Monday, April 2, 2012
Post earth-hour
Now that Earth Hour has ticked by, it's time for some introspection. What does it mean for us? A time to bring out the candles? A time to join some million others in a campaign? Or, a time to sit quietly and think on the path we want to take? A time to think of how fortunate we are to have a planet of plenty for the teeming billions?
Today our growing consumerism is depleting the earth's resources at a rate 35 percent faster than it can regenerate. Whether it is minerals or even more precious resource like water, we are rapaciously using it. If somewhere Saudi Arabia is greening its deserts using centuries old aquifer water which will run out in 50 years, elsewhere developed nations are vying for drilling rights in the Arctic!
Can we define a new economic paradigm with well-being indicators that count natural and social capital, and give incentives for sustainable production? And do it soon?
Are we content to live in a climate of ever-widening inequalities with 20% of the world now consuming 86% of its goods, while the poorest 20% consume 1% or less and emit 2% of the worlds greenhouse gases? Or do we believe in true empowerment that comes with equity and sustainability?
Are we keeping our planet as healthy and clean as we keep our homes??
Storage innovations
As we know, the problem with renewables has been that of storage. But that problem is being tackled. Improving battery technology is an imperative. As it stands, but a 1,300 metric ton battery larger than a football field that can generate 40 million watts of power, currently deployed in Fairbanks, Alaska to protect against blackouts, could only, in 2003-4, provide enough electricity for about 12,000 residents for seven minutes. It would take hundreds of units the size of the Fairbanks unit to store electricity from solar and wind to equal the power generated by one coal plant.
Other types of batteries have been developed, but some have low “round-trip efficiency”—they lose energy as it is stored and comes out of storage. Lithium ion batteries have high “round-trip efficiency” but are very expensive, and a lithium metal-air battery, when it absorbs moisture from the air in addition to the oxygen it needs, can explode.
According to NewScientist, a promising type of power plant cools excess energy and stores it in the form of liquid air, or cryogen. The Highview 300-kilowatt pilot plant supplies energy to the UK National Grid. The process warms the cryogen when electricity is needed; it recovers only about 50 percent of the electricity fed into it, but cryogen plants can be located anywhere, costing far less to operate per kilowatt than batteries.
Excess energy from wind power can also be stored in the home, raising the temperature of an energy customer’s water heater or storing the heat in ceramic bricks in a nearby space heater. These devices, run by microchips and remote-controlled by the power administration, then act as a battery, giving back power when needed. Such a pilot program in the US Pacific Northwest saw energy customers having to pay to participate.
But research is peeling away the many hurdles. Once we have an efficient way of storing power, nothing should hold the sun and wind from powering the planet.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
CRC to be modified
As promised in the Budget 2012 statement, the UK government has unveiled proposals for the simplification of the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) efficiency scheme.
The scheme requires organisations using over a certain threshold of energy to report and pay a tax on the amount used, as well as ranking participants on the basis of their actions to improve energy efficiency.
In its original form, the scheme recycled payments from participants purchasing emission allowances to reward those which improved their energy efficiency most. But the scheme was revised to generate revenue for the Treasury to the disapprobation of the business sector.
The scheme has also faced criticism over its complexity and failure to recognise other positive actions of participants, like purchasing or generating green energy.
Now in a bid to woo back the business community, the Coalition is asking for comments on a range of simplifications to the scheme aimed at retaining the potential benefits, which could total carbon savings of 21 MtCO2 by 2027, while reducing bureaucracy.
The simplification of the scheme could save over £330 million by 2030 for the 2000 or so participants, says the government, including £250 million for businesses in reduced administration.
The proposals including shortening the qualification process for the scheme, reducing the number of fuels covered by the scheme from 29 to 4, and cutting the amount of reporting required and the length of time for which records have to be kept.
The changes would also mean that facilities covered by the Climate Change Agreement or EU Emissions Trading System would not have to purchase CRC allowances.
The scheme requires organisations using over a certain threshold of energy to report and pay a tax on the amount used, as well as ranking participants on the basis of their actions to improve energy efficiency.
In its original form, the scheme recycled payments from participants purchasing emission allowances to reward those which improved their energy efficiency most. But the scheme was revised to generate revenue for the Treasury to the disapprobation of the business sector.
The scheme has also faced criticism over its complexity and failure to recognise other positive actions of participants, like purchasing or generating green energy.
