sledeću generaciju vazduhoplovnih goriva. Ekstremno zelenih. Zašto vazduhoplovnih? Polje vazduhoplovstva koristi više goriva od skoro svih drugih zajedno. Moramo da pronađemo alternativu. To je takođe i naređenje državne aeroanutike. Jedan od ciljeva državne aeronautike je da se razvije sledeća generacija goriva, biogoriva, koristeći domaće i bezbedne, prijateljske resurse. Dok se hvatamo u koštac sa tim izazovom, takođe dolazimo u susret velike tri mere - zapravo, ekstremno zeleno je za nas sve tri njih zajedno, zato tamo vidite plus. Rečeno mi je da kažem to. Moraju biti velike tri na ICG. To je još jedna mera. 97% svetske vode je slano. Da iskoristimo to? Kombinujte to sa brojkom tri. Ne koristite obradivu zemlju. Uslovi već rastu na tom tlu koje je veoma retko širom sveta. Broj dva: ne pravite konkurenciju usevima hrane. To je već dobro ustanovljen entitet, ne treba im još jedan unos. Konačno, najdragoceniji resurs na Zemlji je sveža voda. Ne koristite svežu vodu. Ako je 97,5% svetske vode slano, 2,5% je sveže. Manje od pola procenta toga dostupno je za ljudsku upotrebu. Ali 60% populacije živi sa tim jednim procentom.
So, combating my problem was, now I have to be extreme green and meet the big three. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the GreenLab Research Facility. This is a facility dedicated to the next generation of aviation fuels using halophytes. A halophyte is a salt-tolerating plant. Most plants don't like salt, but halophytes tolerate salt. We also are using weeds and we are also using algae. The good thing about our lab is, we've had 3,600 visitors in the last two years. Why do you think that's so? Because we are on to something special.
Borba sa mojim problemom značila je da moram da budem ekstremno zelen i ispunim velika tri uslova. Dame i gospodo, dobrodošli u Istraživački centar GreenLab. U ovoj ustanovi posvećeni smo novoj generaciji vazduhoplovnih goriva, koristeći halofite. Halofita je biljka koja toleriše so. Većina biljaka ne voli so, ali halofite je tolerišu. Takođe koristimo korovske biljke kao i alge. Dobra stvar u vezi s našom laboratorijom je to što smo u poslednje dve godine imali 3600 posetilaca. Šta mislite, zašto? Zato što smo na pragu nečeg posebnog.
So, in the lower you see the GreenLab obviously, and on the right hand side you'll see algae. If you are into the business of the next generation of aviation fuels, algae is a viable option, there's a lot of funding right now, and we have an algae to fuels program. There's two types of algae growing. One is a closed photobioreactor that you see here, and what you see on the other side is our species — we are currently using a species called Scenedesmus dimorphus. Our job at NASA is to take the experimental and computational and make a better mixing for the closed photobioreactors. Now the problems with closed photobioreactors are: They are quite expensive, they are automated, and it's very difficult to get them in large scale. So on large scale what do they use? We use open pond systems. Now, around the world they are growing algae, with this racetrack design that you see here. Looks like an oval with a paddle wheel and mixes really well, but when it gets around the last turn, which I call turn four — it's stagnant. We actually have a solution for that. In the GreenLab in our open pond system we use something that happens in nature: waves. We actually use wave technology on our open pond systems. We have 95 percent mixing and our lipid content is higher than a closed photobioreactor system, which we think is significant.
