Posts Tagged ‘energy’
Solar is Cost-Competitive with Nuclear: Report
Posted in Movements, Research by Kate Archdeacon on August 24th, 2010
Source: Worldchanging
From “Scaling Up Solar: The Global Implications of a New Study that Says Solar Power Is Cost Competitive with Nuclear Power” by Olivia Boyd:
The sunshine of North Carolina, a state on America’s Atlantic seaboard, has long been a draw for tourists seeking a little southern warmth on the region’s beaches. But holiday companies are not the only ones trumpeting a good local deal. The price of the state’s solar-generated electricity has fallen so far that it is now cheaper than new nuclear power, according to a report published in July by researchers at the state’s Duke University. The authors say their figures indicate a “historic crossover” that significantly strengthens the case for investment in renewable energy – and weakens the arguments for large-scale, international nuclear development.
Solar power is usually branded as a clean but expensive energy source, incapable of competing on economic grounds with more established alternatives, such as nuclear. The outspoken pro-nuclear stance adopted by a raft of iconic environmental figures – James Lovelock, Stewart Brand, Patrick Moore – has helped to instill in policy making circles the sense that this is the only power source that can restructure our energy supply at the pace, scale and price required by the pressures of rapid climate change. This study, which was co-authored by former chair of Duke University’s economics department John Blackburn and commissioned by NC Warn, a clean-energy NGO with a firm anti-nuclear bent, challenges that view. “This report should end the argument for risking billions of public dollars on new nuclear projects,” says Jim Warren, NC Warn director.
2010 Ashden Awards: Sustainable solutions making good business sense
Posted in Movements by Kate Archdeacon on August 16th, 2010
Source: Forum for the Future
From “Sustainable solutions that make good business sense” by Martin Wright:
In a small farm on the hills above Nairobi, a slender woman in a flower-patterned headscarf is gently, politely shattering myths. Standing among the fruit trees on her shamba (smallholding), Mary Waringa Nguku dispels two of the most common clichés trotted out about the developing world. First, that people in Africa and elsewhere are too busy worrying about day-to-day life to share the West’s obsession with forest loss or climate change. “We cannot trust the weather any more”, she tells me. “It doesn’t rain like it used to, and the rivers are drying out. We do not always have the water we need… The forests are less, so we are going short of wood and it is more expensive. That is why, when I saw the biogas at my brother’s farm, and he told me how much money he was saving, I really wanted to give it a try.”
That last remark gives the lie to the second myth: that sustainable solutions always cost more than unsustainable ones. Mary is among over 200 customers of Skylink Innovators, a local Kenyan company which is installing biogas energy plants in the nation’s schools and even two of its prisons. The plants use a mixture of cow dung and human waste to produce cooking fuel via a process of anaerobic digestion (AD). It’s a well-established technology which tackles several problems at once: it provides clean fuel in place of smoky firewood for cooking; it helps to reduce pressure on dwindling forests and cuts out the greenhouse emissions from burning wood; and it saves people money. Once the biogas plant is in place, there’s no need for firewood. Many farmers save at least as much again on chemical fertiliser, too, as the nutrient-rich residue from the digester does the job just as well. Most plants pay for themselves in a couple of years. All of which makes it a sound business prospect for the likes of Skylink’s founder, Samwel Kinoti. “My father was a pioneer of biogas on his farm, so I grew up with it. I saw the beauty of it, and I knew others would, too.”
It’s this combination of entrepreneurship and environmental good sense which has won Skylink one of the 2010 Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy, presented by David Attenborough at a ceremony in London. The Ashden Awards celebrate local sustainable energy success stories in both developing countries and the UK. In doing so, they echo and amplify Mary Waringa’s mythbusting, turning the pursuit of sustainability from something worthy into pure common sense.
Read the rest of this article by Martin Wright on Green Futures for more about biogas, solar energy systems and community empowerment.
—
Converting from coal-fired to biomass?
Posted in Opinion by Kate Archdeacon on August 13th, 2010
Source: guardian.co.uk
Image: thewritingzone via flickr CC
From UK’s largest coal-fired power plant could switch to biomass within 10 years by Tim Webb:
Drax, Britain’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide, could stop burning coal by the end of the decade. Finance director Tony Quinlan said the company was looking to convert all six units of the coal-fired power station so they only burn biomass, such as wood chip, within the next 10 years. “Drax is a viable business today as a coal plant,” he told the Guardian. “But the opportunity to turn it into a renewable power company is an exciting one and makes sense for the UK’s carbon targets and for our shareholders.”
