Noted American economist Jeremy Rifkin has some food for thought in his new book on what he calls The Third Industrial revolution. Check out:
'The Third Industrial Revolution is the last of the great Industrial Revolutions and will lay the foundational infrastructure for an emerging collaborative age. The forty year build-out of the TIR infrastructure will create hundreds of thousands of new businesses and hundreds of millions of new jobs...
'In the coming half century, the conventional, centralized business operations of the First and Second Industrial Revolutions will increasingly be subsumed by the distributed business practices of the Third Industrial Revolution; and the traditional, hierarchical organization of economic and political power will give way to lateral power organized nodally across society...
'The Third Industrial Revolution offers the hope that we can arrive at a sustainable post-carbon era by mid-century. We have the science, the technology, and the game plan to make it happen...
'The five pillars of the Third Industrial Revolution are (1) shifting to renewable energy; (2) transforming the building stock of every continent into micro-power plants to collect renewable energies on-site; (3) deploying hydrogen and other storage technologies in every building and throughout the infrastructure to store intermittent energies; (4) using Internet technology to transform the power grid of every continent into an energy-sharing intergrid that acts just like the Internet (when millions of buildings are generating a small amount of energy locally, on-site, they can sell surplus back to the grid and share electricity with their continental neighbors); and (5) transitioning the transport fleet to electric plug-in and fuel cell vehicles that can buy and sell electricity on a smart, continental, interactive power grid.
For more, read on
Friday, September 30, 2011
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Future technology
So, are electric vehicles going to be as widely feasible as we would like it to be?Nearly every major automobile manufacturer in the world appears ready to market some flavor of plug-in vehicle with in the next few years. So the odds are piled high for sure.
A recent study concluded that together these manufacturers have committed to producing some 840,000 electric vehicles by 2013. The demand for lithium-ion automobile batteries is projected to increase from 2.4 gigawatt hours (GWh) this year to 18 GWh by 2013 - a seven fold increase. The rapid increase in lithium-ion battery production -- 20 new plants are under construction -- is expected to drive the cost of these batteries down from $800-1000/kWh today to the vicinity of $350 by the end of the decade.
Good news. But, where is the research on batteries heading? On small short-term batteries or bulky long-term ones?
Tom Whipple writes in Energy Bulletin, quoting a study by Carnegie-Mellon that for the immediate future electric cars with small battery packs and limited electric range offer more benefits to society than larger packs that attempt to substitute completely for conventional fuels.
Not only do the smaller shorter range battery packs such as those found in conventional hybrids or the newer plug-in electrics cost far less, they also weigh much less. Large electrical batteries become a lot more dead weight that has to be carried around after discharged than do smaller batteries. In the long run cheaper, long-lived, longer range batteries will of course prove superior. But it will take time for research to fructify and allow scalability.
Meanwhile, another major laboratory announced that its technology could lead to electric cars with a 300 mile range, while another says its titanium dioxide microspheres will allow batteries to be charged to 50 percent of capacity in 6 minutes.
Work is underway to standardize wireless recharging systems that would eliminate the need to actually plug-in a vehicle to recharge its batteries. Simply parking an appropriately equipped vehicle in an appropriately equipped parking space would allow the recharging of the batteries to take place! fancy and more about comfort than going green!
Cynics still insist that research apart, such technology will be too costly for 7 billion to afford anyway. Well, even if 3 billion could, that would be a welcome relief for the environment, right?
A recent study concluded that together these manufacturers have committed to producing some 840,000 electric vehicles by 2013. The demand for lithium-ion automobile batteries is projected to increase from 2.4 gigawatt hours (GWh) this year to 18 GWh by 2013 - a seven fold increase. The rapid increase in lithium-ion battery production -- 20 new plants are under construction -- is expected to drive the cost of these batteries down from $800-1000/kWh today to the vicinity of $350 by the end of the decade.
Good news. But, where is the research on batteries heading? On small short-term batteries or bulky long-term ones?
Tom Whipple writes in Energy Bulletin, quoting a study by Carnegie-Mellon that for the immediate future electric cars with small battery packs and limited electric range offer more benefits to society than larger packs that attempt to substitute completely for conventional fuels.
Not only do the smaller shorter range battery packs such as those found in conventional hybrids or the newer plug-in electrics cost far less, they also weigh much less. Large electrical batteries become a lot more dead weight that has to be carried around after discharged than do smaller batteries. In the long run cheaper, long-lived, longer range batteries will of course prove superior. But it will take time for research to fructify and allow scalability.