Now in a bid to woo back the business community, the Coalition is asking for comments on a range of simplifications to the scheme aimed at retaining the potential benefits, which could total carbon savings of 21 MtCO2 by 2027, while reducing bureaucracy.
The simplification of the scheme could save over £330 million by 2030 for the 2000 or so participants, says the government, including £250 million for businesses in reduced administration.
The proposals including shortening the qualification process for the scheme, reducing the number of fuels covered by the scheme from 29 to 4, and cutting the amount of reporting required and the length of time for which records have to be kept.
The changes would also mean that facilities covered by the Climate Change Agreement or EU Emissions Trading System would not have to purchase CRC allowances.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Taking the heat off a reactor
Those looking at a future hydrogen powered economy have hot upon a hot idea. Heat from existing nuclear plants could be used in the more economical production of hydrogen, with future plants custom-built for hydrogen production. This was announced by a scientist working with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, Austria.
Hydrogen could have a beneficial impact on global warming, since burning hydrogen releases only water vapor and no carbon dioxide, even if water vapor is also a warming agent. Scientists and economists at IAEA and elsewhere are working intensively to determine how current nuclear power reactors -- 435 are operational worldwide -- and future nuclear power reactors could be enlisted in hydrogen production.
Most hydrogen production at present comes from natural gas or coal and results in releases of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. On a much smaller scale, some production comes from a cleaner process called electrolysis. This electrolysis becomes more efficient and less expensive if water is first heated to form steam, with the electric current passed through the steam.
Nuclear power plants are ideal for hydrogen production because they already produce the heat for changing water into steam and the electricity for breaking the steam down into hydrogen and oxygen. Yes, the economics need to be improved. Some countries are considering construction of new nuclear plants coupled with high-temperature steam electrolysis (HTSE) stations that would allow them to generate hydrogen gas on a large scale in anticipation of growing economic opportunities.
Instead of building more of these reactors, better in some way to harness the heat for hydrogen production. We agree.
Meanwhile, the French Court of Auditors recently found that nuclear power costs more than what electricity consumers in the country are charged! The study found that the cost of constructing a nuclear plant has risen from 1.07 million euros per megawatt in 1978 to 1.37 million euros per megawatt in 2002. The average cost of a megawatt of nuclear capacity for France’s current 58 reactors stands at 1.25 million euros.
Hydrogen could have a beneficial impact on global warming, since burning hydrogen releases only water vapor and no carbon dioxide, even if water vapor is also a warming agent. Scientists and economists at IAEA and elsewhere are working intensively to determine how current nuclear power reactors -- 435 are operational worldwide -- and future nuclear power reactors could be enlisted in hydrogen production.
Most hydrogen production at present comes from natural gas or coal and results in releases of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. On a much smaller scale, some production comes from a cleaner process called electrolysis. This electrolysis becomes more efficient and less expensive if water is first heated to form steam, with the electric current passed through the steam.
Nuclear power plants are ideal for hydrogen production because they already produce the heat for changing water into steam and the electricity for breaking the steam down into hydrogen and oxygen. Yes, the economics need to be improved. Some countries are considering construction of new nuclear plants coupled with high-temperature steam electrolysis (HTSE) stations that would allow them to generate hydrogen gas on a large scale in anticipation of growing economic opportunities.
Instead of building more of these reactors, better in some way to harness the heat for hydrogen production. We agree.
Meanwhile, the French Court of Auditors recently found that nuclear power costs more than what electricity consumers in the country are charged! The study found that the cost of constructing a nuclear plant has risen from 1.07 million euros per megawatt in 1978 to 1.37 million euros per megawatt in 2002. The average cost of a megawatt of nuclear capacity for France’s current 58 reactors stands at 1.25 million euros.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
E-waste to be checked
India churns out about 400,000 tons of e-waste annually of which only 19,000 tons is getting recycled, according to MAIT. According to a report by the Center for Science and Environment (CSE), India generates 3,50,000 tons of electronic waste every year and additionally imports another 50,000 tons.
Where does it all go?? In the absence of regulation, most of it has been dumped or recycled in most unhygienic ways. But now things may change in India. The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has come out with some new proposals that will go into effect in May 2012. The MoEF has put the onus of recycling e-waste squarely on the producers.
The producers would now be held accountable for the entire lifecycle of products and would also have to take initiatives to introduce changes in product design and technology for the efficient and environmentally friendly treatment and disposal of the same.