U donjem delu očigledno možete videti GreenLab, a sa desne strane vidite alge. Ukoliko se bavite novom generacijom vazduhoplovnih goriva, alge su održivo rešenje, postoji dosta finansiranja trenutno i imamo program algi za gorivo. Rastu dve vrste algi. Jedna je zatvoreni fotobioreaktor koga ovde vidite a sa druge strane je naša vrsta - trenutno koristimo vrstu koja se zove Scenedesmus dimorphus. Naše zaduženje u NASA-i je da uzmemo eksperimentalno i računarsko i napravimo bolju smešu za zatvorene fotobioreaktore. Problemi sa zatvorenim fotobioreaktorima su sledeći: prilično su skupi, automatizovani su i veoma je teško dobiti ih u velikoj razmeri. Šta oni koriste na velikoj razmeri? Koristimo sisteme otvorenih bara. Alge se uzgajaju širom sveta, sa ovim dizajnom staze za trkanje koje ovde vidite. Izgleda kao elipsa sa točkom i meša se veoma dobro, ali kad obiđe poslednju krivinu, koju zovem četvrtom - stagnira. Zapravo imamo rešenje za to. U našem sistemu otvorene bare u GreenLab-u koristimo nešto što se dešava i u prirodi - talase. U svojim sistemima otvorenih bara zapravo koristimo tehnologiju talasa. Imamo smešu od 95% i naš sadržaj masti je viši nego kod sistema sa zatvorenim fotobioreaktorom, što smatramo da je bitno.
There is a drawback to algae, however: It's very expensive. Is there a way to produce algae inexpensively? And the answer is: yes. We do the same thing we do with halophytes, and that is: climatic adaptation. In our GreenLab we have six primary ecosystems that range from freshwater all the way to saltwater. What we do: We take a potential species, we start at freshwater, we add a little bit more salt, when the second tank here will be the same ecosystem as Brazil — right next to the sugar cane fields you can have our plants — the next tank represents Africa, the next tank represents Arizona, the next tank represents Florida, and the next tank represents California or the open ocean. What we are trying to do is to come up with a single species that can survive anywhere in the world, where there's barren desert. We are being very successful so far.
Ipak, postoji mana algi - veoma su skupe. Postoji li način da se alge jeftino proizvode? Odgovor je: da. Radimo istu stvar kao i sa halofitama, a to je klimatska adaptacija. U GreenLab-u imamo šest primarnih ekosistema koji variraju od sveže do slane vode. Mi uzimamo potencijalnu vrstu, počinjemo sa slanom vodom, dodamo još malo soli, ovaj drugi akvarijum biće isti ekosistem kao Brazil - odmah pored šećerne trske možete imati naše biljke - sledeći akvarijum je Afrika, naredni je Arizona, posle toga ide Florida, sledeći akvarijum je Kalifornija ili otvoreni okean. Mi pokušavamo da smislimo jednu vrstu koja može da preživi bilo gde u svetu, gde je gola pustinja. Do sada smo veoma uspešni.
Now, here's one of the problems. If you are a farmer, you need five things to be successful: You need seeds, you need soil, you need water and you need sun, and the last thing that you need is fertilizer. Most people use chemical fertilizers. But guess what? We do not use chemical fertilizer. Wait a second! I just saw lots of greenery in your GreenLab. You have to use fertilizer. Believe it or not, in our analysis of our saltwater ecosystems 80 percent of what we need are in these tanks themselves. The 20 percent that's missing is nitrogen and phosphorous. We have a natural solution: fish. No we don't cut up the fish and put them in there. Fish waste is what we use. As a matter of fact we use freshwater mollies, that we've used our climatic adaptation technique from freshwater all the way to seawater. Freshwater mollies: cheap, they love to make babies, and they love to go to the bathroom. And the more they go to the bathroom, the more fertilizer we get, the better off we are, believe it or not. It should be noted that we use sand as our soil, regular beach sand. Fossilized coral.