Meanwhile, another major laboratory announced that its technology could lead to electric cars with a 300 mile range, while another says its titanium dioxide microspheres will allow batteries to be charged to 50 percent of capacity in 6 minutes.
Work is underway to standardize wireless recharging systems that would eliminate the need to actually plug-in a vehicle to recharge its batteries. Simply parking an appropriately equipped vehicle in an appropriately equipped parking space would allow the recharging of the batteries to take place! fancy and more about comfort than going green!
Cynics still insist that research apart, such technology will be too costly for 7 billion to afford anyway. Well, even if 3 billion could, that would be a welcome relief for the environment, right?
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Slow uptake on efficiency scheme
The Mayor of London Boris Johnson urged Londoners yesterday to take up the energy efficiency RE:NEW programme, which is being rolled out to homes in nine more boroughs, according to Energy Efficiency News.
The programme, which was originally targeted at improving 200,000 homes in the capital by 2012 through measures such as low-energy light bulbs, stand-by switches and more substantial measures like cavity wall and loft insulation, has had a slow start with only around 9000 homes helped to date.
Last month, new funding enabled the programme to be rolled out to 1742 homes in Barking and Dagenham, Lewisham, Newham and Waltham Forest. Now, it is being expanded to Wandsworth, Croydon, Brent, Ealing, Harrow, Hillingdon, Redbridge, Tower Hamlets and Hounslow.
The programme involves a full home energy survey, which includes identifying whether loft or cavity wall insulation can be installed and whether homeowners are eligible for any grants. Participants receive a tailor-made report and can have a range of free energy saving measured installed.
“Retrofitting London’s homes and buildings has a multiplicity of benefits for all of us. It makes sound economic sense by saving you money on your fuel bills, it reduces the pumping out of CO2 and it creates much-needed jobs. I would urge Londoners to take advantage of this free service,” said Johnson.
Homes taking part in the programme can typically save around £154 on their annual energy and water bills, but the latest round of price rises could now put this figure at £180.
The programme is being delivered by London Councils and the Energy Saving Trust and all 32 of the capitals boroughs have signed up to participate.
The programme, which was originally targeted at improving 200,000 homes in the capital by 2012 through measures such as low-energy light bulbs, stand-by switches and more substantial measures like cavity wall and loft insulation, has had a slow start with only around 9000 homes helped to date.
Last month, new funding enabled the programme to be rolled out to 1742 homes in Barking and Dagenham, Lewisham, Newham and Waltham Forest. Now, it is being expanded to Wandsworth, Croydon, Brent, Ealing, Harrow, Hillingdon, Redbridge, Tower Hamlets and Hounslow.
The programme involves a full home energy survey, which includes identifying whether loft or cavity wall insulation can be installed and whether homeowners are eligible for any grants. Participants receive a tailor-made report and can have a range of free energy saving measured installed.
“Retrofitting London’s homes and buildings has a multiplicity of benefits for all of us. It makes sound economic sense by saving you money on your fuel bills, it reduces the pumping out of CO2 and it creates much-needed jobs. I would urge Londoners to take advantage of this free service,” said Johnson.
Homes taking part in the programme can typically save around £154 on their annual energy and water bills, but the latest round of price rises could now put this figure at £180.
The programme is being delivered by London Councils and the Energy Saving Trust and all 32 of the capitals boroughs have signed up to participate.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Melting peaks
The ghost of the glaciers is once again rising! In the Himalayas, the ice is melting as evidenced by dozens of swelling milky blue lakes that threaten to burst down on to villages when their ice dams melt. A quarter of the world's people rely on Himalayan meltwater, which helps feed the great rivers that plunge down into Asia.
However, this is not scientific research as much as what has been seen and described by the local sherpas and natives. Perhaps there is a big knowledge gap about the Himalayas as there is little beyond satellite imagery as satellite proof. But if local evidence is enough, the glaciers are melting.
Between them the mountains of the Himalayas, the Hindu Kush, Karakorams, Pamirs and Tien Shan store more ice than anywhere outside the north and south poles. There are believed to be about 15,000 glaciers across the Himalayas – 3,800 or so in Nepal alone, according to the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, in Kathmandu.