The regulation becomes important considering that consumption of electronic devices for work and entertainment has been on the rise. According to MAIT's recent estimates, sales of personal computers including desktops, notebooks and netbooks were expected to cross 12.6 million units during 2011-12 and TRAI estimated that India had 851.7 million mobile phones.
Many of these products contain various toxic substances such as cadmium, lead, mercury and polybrominated diphenyl ethers. Exposure to these substances can cause a range of health effects from kidney damage to impaired development of the central nervous system.
But as with many regulations, mere laws will not work unless implemented and monitored strictly. Hopefully we can breathe easy in days to come.
Where does it all go?? In the absence of regulation, most of it has been dumped or recycled in most unhygienic ways. But now things may change in India. The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has come out with some new proposals that will go into effect in May 2012. The MoEF has put the onus of recycling e-waste squarely on the producers.
The producers would now be held accountable for the entire lifecycle of products and would also have to take initiatives to introduce changes in product design and technology for the efficient and environmentally friendly treatment and disposal of the same.
The regulation becomes important considering that consumption of electronic devices for work and entertainment has been on the rise. According to MAIT's recent estimates, sales of personal computers including desktops, notebooks and netbooks were expected to cross 12.6 million units during 2011-12 and TRAI estimated that India had 851.7 million mobile phones.
Many of these products contain various toxic substances such as cadmium, lead, mercury and polybrominated diphenyl ethers. Exposure to these substances can cause a range of health effects from kidney damage to impaired development of the central nervous system.
But as with many regulations, mere laws will not work unless implemented and monitored strictly. Hopefully we can breathe easy in days to come.
Windfall in the offing
A new report says that the wind energy potential in India may be 30 times greater than previous government estimates.
In an analysis of land actually suitable to wind power development, researchers from the U.S. Energy Department’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found a potential for 2,006 megawatts of energy with the deployment of 80-meter (262 feet) turbines and 3,121 gigawatts using 120-meter (393 feet) turbines.
The Indian government had previously estimated that the nation’s on-land wind energy potential was 102 gigawatts. Improved turbine efficiency and the inclusion of a wider area of land suitable for wind energy development contributed to the significantly higher estimates.
“The main importance of this study, why it’s groundbreaking, is that wind is one of the most cost-effective and mature renewable energy sources commercially available in India, with an installed capacity of 15 gigawatts and rising rapidly,” said Amol Phadke, lead author of the report. According to the report, more than 95 percent of the country's wind energy potential is located in five states in southern and western India.
In an analysis of land actually suitable to wind power development, researchers from the U.S. Energy Department’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found a potential for 2,006 megawatts of energy with the deployment of 80-meter (262 feet) turbines and 3,121 gigawatts using 120-meter (393 feet) turbines.
The Indian government had previously estimated that the nation’s on-land wind energy potential was 102 gigawatts. Improved turbine efficiency and the inclusion of a wider area of land suitable for wind energy development contributed to the significantly higher estimates.
“The main importance of this study, why it’s groundbreaking, is that wind is one of the most cost-effective and mature renewable energy sources commercially available in India, with an installed capacity of 15 gigawatts and rising rapidly,” said Amol Phadke, lead author of the report. According to the report, more than 95 percent of the country's wind energy potential is located in five states in southern and western India.
Monday, March 19, 2012
Live biofuel cell!
Now we have an implanted biofuel cell continuously operating in a snail and producing electrical power over a long period of time using the snail's physiologically produced glucose as a fuel!
The electrified snail, being a biotechnological living device, is able to regenerate glucose consumed by biocatalytic electrodes, upon appropriate feeding and relaxing, and then produce a new portion of electrical energy.
The snail with the implanted biofuel cell will be able to operate in a natural environment, producing sustainable electrical micropower for activating various bioelectronic devices.
Implantable biofuel cells have been suggested as sustainable micropower sources operating in living organisms, but such bioelectronic systems are still exotic and very challenging to design.
Can you imagine an extension of this concept?
The electrified snail, being a biotechnological living device, is able to regenerate glucose consumed by biocatalytic electrodes, upon appropriate feeding and relaxing, and then produce a new portion of electrical energy.
The snail with the implanted biofuel cell will be able to operate in a natural environment, producing sustainable electrical micropower for activating various bioelectronic devices.
Implantable biofuel cells have been suggested as sustainable micropower sources operating in living organisms, but such bioelectronic systems are still exotic and very challenging to design.
Can you imagine an extension of this concept?
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