Evo jednog od problema. Ako ste poljoprivrednik, potrebno vam je pet stvari za uspeh: seme, zemlja, voda i sunce, i poslednja stvar je đubrivo. Većina ljudi koristi hemijska đubriva. Ali čik pogodite - mi ih ne koristimo. Samo malo! Kod vas u laboratoriji video sam dosta zelenila. Mora da koristite đubrivo. Verovali ili ne, u našoj analizi ekosistema slane vode, 80% onoga što nam je potrebno je u samim ovim akvarijumima. 20% kojih nedostaje su azot i fosfor. Imamo prirodno rešenje: ribe. Mi ih ne isečemo i ostavimo tamo. Koristimo riblji otpad. Zapravo koristimo vrstu ribe moli, kao sa tehnikom klimatske adaptacije od sveže sve do slane vode. Slatkovodne ribe moli: jeftine su, obožavaju da se razmnožavaju i obožavaju da vrše nuždu. A što više vrše nuždu, mi dobijamo više đubriva i bolje nam je, verovali ili ne. Valja primetiti da kao svoje zemljište koristimo pesak, običan pesak sa plaže. Fosil korala.
So a lot of people ask me, "How did you get started?" Well, we got started in what we call the indoor biofuels lab. It's a seedling lab. We have 26 different species of halophytes, and five are winners. What we do here is — actually it should be called a death lab, 'cause we try to kill the seedlings, make them rough — and then we come to the GreenLab. What you see in the lower corner is a wastewater treatment plant experiment that we are growing, a macro-algae that I'll talk about in a minute. And lastly, it's me actually working in the lab to prove to you I do work, I don't just talk about what I do. Here's the plant species. Salicornia virginica. It's a wonderful plant. I love that plant. Everywhere we go we see it. It's all over the place, from Maine all the way to California. We love that plant. Second is Salicornia bigelovii. Very difficult to get around the world. It is the highest lipid content that we have, but it has a shortcoming: It's short. Now you take europaea, which is the largest or the tallest plant that we have. And what we are trying to do with natural selection or adaptive biology — combine all three to make a high-growth, high-lipid plant. Next, when a hurricane decimated the Delaware Bay — soybean fields gone — we came up with an idea: Can you have a plant that has a land reclamation positive in Delaware? And the answer is yes. It's called seashore mallow. Kosteletzkya virginica — say that five times fast if you can. This is a 100 percent usable plant. The seeds: biofuels. The rest: cattle feed. It's there for 10 years; it's working very well. Now we get to Chaetomorpha. This is a macro-algae that loves excess nutrients. If you are in the aquarium industry you know we use it to clean up dirty tanks. This species is so significant to us. The properties are very close to plastic. We are trying right now to convert this macro-algae into a bioplastic. If we are successful, we will revolutionize the plastics industry.
Mnogi ljudi me pitaju: "Kako ste započeli?" Započeli smo sa onim što nazivamo unutrašnjom laboratorijom za biogoriva. To je laboratorija sa semenjačama. iamo 26 različitih vrsta halofita i pet od njih su pobednice. Mi ovde - zapravo treba da se zove laboratorijom smrti, jer pokušavamo da ubijemo semenjače, da ih očvrstimo - i onda dolazimo do GreenLab-a. U donjem ćošku vidite eksperiment sa biljkom koja obrađuje otpadne vode a koju uzgajamo, to je makroalga o kojoj ću uskoro reći nešto. Konačno, tu sam ja kako radim u laboratoriji da vam dokažem da radim a da ne pričam samo o tome šta radim. Evo te vrste. Salicornia virginica. To je divna biljka koju volim. Vidimo je kud god da krenemo. Svuda je, od Mejna do Kalifornije. Obožavamo tu biljku. Druga je Salicornia bigelovii. Teško je razmestiti je po svetu. Ima najveći sadržaj masti od svih biljaka koje imamo ali ima i manu: niska je. Sada uzmite europea-u, koja je najveća i najviša biljka koju imamo. Mi pokušavamo da kroz prirodnu selekciju ili adaptivnu biologiju kombinujemo sve tri da napravimo visoku biljku bogatu mastima. Dalje, kada je Delaver Bej uništio uragan i sa sobom odneo polja soje, došli smo na ideju: može li u Delaveru postojati biljka kojoj je pozitivna rekultivacija? Odgovor je da. Zove se primorski slez. Kosteletzkya virginica - recite to brzo pet puta ako možete. Ovo je 100% upotrebljiva biljka. Seme: biogorivo. Ostatak: hrana za stoku. Tu je 10 godina i funkcioniše veoma dobro. Dolazimo do Chaetomorpha. Ovo je makroalga koja obožava višak hranljivih materija. Ukoliko se bavite akvarijumima, znate da se koristi za čišćenje prljavih akvarijuma. Ova vrsta je za nas bitna. Svojstva su joj veoma bliska plastici. Trenutno pokušavamo da ovu makroalgu pretvorimo u bioplastiku. Ukoliko budemo uspešni, napravićemo revoluciju u industriji plastike.