The company will only go ahead if the government agrees to grant renewable subsidies to such converted coal plants. Currently only purpose-built biomass plants receive extra payouts to cover their higher costs. Drax hopes to convert the first unit – capable of generating 660MW of electricity – next year. It is thought that no coal plant of this size has been converted anywhere in the world. “It has not been done before because there hasn’t been the need,” Quinlan said.
[...]
Some environmentalists question how sustainable biomass can be – because growing energy crops can result in rainforests being destroyed or can compete for land with food production. Greenpeace energy campaigner Joss Garman said: “There’s a serious question about whether it’s sensible to use biomass in this way. While sustainable biomass is possible, the precious supplies available should be used in much smarter ways.”
Drax has biomass supply contracts in place but refuses to divulge where the material will come from, citing commercial confidentiality. Material such as wood chip pellets will be imported from North America and Africa, while UK-sourced biomass like tree stumps and corn stubble will also be used. Drax insists that all of it will be sustainably sourced.
Read the full article by Tim Webb.
—
Brewery’s Bio Energy Plant
Posted in Models by Kate Archdeacon on July 30th, 2010
Source: Food Climate Research Network (FCRN)
Image: Hops by Susan Simon via flickr CC
The brewery Adnams has announced the completion of the construction phase of an anaerobic digestion (AD) plant, which will be the first in the UK to use brewery and local food waste to produce renewable gas for injection into the national gas grid as well as providing gas for use as a vehicle fuel. In partnership with British Gas and the National Grid, the facility will start injecting renewable gas into the gas grid later this summer. It is intended that the facility will produce enough renewable gas to power the Adnams brewery and run its fleet of lorries, while still leaving up to 60 per cent of the output for injection into the National Grid.
The Adnams Bio Energy plant consists of three digesters – sealed vessels in which naturally-occurring bacteria act without oxygen to break down up to 12,500 tonnes of organic waste each year. The result is the production of biomethane as well as a liquid organic fertiliser.
In addition, following an agreement with Centrica – the parent company of British Gas, Adnams Bio Energy has deployed British solar thermal panels and will shortly install cutting edge photovoltaic cells, which will in effect create a mini energy park.The deal will ensure that all of the site, including the Adnams Distribution Centre, will be using renewable energy generated on-site with some surplus energy available for export.
Read the full press release for more information.
—
Greening My Office Blog: First Success!
Posted in Movements by Kate Archdeacon on July 21st, 2010
Source: Greening My Office via The Ecologist
From I got them to switch the heating off! by Sylvia Sunshine:
My office is over 70 square foot in size, but only half of the space is ever being used at one time. The other half lies empty. The organisation that pays my wage rents a large office space and sublets out to two other companies. However, my company has been unable to sublet the remaining space on the floor. According to research by the property agent NB Real Estate, there is now over 10 million square foot of office space lying empty in London alone, up from 7.8 million in 2008. The capital has been left with over 10 per cent of its offices empty, with the situation at its most drastic in the West End (where I’m based). And of course, with this waste comes the predictable onslaught of environmental damage.
Because there are so few people in the space I’m in, it takes more energy to heat, in both real and relative terms. Furthermore, in the empty office adjacent to my office, we heat the entire space day and night, even though it lies vacant (and has done for nearly a year).
The next morning I approach the company head honcho about the empty space in our office. ‘No one wants to buy at the moment,’ he says. ‘We’ve tried to lower to price too, but nothing seems to work’.
‘Can we switch off the heating in there?’ I murmur, head hanging low over a bowl of organic museli. My boss looks at me carefully. I can see the cogs turning as he remembers previous conversations. As time stands still I think he’s about to upbraid me for being too much of a goody (non-leather) two shoes. But instead of attacking me – as has become par for the course – he glances over to Jill and squawks: ‘Can we get building services to switch off the heating in the other offices? Rooms 2a and 2b? They’re not being used at the moment, are they?’
‘Sure,’ Jill shouts back across the empty office, ‘I’ll email the landlord now’.
