Electricity from waste heat is an area that needs to be studied. Some US companies who have got into the business with steel mills in Indiana calculate that this captured heat has the potential to reduce carbon emissions by upt 12 percent! This electricity supplied works out cheaper than conventional electricity.
Not only steel mills, many other industries flare away the excess fuel. What an opportunity there.
Tightening the belt, making your processes more efficient and reducing waste is the easiest way to cut emissions. No wonder UK Energy and Climate Change Minister Greg Barker is urging businesses to register now for the Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme (CRC).Only 1229 organisations have signed up to the scheme out of an estimated 3000-4000 that are eligible, with just 50 days left until the end of the registration period.
The CRC, which officially kicked off in April this year, requires large public and private sector organisations that use more than 6000 MWh of electricity a year to register with the scheme and start monitoring and recording their energy use.
Organisations that consume less than 6000 MWh but have half-hourly meter readings still have to register with the scheme as an ‘information declarer’, confirming their consumption is below the threshold.
The scheme has the potential to help organisations make significant savings on their energy bills. The London Fire Brigade, for example, which has already signed up to the CTC has saved £260,000 in the last year since it put energy efficiency measures into place.
Unless backed by such regulations, big promises about energy efficiency end up as just hot air!
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Solar jai ho
The Indian Parliament building, Sansad Bhavan, will soon sport solar PV systems, solar heaters and a biomass plant to promote renewable energy. On behalf of the Parliament, the Punjab Energy Development Agency has invited bids for installing 80 kW solar PV system.
The power system would not only provide battery back up for the Parliament building but more than 50 percent of the generated power would be fed to the grid. The government hopes to play a role model in the solar energy revolution it hopes will follow the solar mission of having installed capacity to 20,000 MW in the next 12 years.
Solar PV systems are costlier than solar thermal systems and there are no incentives for the domestic consumer to install solar PV systems. Perhaps it will follow. The Parliament system should serve as a demonstration of the feed-in tariff mechanism, which the government eventually wants to incorporate in the 20,000 MW solar PV capacity.
Power evacuation from independent sources can be tricky due to the constraints of maintaining a definite frequency of supply. Some distribution companies are offering domestic consumers subsidies for installing solar panels on rooftops. However, this scheme has not taken off too well. It is hoped that feed-in-tariff will encourage participation.
But some technical and financial-related problems regarding feed-in tariff remain unsolved. Should the power generated be fed directly into the grid or should it be pooled locally and then fed to the grid to meet the required parameters of power transmission? What should the consumers be paid for: the total power generated from the solar panels or the amount of power fed to grid?
The power system would not only provide battery back up for the Parliament building but more than 50 percent of the generated power would be fed to the grid. The government hopes to play a role model in the solar energy revolution it hopes will follow the solar mission of having installed capacity to 20,000 MW in the next 12 years.
Solar PV systems are costlier than solar thermal systems and there are no incentives for the domestic consumer to install solar PV systems. Perhaps it will follow. The Parliament system should serve as a demonstration of the feed-in tariff mechanism, which the government eventually wants to incorporate in the 20,000 MW solar PV capacity.
Power evacuation from independent sources can be tricky due to the constraints of maintaining a definite frequency of supply. Some distribution companies are offering domestic consumers subsidies for installing solar panels on rooftops. However, this scheme has not taken off too well. It is hoped that feed-in-tariff will encourage participation.
But some technical and financial-related problems regarding feed-in tariff remain unsolved. Should the power generated be fed directly into the grid or should it be pooled locally and then fed to the grid to meet the required parameters of power transmission? What should the consumers be paid for: the total power generated from the solar panels or the amount of power fed to grid?
What a waste!
Efficiency is the name of the game, wherever energy is involved. Coal plants are on an average only 30 percent efficient. And when it comes to vehicles and the technology, internal combustion engine still only uses 15% of the energy it receives from oil.
About 17% is wasted in idling. Braking wastes 5.8%. Friction between wheels, bearings loses 4.2%, air resistance 2.6% and stereo, A/C and power windows use 2.2%.
Electric vehicles are about 90% efficient in their use of electricity, but if you live in a state that is largely coal-powered (then the electricity itself is inefficiently produced.
Solar power on the roof would seem to be the best option for powering an electric car. Any reason why this has not taken off?
About 17% is wasted in idling. Braking wastes 5.8%. Friction between wheels, bearings loses 4.2%, air resistance 2.6% and stereo, A/C and power windows use 2.2%.
Electric vehicles are about 90% efficient in their use of electricity, but if you live in a state that is largely coal-powered (then the electricity itself is inefficiently produced.
Solar power on the roof would seem to be the best option for powering an electric car. Any reason why this has not taken off?
Friday, August 6, 2010
Heavy metal, heavy energy
Desert lands and wastelands are a favourite destination for renewable energy projects like solar, wind and biofuels. But often the question we fail to ask is, if these regions are really dead and waste? And if not, can we tamper with the ecosystems at work?
For example, Doors of Perception (a unique international conference on sustainable designs for future) wonders if windmills are really green?
Once topsoil and plant life have been disrupted for the placement of solar arrays, wind farms, power plants, transmission lines and CO2 scrubbers, restoration would be cost-prohibitive, if not technically impossible - and in any case can take 100 years or more. widespread desert construction, even of projects aimed at environmental mitigation, "would devastate the very organisms and ecosystems best able to adjust to a warming world".