So, we have a seed to fuel program. We have to do something with this biomass that we have. And so we do G.C. extraction, lipid optimization, so on and so forth, because our goal really is to come up with the next generation of aviation fuels, aviation specifics, so on and so forth. So far we talked about water and fuel, but along the way we found out something interesting about Salicornia: It's a food product. So we talk about ideas worth spreading, right? How about this: In sub-Saharan Africa, next to the sea, saltwater, barren desert, how about we take that plant, plant it, half use for food, half use for fuel. We can make that happen, inexpensively. You can see there's a greenhouse in Germany that sells it as a health food product. This is harvested, and in the middle here is a shrimp dish, and it's being pickled. So I have to tell you a joke. Salicornia is known as sea beans, saltwater asparagus and pickle weed. So we are pickling pickle weed in the middle. Oh, I thought it was funny. (Laughter) And at the bottom is seaman's mustard. It does make sense, this is a logical snack. You have mustard, you are a seaman, you see the halophyte, you mix it together, it's a great snack with some crackers. And last, garlic with Salicornia, which is what I like. So, water, fuel and food.
Imamo program semena do goriva. Moramo nešto da uradimo sa ovom biomasom. Tako radimo ekstrakciju hromatografijom, optimizaciju masti i ostalo jer je naš cilj zapravo da smislimo novu generaciju goriva za avione. Do sada smo pričali o vodi i gorivu, ali usput smo saznali nešto zanimljivo o salikorniji: to je hranljiv proizvod. Pričamo o idejama vrednim širenja, zar ne? Recimo ovo: u subsaharskoj Africi, pored mora, slane vode, gole pustinje, hajde da uzmemo tu biljku, zasadimo je, pola koristimo za hranu, pola za gorivo. To možemo da ostvarimo bez puno ulaganja. U Nemačkoj postoji staklenik koji je prodaje kao zdravstveni proizvod. Ona se ubira i u sredini je jelo sa račićima, i kiseli se. Moram da vam ispričam šalu. Salikornija je poznata kao morski pasulj, slanovodna špargla i kiseli korov. Tako da u sredini kiselimo kiseli korov. Ah, mislio sam da je smešno. (Smeh) Na dnu je mornarski senf. Ima smisla da ovo bude za jelo. Imate senf, mornar ste, vidite halofite, pomešate to, to je sjajno jelo sa krekerima. Poslednje je salikornija sa belim lukom, što jako volim. Voda, gorivo i hrana.
None of this is possible without the GreenLab team. Just like the Miami Heat has the big three, we have the big three at NASA GRC. That's myself, professor Bob Hendricks, our fearless leader, and Dr. Arnon Chait. The backbone of the GreenLab is students. Over the last two years we've had 35 different students from around the world working at GreenLab. As a matter fact my division chief says a lot, "You have a green university." I say, "I'm okay with that, 'cause we are nurturing the next generation of extreme green thinkers, which is significant."
Ništa od ovog ne bi bilo moguće bez tima iz GreenLab-a. Isto kao što ekipa Majami Hit ima veliku trojku, tako imamo i mi u NASA-i. To smo ja, profesor Bob Hendriks, naš neustašivi vođa, i dr. Arnon Čejt. Žila kucavica GreenLab-a su studenti. Tokom protekle dve godine imali smo 35 različitih studenata sa raznih strana sveta koji su radili u GreenLab-u. Zapravo, šef mog odseka kaže: "Imate zeleni univerzitet". Ja kažem: "To je u redu, jer negujemo narednu generaciju ekoloških mislilaca, što je značajno."
