Bigger to come

Looks like global obsession with big is not going away in a hurry. This is so whether you look at mega thermal power plants, or thin film solar plants, or wind turbines.

A year ago the world's largest thin-film power plant was just 10 megawatts. Now one near Cottbus, Germany comes in at 53 megawatts, Renewable Energy World reports: The Lieberose solar park is currently under construction and scheduled to be completed by the end of the year. It will occupy 162 hectares on a former Soviet army site and will consist of some 700,000 thin-film solar modules.

Then there is the 6MW wind turbine in Germany, and the 9MW vertical axis wind turbine that the Scottish reportedly have in the works. Now, researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Boulder, Colorado, are up in the air with their gigantic 1.5MW turbine that has just been installed. Check out the picture on the left - yes those are people in the shaft! And even bigger is to follow. Soon, a 2.3 MW Siemens turbine will emerge the largest, generating 30 percent more power than Boulder’s.

Land based turbines are getting larger to meet the demand. But the aerodynamics of these huge machines is still not fully understood.

The question again is: which is better? Big, large plants that generate large amounts of power which is then transmitted across landscapes. Or small units located near point of usage?

Wheel, or push plates?

Alternate Energy has an interesting post on a new design to harvest energy from water flow. Comprising two plates, a chain and a connecting channel, the concept is simple though the design looks a bit complex.

As the water flows, through a narrow river or agricultural canal, the system runs continuously. By placing gears that spin the shaft of a generator, energy can be harnessed.

Interesting to see how the design works. But as asked by a reader is, what is the advantage over a conventional wheel? Is not lateral movement of plates less efficient?

Are we often getting carried away with technology? Simply thrilled to see a new way in which an old trick can be done? Or are we working around problems? In that case, how was the present design an improvement?

Is it not a good thing to look at hurdles, and then work to avoid these?

Developing a technology can be exciting, an Archimedes experience by itself. That is the way to get students interested. But taking it a step ahead to examine the pitfalls and then, tweaking the equipment must follow. Only then will technology have any significance. Else it is simply a toy that thrills.

Do write in to us about the concept and how you believe it is an improvisation or not.

CBM surging ahead

Reuters has a report on Asian efforts to expand production of coal seam gas - Asia's coal seam gas projects charge ahead, China leads. Projects to exploit coal-bed methane (CBM) are surging ahead in Asia, with China leading.

China, the world's second-biggest energy user after the United States, is eager to develop CBM into an alternative energy source to drive its rapid industrialisation. The country extracted four billion cubic metres (bcm) of CBM in 2006, and is expected to pump up 10 bcm by 2010, besides further raising 300 bcm of proven CBM reserves.

CBM is extracted from deep coal beds through the drilling of wells. However, unlike drilling for natural gas, large amounts of water must be pumped from the coal bed area in order to depressurize the bed. Once the water is removed, the methane is able to escape from the coal and flow into the well itself.

The only problem with CBM is the water that is removed from the wells. Being saline this cannot be mixed with freshwater. Ways to clean it include evaporation in huge ponds, or pouring it back into rock fractures. The effect on acquifers can also not be ignored.

But utilization of this methane could not only help augment supply but also prevent the pollution of atmosphere that would result from methane escaping. As in the case of natural gas, burning of methane reduces emissions quite significantly.

Of course this cannot by itself meet the demand, only add to the mix of energy sources. But CBM projects are often capital intensive. Heavy drilling equipment alone can cost a lot. Additional support from mechanisms like CDM can help.

In India operational CBM fields can contribute to over 8-10 mmscmd of gas production in the next five years. Investment in coal and gas transportation infrastructure, including gas gathering, transportation and distribution, is necessary to move CBM from coal fields to local and more distant end-use markets.

A combination of resources is the best bet in today’s energy-hungry world, as we have been saying. The more localized the usage is, the better.

Big opportunity in building sector

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development’s (WBCSD) long-awaited Energy Efficiency in Buildings (EEB) report has been published, highlighting how energy use in buildings can be cut by 60% by 2050.