Remember, these vast arrays and farms also mean huge amount of materials deployed. In wind farms, the compartments at the top of each tower, that contain the generator, hub and gearbox, each weigh 15,000 kilos upwards (30,000 to 45,000 pounds)!
Other components of a utility-scale wind farm include underground power transmission systems, control and maintenance facilities, and substations that connect farms with the utility power grid. That's a lot of embodied energy. Yes.
Are we looking at the material costs and energy expended to build all those equipment we will need if we are to replace all the fossil fuel plants??
For example, Doors of Perception (a unique international conference on sustainable designs for future) wonders if windmills are really green?
Once topsoil and plant life have been disrupted for the placement of solar arrays, wind farms, power plants, transmission lines and CO2 scrubbers, restoration would be cost-prohibitive, if not technically impossible - and in any case can take 100 years or more. widespread desert construction, even of projects aimed at environmental mitigation, "would devastate the very organisms and ecosystems best able to adjust to a warming world".
Remember, these vast arrays and farms also mean huge amount of materials deployed. In wind farms, the compartments at the top of each tower, that contain the generator, hub and gearbox, each weigh 15,000 kilos upwards (30,000 to 45,000 pounds)!
Other components of a utility-scale wind farm include underground power transmission systems, control and maintenance facilities, and substations that connect farms with the utility power grid. That's a lot of embodied energy. Yes.
Are we looking at the material costs and energy expended to build all those equipment we will need if we are to replace all the fossil fuel plants??
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Can we cut emissions by half?
From IPCC's predictions of emissions in the future given present trends, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg have now gone one step further. They have developed a new model that specifies the maximum volumes of carbon dioxide that humans may emit to remain below the critical threshold for climate warming of two degrees Celsius.
According to the model, admissible carbon dioxide emissions will increase from approximately seven billion tonnes of carbon in the year 2000 to a maximum value of around ten billion tonnes in 2015.
In order to achieve the long-term stabilisation of the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration, the emissions will then have to be reduced by 56 percent by the year 2050 and approach zero towards the end of this century. Although, based on these calculations, global warming would remain under the two-degree threshold until 2100, further warming may be expected in the long term.
The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere caused by the combustion of fossil fuels (gas, oil) has increased by around 35 percent since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. If carbon dioxide emissions and, as a result, atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations continue to increase unchecked, a drastic increase in the global temperature can be expected before the end of this century. As a result of that, food production and water availability will be affected. How many more studies will we need before our governments decide to take some extreme measures called for?
According to the model, admissible carbon dioxide emissions will increase from approximately seven billion tonnes of carbon in the year 2000 to a maximum value of around ten billion tonnes in 2015.
In order to achieve the long-term stabilisation of the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration, the emissions will then have to be reduced by 56 percent by the year 2050 and approach zero towards the end of this century. Although, based on these calculations, global warming would remain under the two-degree threshold until 2100, further warming may be expected in the long term.
The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere caused by the combustion of fossil fuels (gas, oil) has increased by around 35 percent since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. If carbon dioxide emissions and, as a result, atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations continue to increase unchecked, a drastic increase in the global temperature can be expected before the end of this century. As a result of that, food production and water availability will be affected. How many more studies will we need before our governments decide to take some extreme measures called for?
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Forests of the wild
Restoring damaged rainforest is a more effective way of capturing carbon than cultivating industrial, single-species tree plantations, according to a new study.
After testing three types of plantations in northeastern Australia, researchers found that restored forests were more densely wooded than monoculture plantations, had larger trees, and captured 106 tons of CO2 per hectare, compared with 62 tons stored in timber plantations.
While timber plantations are a cheap source of abundant wood and rubber, some ecologists say they are little more than “green deserts” that lack biodiversity.
Softwood monoculture plantations are grown for industrial purposes and are used as a cheap and abundant source of resources such as timber and rubber.
The research also suggests that restoration plantings store more carbon over time. However, as restoration projects are more expensive then monoculture plantations it is unlikely that carbon markets will favour restoration.
Waste heat capture boosts solar
Solar keeps pushing ahead, and that's good news.
Rooftop solar panels use silicon to convert light into electricity. But their efficiency declines rapidly at higher temperatures. An either/or choice presents itself — but Stanford researchers found that a cesium coating allowed semiconducting materials to convert both light and heat into energy.
They dubbed the process PETE, for photon enhanced thermionic emission. And, PETE devices could be cheaply and easily incorporated into existing solar collection systems.
Also. PETE devices require only a small amount of semiconducting material, making them cheap. The hope is to design devices that can easily be bolted on to existing solar collection systems, so that conversion would also be low-cost. When used with the heat-conversion process, PETE devices could reach 60 percent efficiency. Isn't that something?
Rooftop solar panels use silicon to convert light into electricity. But their efficiency declines rapidly at higher temperatures. An either/or choice presents itself — but Stanford researchers found that a cesium coating allowed semiconducting materials to convert both light and heat into energy.
They dubbed the process PETE, for photon enhanced thermionic emission. And, PETE devices could be cheaply and easily incorporated into existing solar collection systems.
Also. PETE devices require only a small amount of semiconducting material, making them cheap. The hope is to design devices that can easily be bolted on to existing solar collection systems, so that conversion would also be low-cost. When used with the heat-conversion process, PETE devices could reach 60 percent efficiency. Isn't that something?
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