‘Wow,’ I think. No qualms, no questions and no awkward silences. Just action. Maybe my technique is improving? Or maybe some kind of sea change is underway?
Read more about Sylvia Sunshine’s efforts.
—
Zero Carbon Britain 2030: Report
Posted in Research by Kate Archdeacon on June 22nd, 2010
zerocarbonbritain2030 provides political and economic solutions to the urgent challenges raised by the climate science, outlining how we can transform the UK into an efficient, clean, prosperous zero-carbon society. Covering energy, transport, land use, the built environment and industry, each chapter of the report has been written by bringing together the UK’s leading thinkers in their field including policy makers, scientists, academics, industry and NGOs.
zerocarbonbritain2030 is a fully integrated solution to climate change. It examines how we can meet our electricity and heating requirements through efficient service provision, while still decreasing carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and other emissions.
The report starts by examining the current “Context” in the Climate Science and Energy Security chapters. It then moves on to how we can “PowerDown” heat and electricity demand largely through new technology, efficient design and behaviour change. The “Land Use & Agriculture” section considers the tremendous potential of the land not only to decrease emissions but also to sequester residual emissions. We then move on to how we can “PowerUp” through the use of renewable technology. Finally we examine the policy that can help bring this about and the job creation that will come with it, in the “Framework, policy and economics” section.
A full copy of the new report is available as a free pdf , or buy a printed copy from the Centre for Alternative Technology.
—
100% renewables by 2050: Low-carbon Europe
Posted in Research by Kate Archdeacon on June 4th, 2010
Source: Environmental Research Web
© RoadMap 2050 EU Energy Network
Europe could switch to low carbon sources of electricity, with up to 100% coming from renewables by 2050, without risking energy reliability or pushing up energy bills, according to a major new study, Roadmap 2050: a practical guide to a prosperous, low-carbon Europe, developed by the European Climate Foundation (ECF) with contributions from McKinsey, KEMA, Imperial College London and Oxford Economics. It says that a transition to a low- or zero-carbon power supply based on high levels of renewable energy would have no impact on reliability, and would have little overall impact on the cost of generating electricity.
Matt Phillips, a senior associate with the ECF, said: “When the Roadmap 2050 project began it was assumed that high-renewable energy scenarios would be too unstable to provide sufficient reliability, that high-renewable scenarios would be uneconomic and more costly, and that technology breakthroughs would be required to move Europe to a zero-carbon power sector. Roadmap 2050 has found all of these assertions to be untrue.” (As quoted by BusinessGreen.com).
ECF claimed that the widely held assumption that renewable energy is always more costly than fossil fuels is increasingly outdated, arguing that while the initial capital investment needed for low carbon energy infrastructure is more than for conventional high carbon system, the long term operating costs for low carbon energy will be lower. As a result of this, the reduction in use of increasingly expensive fuels and the gradual adoption of more efficient energy generation and using systems, it says that, although initially the GDP might be depressed very slightly, from 2020 it would rise and in the 2030 to 2050 period, the cost of energy per unit of GDP output could be about 20 to 30% lower.
Read the full article on Environmental Research Web.
—
Shared Cogeneration Project: Queensland
Posted in Models by Kate Archdeacon on May 26th, 2010
Source: Green Building Council Australia (GBCA)
From “Co-gen in Queensland: green tick from gas supplier a positive sign for precincts” by Lynne Blundell
There could be light at the end of the tunnel for cogeneration projects seeking co-operation from energy agencies. In a victory for precinct-style power generation, a proposed shared cogeneration project between The University of Queensland and the Royal Brisbane Hospital has received support from gas suppliers. It was very much an industry-driven victory. After an initial knock-back by gas suppliers to support the project, sustainability consultants from Cundall, armed themselves with extensive technical data to back their case. But it took some political nous as well – this time they bypassed the technical people and went straight to the top.
Cundall’s Brisbane head, Rob Lord, told The Fifth Estate the decision by the gas authority to fund the necessary infrastructure to supply gas to the shared power plant was a sign of a shift in attitudes. “It is a kind of awakening for these authorities. They are bureaucracies and are very focused on risk. What we want is for them to be not only conscious of the risk but also the opportunities of cogeneration and shared energy schemes,” says Lord. “When the gas company was first approached they said it couldn’t be done. But when we got back to the upper echelons of the company with all the mechanical, hydraulic and sustainability information they were very positive about the opportunities and they told their technical people they wanted it to happen.”