Last week saw the annual summer minimum of the Arctic ice cap, which has now shrunk to the lowest level satellites have ever recorded. The ice at the roof of the human world is faring little better: mountain glaciers are diminishing at accelerating and historic rates. The lower glaciers are doomed. Kilimanjaro may be bare within a decade, with the Pyrenees set to be ice-free by mid-century and three-quarters of the glaciers in the Alps gone by the same date.
Are we changing the face of the planet irretrievably?
However, this is not scientific research as much as what has been seen and described by the local sherpas and natives. Perhaps there is a big knowledge gap about the Himalayas as there is little beyond satellite imagery as satellite proof. But if local evidence is enough, the glaciers are melting.
Between them the mountains of the Himalayas, the Hindu Kush, Karakorams, Pamirs and Tien Shan store more ice than anywhere outside the north and south poles. There are believed to be about 15,000 glaciers across the Himalayas – 3,800 or so in Nepal alone, according to the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, in Kathmandu.
Last week saw the annual summer minimum of the Arctic ice cap, which has now shrunk to the lowest level satellites have ever recorded. The ice at the roof of the human world is faring little better: mountain glaciers are diminishing at accelerating and historic rates. The lower glaciers are doomed. Kilimanjaro may be bare within a decade, with the Pyrenees set to be ice-free by mid-century and three-quarters of the glaciers in the Alps gone by the same date.
Are we changing the face of the planet irretrievably?
Friday, September 23, 2011
Get your panel ready
Global PV prices seem to be crashing every day. Innovations too are picking speed.
Incorporating the latest research into how plants, algae and some bacteria use quantum mechanics to optimise energy production via photosynthesis, scientists have set out how to design molecular "circuitry" that is 10 times smaller than the thinnest electrical wire in computer processors. Published in Nature Chemistry, the report discusses how tiny molecular energy grids could capture, direct, regulate and amplify raw solar energy.
Solar fuel production often starts with the energy from light being absorbed by an assembly of molecules. The energy is stored fleetingly as vibrating electrons and then transferred to a suitable reactor. In natural systems energy from sunlight is captured by 'coloured' molecules called dyes or pigments, but is only stored for a billionth of a second. This leaves little time to route the energy from pigments to the molecular machinery that produces fuel or electricity.
The key to transferring and storing energy very quickly is to harness the collective quantum properties of antennae, which are made up of just a few tens of pigments, notes the team.The basic components of the antenna are efficient light absorbing molecules. These photo-energy absorbers should be appropriately distributed to guarantee that there is an even probability of converting sun energy into vibrating electrons across the whole antennae.
There soon will come a day when all the sun's energy falling will be converted to usable energy. Almost 100 percent efficiency. Isnt that exciting too?
Incorporating the latest research into how plants, algae and some bacteria use quantum mechanics to optimise energy production via photosynthesis, scientists have set out how to design molecular "circuitry" that is 10 times smaller than the thinnest electrical wire in computer processors. Published in Nature Chemistry, the report discusses how tiny molecular energy grids could capture, direct, regulate and amplify raw solar energy.
Solar fuel production often starts with the energy from light being absorbed by an assembly of molecules. The energy is stored fleetingly as vibrating electrons and then transferred to a suitable reactor. In natural systems energy from sunlight is captured by 'coloured' molecules called dyes or pigments, but is only stored for a billionth of a second. This leaves little time to route the energy from pigments to the molecular machinery that produces fuel or electricity.
The key to transferring and storing energy very quickly is to harness the collective quantum properties of antennae, which are made up of just a few tens of pigments, notes the team.The basic components of the antenna are efficient light absorbing molecules. These photo-energy absorbers should be appropriately distributed to guarantee that there is an even probability of converting sun energy into vibrating electrons across the whole antennae.
There soon will come a day when all the sun's energy falling will be converted to usable energy. Almost 100 percent efficiency. Isnt that exciting too?
Time to dash into the past?
There never is dearth for exciting news on the planet. A NASA satellite may come crashing down tonight. If you are lucky you may be hit! But then maybe you can go back to the past and become your parent if what scientists at CERN think they see is true – a neutrino traveling faster than light! And then there is the Arctic sea route opening up thanks to shrinking ice (!) and bringing trade prospects to a world still caught up in consuming!
