No abstract

A significant challenge for the global community is the increasing demand for clean and renewable energy technologies. However, a lack of knowledge of these technologies threatens to impede their adoption. The development of cheap, effective, and easy-to-use chemical and electrochemical storage technologies is crucial if countries are to move away from fossil fuel electricity production. In this paper, we describe simple classroom-based learning systems that can be used to demonstrate the power-to-gas concept and its ability to greatly enhance the practicability and sustainability of other renewable energy systems. Most renewable energy systems can only produce energy sporadically and at specific locations; however, the power-to-gas concept uses hydrogen, obtained by electrolysis, to produce methane via the Sabatier reaction. We also demonstrate how this “dream reaction”through the use of renewable energies such as solar and windcan produce industrially and energetically desirable methane from hydrogen and carbon dioxide. The power-to-gas concept can be easily replicated in both educational and informal settings to encourage more grassroots and scholastic interest in the development of these vital technologies.

No abstract

This article presents the results of an innovative education capacity assessment and delivery project to promote sustainable development in large ocean states in the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) region. Science education can help prepare the present and coming generations for stability in an uncertain future. Limited financial, geographical and knowledge-based resources make large ocean states particularly vulnerable to future uncertainties, such as those associated with climate change. With island populations already feeling the impacts of a changing climate, improved adaptive capacity and disaster risk reduction have become increasingly essential. Thus, climate change adaptation forms the basis for a stakeholder-designed curriculum to meet the capacity-building needs of stakeholders. Partnerships between external experts and local stakeholders were formed to build upon human resource capacity and maximize delivery through a programme of 'train-the-trainer' activities. In this way, the mentoring of local stakeholders to undertake their own training can advance sustainable development goals beyond traditional non-collaborative educational approaches. This article shows how this aim can be accomplished through the design and delivery of a phased, coherent professional development programme.

No abstract