So, in first summary I presented to you what we think is a global solution for food, fuel and water. There's something missing to be complete. Clearly we use electricity. We have a solution for you — We're using clean energy sources here. So, we have two wind turbines connected to the GreenLab, we have four or five more hopefully coming soon. We are also using something that is quite interesting — there is a solar array field at NASA's Glenn Research Center, hasn't been used for 15 years. Along with some of my electrical engineering colleagues, we realized that they are still viable, so we are refurbishing them right now. In about 30 days or so they'll be connected to the GreenLab.
Prvi put sam vam sumirajući predstavio ono za šta mislimo da je globalno rešenje za hranu, gorivo i vodu. Nešto nedostaje da slika bude potpuna. Očito koristimo struju. Za vas imamo rešenje - Ovde koristimo čiste izvore energije. Imamo dve turbine na vetar koje su povezane na GreenLab, a uskoro ćemo imati još četiri ili pet. Takođe koristimo nešto što je veoma zanimljivo - postoji solarno polje u NASA-inom istraživačkom centru Glen, ne koristi se 15 godina. Zajedno sa nekim kolegama električnim inženjerima, shvatili smo da još uvek mogu da se koriste, tako da ih sada restauriramo. Za oko 30 dana biće povezane na GreenLab.
And the reason why you see red, red and yellow, is a lot of people think NASA employees don't work on Saturday — This is a picture taken on Saturday. There are no cars around, but you see my truck in yellow. I work on Saturday. (Laughter) This is a proof to you that I'm working. 'Cause we do what it takes to get the job done, most people know that. Here's a concept with this: We are using the GreenLab for a micro-grid test bed for the smart grid concept in Ohio. We have the ability to do that, and I think it's going to work. So, GreenLab Research Facility. A self-sustainable renewable energy ecosystem was presented today. We really, really hope this concept catches on worldwide. We think we have a solution for food, water, fuel and now energy. Complete. It's extreme green, it's sustainable, alternative and renewable and it meets the big three at GRC: Don't use arable land, don't compete with food crops, and most of all, don't use fresh water.
Ovde vidite crveno, crveno i žuto jer mnogi misle da radnici NASA-e ne rade subotom - ovo je slika od subote. Okolo nema kola, ali vidite moj kamionet u žutoj boji. Ja radim subotom. (Smeh) Ovo je dokaz vama da radim. Mi radimo ono što treba da bi se posao obavio, većina ljudi zna to. Evo koncepta: koristimo GreenLab za mikro-postavku za testiranje za koncept pametne električne mreže u Ohaju. Imamo mogućnost da to uradimo i mislim da će funkcionisati. Dakle, istraživači centar GreenLab. Danas je predstavljen održivi ekosistem sa obnovljivom energijom. Zaista se nadamo da će ovaj koncept zaživeti u svetu. Mislimo da imamo rešenje za hranu, vodu, gorivo i sada energiju. Potpuno. To je ekstremno ekološki, održivo, alternativno i obnovljivo i podudara se sa velikih tri u ICG. Ne koristite obradivu zemlju, ne takmičite se sa usevima hrane i najbitnije, ne koristite svežu vodu.
So I get a lot of questions about, "What are you doing in that lab?" And I usually say, "None of your business, that's what I'm doing in the lab." (Laughter) And believe it or not, my number one goal for working on this project is I want to help save the world.
Dosta ljudi me pita: "Šta radiš u toj laboratoriji?" Obično kažem: "Ne tiče te se, baš to radim u laboratoriji." (Smeh) I verovali ili ne, moj osnovni cilj rada na ovom projektu je da pomognem da se očuva svet.