In a world struggling to lay hands on rare earth, so far confined to China mostly, it turns out Afghanistan may be loaded with the stuff. And the UK has discovered huge shale gas deposits in its northwest in Lancashire. Fracking concerns are not an issue when you are sitting on fuel, right?
Forget that global carbon dioxide emissions increased by 45 percent between 1990 and 2010, reaching a record high 33 billion tons last year, according to a report by the European Commission’s Joint Research Center.
The report said that increased energy efficiency, renewable energy, and nuclear power are not compensating for a surge in emissions from developing countries, most notably China — with a 257 percent increase in CO2 emissions from 1990 to 210 — and India, whose emissions increased by 180 percent.
By contrast, the European Union’s emissions declined by 7 percent from 1990 to 2010, and Russia’s dropped 27 percent. U.S. emissions increased by 5 percent from 1990 to 2010. After a slowdown in CO2 emissions at the height of the recession in 2008 and 2009, global emissions saw a record-breaking increase of 5.8 percent from 2009 to 2010, the report said.
Maybe it's time for a mass exodus to the past, on the wings of some superfast neutrino. The present seems to be getting unlivable.
In a world struggling to lay hands on rare earth, so far confined to China mostly, it turns out Afghanistan may be loaded with the stuff. And the UK has discovered huge shale gas deposits in its northwest in Lancashire. Fracking concerns are not an issue when you are sitting on fuel, right?
Forget that global carbon dioxide emissions increased by 45 percent between 1990 and 2010, reaching a record high 33 billion tons last year, according to a report by the European Commission’s Joint Research Center.
The report said that increased energy efficiency, renewable energy, and nuclear power are not compensating for a surge in emissions from developing countries, most notably China — with a 257 percent increase in CO2 emissions from 1990 to 210 — and India, whose emissions increased by 180 percent.
By contrast, the European Union’s emissions declined by 7 percent from 1990 to 2010, and Russia’s dropped 27 percent. U.S. emissions increased by 5 percent from 1990 to 2010. After a slowdown in CO2 emissions at the height of the recession in 2008 and 2009, global emissions saw a record-breaking increase of 5.8 percent from 2009 to 2010, the report said.
Maybe it's time for a mass exodus to the past, on the wings of some superfast neutrino. The present seems to be getting unlivable.
Friday, September 16, 2011
Demand much ahead
Oil prices have been down and up recently. Let's look at what the prospects are. According to the International Energy Agency's Oil Market Report for September its preliminary estimate for world oil production in August was 89.1 million b/d despite the loss of 1.6 million b/d of Libyan production. The Agency, however, maintains that the demand for oil has been running ahead of global production since the second half 2010 when the demand for oil surged.
The difference between supply and demand, which for a while amounted to 1.4 million b/d, has been coming out of global stocks which have been slowly falling in recent months. It is this imbalance between supply and demand that is likely the root of our high oil and gas prices. If demand growth continues at its present or even somewhat reduced pace, demand should be pushing up against 92 million b/d by the end of next year. Any further increase in demand would come from stockpiles at much higher prices and probably much economic disruption, notes the Energy Bulletin.
There are a number of countries that will be critical to what happens in the next two or three years. The most important of these is China where demand is now approaching 10 million b/d and is forecast to grow at about 6 percent this year and next after surging to 11 percent in 2010. India which is consuming about 3.5 million b/d continues to increase its demand at about 4 percent per annum. Demand from the Middle Eastern oil producers is also an interesting story. Although Saudi oil production is now pushing 10 million b/d, much of the increase this summer is being burned domestically to produce the power and water.
The difference between supply and demand, which for a while amounted to 1.4 million b/d, has been coming out of global stocks which have been slowly falling in recent months. It is this imbalance between supply and demand that is likely the root of our high oil and gas prices. If demand growth continues at its present or even somewhat reduced pace, demand should be pushing up against 92 million b/d by the end of next year. Any further increase in demand would come from stockpiles at much higher prices and probably much economic disruption, notes the Energy Bulletin.
There are a number of countries that will be critical to what happens in the next two or three years. The most important of these is China where demand is now approaching 10 million b/d and is forecast to grow at about 6 percent this year and next after surging to 11 percent in 2010. India which is consuming about 3.5 million b/d continues to increase its demand at about 4 percent per annum. Demand from the Middle Eastern oil producers is also an interesting story. Although Saudi oil production is now pushing 10 million b/d, much of the increase this summer is being burned domestically to produce the power and water.
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