‘Transforming the Market: Energy Efficiency in Buildings’ is the result of the WBCSD’s four-year, US$15 million project, which was sponsored by 14 multinational companies.

The project took a bottom-up, market-driven approach to understanding the barriers to lower energy use. The report says large and attractive opportunities exist to reduce buildings’ energy use at lower costs and higher returns than other sectors.

They claim these reductions are fundamental to help achieve theInternational Energy Agency’s (IEA) target of a 77% reduction in the planet’s carbon footprint against the 2050 baseline to reach the stabilised CO2 levels called for by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

The study’s recommendations are based on a data inventory of Brazil, China, the EU, India, Japan and US, which together account for 70% of the world’s GDP.

At energy prices proportionate to oil at US$60 per barrel and depending on the local context, building energy-efficiency investments totalling US$150 billion annually in the six EEB regions studied would reduce related energy use and corresponding carbon footprints by about 40%, with five-year discounted paybacks for the owners. A further US$150 billion with paybacks of between five and 10 years adds 12 percentage points and brings the total reduction to slightly more than half.

The report makes six key recommendations:• Strengthen building codes and energy labelling for increased transparency;• Use subsidies and price signals to incentivise energy-efficient investments;• Encourage integrated design approaches and innovations;• Develop and use advanced technology to enable energy-saving behaviour;• Develop workforce capacity for energy saving;• Mobilise for an energy-aware culture.

Fine. But all this can happen only when and if a nation and its people think that they are in the midst of a crisis. Till then, things will be half measure. As long as the power flows in, wasteful consumption cannot be curbed. A combination of steep hikes and disciplined load-sheddings could possibly influence change in this pattern. Right?

Methane joins the fray

British and German scientists have discovered 250 plumes of methane gas rising from the thawing seabed off the Spitsbergen archipelago in the Norwegian Arctic, apparently a result of the warming of the West Spitsbergen current. The researchers measured the plumes rising from the seabed at a depth of 150 to 400 meters (500 to 1,300 feet).

The methane — a potent greenhouse gas — is being released by frozen methane hydrates on the sea floor, which are thawing as a result of a 1 degree C (1.8 F) warming of the West Spitsbergen current in the last 30 years, the scientists said.

The data was collected from the royal research ship RRS James Clark Ross, as part of the Natural Environment Research Council’s International Polar Year Initiative. The bubble plumes were detected using sonar and then sampled with a water-bottle sampling system over a range of depths.

Methane hydrate is an ice-like substance composed of water and methane which is stable in conditions of high pressure and low temperature. At present, methane hydrate is stable at water depths greater than 400 metres in the ocean off Spitsbergen. However, thirty years ago it was stable at water depths as shallow as 360 metres.

While most of the methane currently released from the seabed is dissolved in the seawater before it reaches the atmosphere, methane seeps are episodic and unpredictable and periods of more vigorous outflow of methane into the atmosphere are possible.

Furthermore, methane dissolved in the seawater contributes to ocean acididfication, which inhibits the ability of marine creatures to grow shells. Scientists fear that as the world’s oceans warm, huge amounts of methane will be released.

Graham Westbrook Professor of Geophysics at the University of Birmingham, warns: “If this process becomes widespread along Arctic continental margins, tens of megatonnes of methane per year – equivalent to 5-10% of the total amount released globally by natural sources, could be released into the ocean.”

On climate change, a recent report by the Global Humanitarian Forum found that human-induced climate change is already responsible for 300,000 deaths a year and is now affecting 300 million people around the world. (Global Humanitarian Forum, 2009) This report also projects that increasingly severe heat waves, floods, storms and forest fires will be responsible for as many as 500,000 deaths a year by 2030.

So, what do we do? Refuse to accept emission limits with all eyes unblinkered on 'growth'? Come on, let us know your views.

Acceleration mode

Between January and July of 2009, Beijing streets were graced with an 1,231 additional cars per day on average, according to the Beijing Traffic Management Bureau. All those new cars add up to an additional 261,000 vehicles -- the vast majority of which are private cars. This is a 9% increase from the same period last year.

