Our partner SERN, the Sustainable Energy Regulation Network, has interviewed Miguel Mendonça (World Future Council Research Manager) on feed-in tariffs. Xavier Lemaire, who already provided a webinar about off-grid regulation, carried out the interview.
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By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Wed, 2009-07-29 15:01
One quarter of the world's population (1.6 billion people) do not have access to electricity in their homes. Over 80% of these people live in rural areas of the developing world, especially in peripheral urban and isolated rural areas. In Sub Saharan Africa, only 8% of the rural population has access to electricity. The lack of electricity deprives people of basic necessities such as lighting and communication, but also hampers productivity and economic development in these areas. Activities are limited to daylight hours.
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By HDK / Published on Mon, 2009-07-27 11:25
[In partnership with VEI]
Various energy sources generate electrical energy in a form that cannot simply be injected into the electricity network, including photovoltaic panels, microturbines, batteries and fuel cells. These sources generate either DC voltage or AC voltage with variable frequency and/or an amplitude or voltage not compliant with the electricity network. To connect such sources to the electricity network nevertheless, a power electronic inverter or transformer must be used.
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Commercial, or in other words non-technical losses account for more than 1% of electricity use around the world. The dominant component of these losses is electricity theft. In the largest extent, electricity theft is a problem related to residential customers. In some countries, electricity theft is in the range of, or far exceeding, technical losses in the transmission and distribution sector.
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With "island grids" we refer to isolated electricity networks with a relatively small demand. This may be networks on actual islands but also distant isolated network on the continent. Most of the island grids make use of diesel units for their generation. Larger systems may also use combined cycle gas turbine units or oil fired steam turbine units.
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Recently, electricity consumers have shown increasing concern for power quality. Indeed, power quality standards have become higher than before for certain customers due to sensitivity of automation devices. In addition, power quality is affected by the deregulation of power markets in Turkey.
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The delivery of electricity to consumers is influenced by demand and supply factors. Using DSR influences the customer’s behavior by offering the customer the choice to buy electricity now, to refrain from buying, buy less/more, or to buy at some other time.
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Wed, 2009-05-13 05:30
Trade-off between environment and health
When discussing sustainable building services (HVAC, electricity, and water), the main factors that are usually considered are environmental impact, financial cost, comfort, and sometimes safety. Although carbon emission reduction is rightfully dominating the debate nowadays, we must not forget that health can be an important fifth factor when designing sustainable building services. This is made abundantly clear in the PhD thesis 'Healthy Building Services for the 21st Century' of Francesco Franchimon at the Technical University of Eindhoven.
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Fri, 2009-05-08 05:30
A YouTube video of the National Fire Protection Association
In the past on this blog, we have shown many pictures of unsafe electrical wiring in the slums of developing countries like Senegal or emerging economies like Brazil. This does not mean however that electrical safety ceased to be an issue in OECD countries. In the USA, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) recently launched a campaign to show the risk of an inappropriate electrical installation and to promote correct electrical wiring. The campaign includes a Home Wiring guide and a ten minute YouTube video. The video explains how electrical faults can lead to fatal fires and enumerates attention points to make a residential electrical installation safe:
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By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Tue, 2009-04-21 15:10
Grid parity - the point where the cost of generating electricity by solar systems equalises the average (wholesale) price of generating electricity by means of conventional methods - is the Holy Grail for the photovoltaics industry. For concentrating photovoltaics in the sunniest locations in the world, this point is not far off. The most optimistic estimates put it at 2011, whereas pessimists expect we'll have to wait as long as 2020. Therefore, a prediction market at Leonardo Visions to build a consensus view among Leonardo ENERGY users on this important issue.
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By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Sat, 2009-01-17 12:06
The Department of Energy's (DOE) Electricity Advisory Committee (EAC) has released three reports prepared for the Secretary of Energy's consideration. These reports review challenges facing DOE and the Nation in many important electricity areas, and include recommendations for policy and program initiatives. They address issues surrounding generation and transmission adequacy, energy efficiency and demand response, deployment of energy storage technologies, and deployment of smart grid technologies. The EAC was chartered by Secretary Samuel W.
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