With cogeneration, and trigeneration, buildings can generate their own power from gas-fired generators, reduce their reliance on the electricity grid and use waste heat to help cool and heat a building. But resistance from energy agencies to these plants putting energy back into the grid or to providing the necessary infrastructure for projects has been a major disincentive for developers and building owners considering the technology.
Urban Form & Behavior Energy Modeling
Posted in Research by Kate Archdeacon on May 3rd, 2010
Source: PostCarbon Institute
Shanghai superblocks via afrechillo
“The result was perhaps the closest-yet attempt at modeling and thus being able to forecast the complete energy needs of a segment of urban population. This allows an integrated assessment of required energy supply and expected impacts far beyond a single structure, energy type or industry.”
—
From Urban Form, Behavior Energy Modeling in China: Sim City for Real? by Warren Karlenzig
One of the great challenges in urban planning and green building has been material life cycle energy use–how steel, concrete and wood products are produced and transported. Add to that the decisions people make once construction is finished, and you can rightly conclude that development standards have only scratched the veneer of total energy and sustainability impacts. In addition to material climate and resource burdens, there are myriad consequences on life-cycle energy use that arise from commuting and transit choices, food and product consumption, and building heating or cooling.
Scientists at the US Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) have devised a tool that may soon provide governments and urban planners ways with which to model complete material, building and residents’ anticipated energy use. After a proof of concept was applied to a Jinan, China, housing development, LBNL has integrated building life-cycle assessment (LCA) and urban form agent-based modeling tools to capture embodied, operational and behavioral aspects of urban form energy use and emissions.
With hundreds of new cities being planned or built in China, Indonesia and India, new tools such as LBNL’s will be critical in managing and reducing the energy, climate and environmental impacts of this unprecedented urban growth era. Adding 1.1 billion people to new or growing Asian cities will produce more than half of the world’s increase in global climate change-causing greenhouse gases by 2027, according to the Asian Development Bank.
Green Power Systems: Community Renewal
Posted in Models by Kate Archdeacon on April 26th, 2010
Source: The Ecologist
From Communities using hydro power to fund green renewal by Paul Miles.
A pioneering community-based hydroelectric energy project in the Brecon Beacons (Wales) is a blueprint for how green energy can provide more than just low-carbon power…
Howell and Llinos Williams are Welsh farmers who have kept sheep on the hills at Abercraf, in the Brecon Beacons National Park, for over 40 years. For at least three generations, Howell’s family has been farming. ‘Back then, they also did some mining – for coal,’ says Howell. Today, the Williams extract another kind of energy source from the land – hydroelectric power. ‘The best thing is that, unlike coal mining, there’s not much work to do,’ says Howell. The Williams family is now earning more from selling energy than from their 200 sheep.
The Brecon Beacons National Park, covering over 500 square miles and home to some 32,000 people who live surrounded by flat-topped hills and green valleys, is an ideal landscape for hydroelectricity: abundant rainfall rushes in steep streams to the valley floors. ‘High head’ micro hydro schemes have been providing power for half a dozen or so enterprising hill farms for nearly a decade. ‘The farmers are growing electricity,’ says Gareth Ellis, biodiversity officer in the Brecon Beacons National Park.
As part of a new project initiated by Ellis and his colleague, Grenville Ham, the Williams’ farm’s carbon footprint is being monitored. The results show that the green electricity generated by the water turbine means that the farm is ‘carbon negative’ four times over.
Of course, harnessing the power of water is nothing new. The valleys are full of the remains of old water mills, all of which became redundant once the area was connected to the national grid. It was the potential to return to those days of green power for everyone in the park that led Ellis and Ham to help set up a Community Interest Company (a legal structure for social enterprises developed by the government in 2005) called The Green Valleys with the twin aims of reducing carbon emissions and improving the environment.
The Green Valleys is helping communities to develop community-owned micro hydro schemes by bringing together landowners and local residents and providing access to expertise, grants and loans. Sixty-three schemes are in the pipeline. ‘In three years’ time we’re aiming for 20 per cent of the region’s electricity to be from hydro and within 15 years we want all of Brecon Beacons to be carbon negative,’ says Ham.
Read the full article by Paul Miles.
—