This is actually a decrease from the last time we learned of Beijing rapidly expanding: In the first 45 days of 2009 some 1,466 cars were being added to the already crowded streets.

Meanwhile, in what could be seen as a related study, severe air pollution in China’s heavily industrialized east is impeding the formation of rain clouds and contributing to a drought in northern China.

The study, which looked at rainfall and pollution patterns for the past 50 years, concluded that pollution has reduced the number of days of light rain in eastern China by 23 percent. Atmospheric scientist Yun Qian of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory said that the large number of aerosols in China’s polluted skies has led to the formation of rain droplets that are up to 50 percent smaller than rain droplets in clean skies.

The smaller droplets do not as readily form rain clouds, which means that lighter rainfalls valuable to agriculture — ranging from a drizzle to accumulations of .4 inch per day — are occurring less frequently, according to the study, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres.

This is an area that is largely debated just like the role of aerosols in climate change. Do cities with their attendant fog and pollution and urban heat island effects induce rain or not? However there can be no doubts on the effect of adding so many vehicles to the road per day! How long before peak oil hits the automobile lobby? Meanwhile, it pays to make merry on sales today, right?

Food & water crisis

First it was the Prime Minister warning of drought in the country. Next came the state of the nation’s environment report, which paints a grim picture. Then yet another report on the state of vanishing groundwater. All is not well but what are we doing?

The third government report on the state of India's environment paints a grim picture, the Economic Times reports: "At least 45% of India's land area is degraded due to erosion, soil acidity, alkalinity and salinity, waterlogging and wind erosion." Particulate air pollution is on the rise in cities, hitting 110 million people, causing public health damage costs in 2004 of about $3 billion.

Intense irrigation across a 1,200 mile wide area of northern India, Pakistan and Bangladesh is depleting groundwater supplies at a rate of 1.5-4 inches per year. And that in an area where 600 million people live. The big picture of Indian groundwater comes from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite mission.

The area of land surveyed is the most heavily irrigated in the world, with 50-75% or more of land equipped with irrigation from groundwater or reservoir water. This new data shows that groundwater is being withdrawn at a rate 70% faster in the past decade than in the 1990s.

Monsoon rains in India between June 1 and Aug. 12 were 29% below average and nearly 177 of the 625 districts in the country have been declared drought-hit. The monsoon is crucial for the agriculture sector as most farmers don't have irrigation facilities and depend on rains for their crops. Agriculture is key to the Indian economy as it contributes about 18% of gross domestic product and provides jobs to more than two-thirds of the country's 1.1 billion population.

The Ministry of Agriculture has been largely reactive as also in the recent case where it issued a notification on providing a distress diesel subsidy - "to enable the farmers to provide supplementary irrigation through diesel pumpsets…” as also encourage of more fertilizer intensive agriculture!

Now, scientists meeting at World Water Week in Sweden are saying that without serious reforms to the way many Asian countries manage water chronic food shortages may result -- even without the impact of climate change on water supplies. The BBC quotes report co-author Tushaar Shah: Without water productivity gains, South Asia would need 57% more water for irrigated agriculture and East Asia 70% more. Given the scarcity of land and water, and growing water needs for cities, such a scenario is untenable.

In Revitalizing Asia's Irrigation, the International Water Management Institute and the UN Food and Agricultural Organization say that food and animal feed demand in Asia is expected to double by 2050 and that relying on trade to supply this will "impose a huge and politically untenable burden on the economies of many developing countries."

The solution to all this, the report says, is 1) modernizing irrigation systems that in many areas are 30-40 years old; 2) support farmers initiatives using locally-adapted and appropriate irrigation technologies; 3) tap into public-private partnerships to provide incentives to improve water delivery efficiency (though it is admitted that this is "largely untested"; 4) expand education through engineering programs, workshops for farmers, etc.; 5) invest outside the irrigation sector in areas which influence it.

Are we doing anything for the long-term management of water and food production? How deep and how longer can we keep digging for groundwater? Is it not time to tackle agricultural practices on a war footing, for what is sustainable?