By HDK / Published on Fri, 2011-08-19 15:28Already today wind power offers low and long-term stable costs of energy and therefore is able to compete with large scale conventional power generation. Using wind power directly for energy intensive industrial processes requires an optimized hybrid configuration as well as a balanced load and/or energy management.
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Tue, 2009-11-10 06:30Do them by yourself, on the back of an envelope
Numbers have something that mere words seem to lack. Let’s call it an aura of absolute truth, of incontestability.
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Tue, 2009-11-03 06:30How to do more with off-the-shelf energy efficient technology
The August edition of Science Magazine dedicated an eight page long focus article on how to leap the efficiency gap. This gap consists of the imbalance between the wide range of energy efficient technology that is readily available on the market and the rather small share this technology represents in the daily practice of industry, buildings, and transport.
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Tue, 2009-10-27 06:30California stimulating middle-scale renewable energy projects
California regulators have designed a new market system for stimulating middle-scale renewable energy projects in a competitive way. The main idea is to create a reverse auction market where renewable energy companies can offer their services for green energy projects. The company that offers to sell electricity at the lowest rate wins a particular purchase agreement. Subsequently, the state will pay the developers the feed-in tariff that is sufficient to bring that particular project online.
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Tue, 2009-10-13 05:30No effective, affordable, low risk solutions available
If we are able to influence the earth’s CO2 density and climate in a negative way, it seems logical to assume that we are also able to influence it in a positive way. That is the basic idea behind geo-engineering solutions to climate change. Those solutions generally include such ideas as afforestation, CO2 air capture, ocean fertilisation, cloud albedo (using sea water spray to whiten clouds and increase cloud reflectivity), surface albedo (using specifically coloured roofing and paving materials), creating stratospheric sulphur aerosols, and space solar reflectors.
Is CCS geo-engineering?
A recent article on the subject in the Financial Times also includes CO2 capture at the stack ('Carbon Capture and Storage', CCS) among other geo-engineering solutions. This is noteworthy primarily since this solution is generally seen as more realistic. CCS already receives significant amounts of R&D funding, in contrast with the other geo-engineering solutions.
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Tue, 2009-10-06 05:30Focus on PV, CCS, nuclear, hydrogen, biomass, and energy storage
In August, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced the delivery of $377 million in funding for 46 new Energy Frontier Research Centres. The centres will be hosted by universities, national laboratories, non-profit organisations, and private companies. The research domains that were chosen offer a good sampling of those technologies the US Department of Energy (DOE) sees as potentially important in the energy landscape of the future. The funded projects are focussed on:
- Improving the efficiency of photovoltaic systems; with particular projects dedicated to hybrid inorganic/organic PV cells and nanometre-sized PV cells
- Advanced nuclear techniques
- Carbon capture and geological storage (CCS)
- Hydrogen, including the production of hydrogen as well as hydrogen fuel cells
- Biomass, including energy-rich plants and the conversion of biomass into chemicals and fuels
- Energy storage systems
- Superconductivity (1 project)
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Tue, 2009-09-29 05:30Car makers collaborate with utility companies
A successful transition to electric vehicle (EV) transport will require more than electric cars that perform well on the road. It will also require charging systems that fulfil the consumer’s needs.
The development of such systems can only be accomplished through collaboration between car makers and utility companies. The latter have to ensure that the appropriate charging technology is in place and that the national electric grid can support the increased demand.
Since drivers will need to be able to charge their vehicle wherever they are, smart charging meters will have to be installed in large numbers. Moreover, car makers and utility companies will have to agree on an industry standard to ensure that those meters communicate with the EVs.
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Tue, 2009-09-22 05:30Thinking out of the box
Surfing the Internet, one frequently comes upon articles on new inventions for harvesting energy and solving the energy problem. Last week, we reported on the concept of 'solar highways'. That idea is certainly not the craziest one to come along...
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Tue, 2009-09-15 05:30Integrating road networks and power networks
The US Department of Transportation has awarded funding for building a 'solar highway' prototype. A solar highway contains photovoltaic (PV) modules covered with bulletproof glass as a road surface. The surface also contains a grid of LEDs that can light the roadway, draw lines, and flash warnings that react to traffic sensors. Apart from supplying power for the LEDs and sensors, the energy generated by the PV modules will also be used to heat the highway when required. The remaining energy can be used for houses and businesses alongside the road. If this systems works as projected, it could well make power stations and power lines superfluous. According to an article on Matter Network, covering all American roads with this system would produce an annual yield of energy three times as large as the entire U.S. energy consumption in 2006.
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Mon, 2009-09-07 05:30David Dornfeld argues for a holistic strategy in manufacturing businesses
According to the most widely accepted definition of sustainability, a sustainable business has objectives on three different fronts: the environment, the economy, and social capital. These are often seen as conflicting goals, an idea that results in a search for compromises and tradeoffs. David Dornfeld, Department Head of the Laboratory for Manufacturing and Sustainability at the University of California (Berkeley), opposes this point of view. He states that 'a business must be analyzed holistically, that is, let’s not fiddle with just little parts'. In such a holistic approach, the economy, the environment, and social capital become integrated. Much of the foundation for Dornfeld’s ideas can be found in the Total Quality concepts of W. Edwards Deming.
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Tue, 2009-09-01 05:30Massive investments in wind and solar energy projects
China is well on track to surpass the US as the world’s largest market for wind turbines. While the European Union is struggling to reach its renewable energy targets, China is surpassing its own targets with ease. At the beginning of 2008, the target of the Chinese government was to have 5,000 MW of wind power installed by the end of 2010. Only a few months after proclaiming this figure, it was doubled to 10,000 MW. As of today, it looks like China is going to have 30,000 MW of wind power installed by the end of next year.
A favourable regulatory climate
The Chinese government has mandated that electricity companies must generate 8% of their power from renewable resources by 2020. Combine this figure with the enormous, steep, and ever expanding energy consumption in the country, and you realise that only a development of renewable energy at an up-to-now unseen scale will accomplish such a goal.
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Tue, 2009-08-25 05:30NGOs and TSOs join forces
Historically, environmentally conscious NGOs and Transmission System Operators (TSOs) were for the most part diametrically opposed on the subject of high-voltage transmission lines. This makes it all the more remarkable that now two NGOs, including WWF, have joined an initiative that advocates an enforcement of the European transmission grid. Such enforcement is considered necessary to enable the integration of renewable energy systems.
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