Group items tagged

Inhabitat is doing a "Energy 101" series to explain why smart grids are necessary - Energy 101: Where Does Our Power Come From ?. Today we're excited to announce the launch of our new Energy 101 series,. in which we'll be exploring the future-forward technologies that stand to upgrade our grids, reduce our energy footprint, and slow the speed of global warming. Unless you have been living in a cave for the past few years, you've probably heard terms like "energy conservation", "off-grid energy", and "smart grid" tossed around. But before getting into the nitty-gritty of transitioning to renewable energy, we should stop and examine where exactly our power comes from now. Unless you derive all your power from on-site renewable energy sources like solar panels or wind turbines, chances are that you're connected to the power grid, a vast network that delivers electricity from suppliers to consumers. Right now, most energy on the grid comes from generating plants. These plants still usually get power from traditional sources like coal, nuclear, and hydroelectric dams. But as concerns over carbon emissions, safety, and long term sustainability of these sources grow, electrical utilities have begun to switch over to renewable energy sources.

Power lines, such as those near Hoover Dam, cannot be built to reach remote areas for renewable energy development until the areas for energy production are agreed upon. Several entities have offered or are working on maps locating renewable energy resources. By Alexandra Berzon (contact) Tue, Jun 16, 2009 (2 a.m.) Click to enlarge photo Chris Morris Related Document (.pdf) * See the Western Renewable Energy Zones report Sun Archives * State thinks big on solar power (6-15-2009) * The power of the desert (4-5-2009) * State faces obstacles to cashing in on sun (3-9-2009) Sun Coverage * Archive of Sun energy stories Related Story * States, energy secretary agree to safe nuclear waste transport On one map they look like bubbles. On another they're more like hot dogs. These shaded circles and oblongs in Nevada and across the West could one day be clusters of solar power plants, wind farms or geothermal energy projects.

EDF Energy has secured planning approval from the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) to construct a £14bn nuclear power plant at Hinkley Point C in Somerset, UK.

"Nuclear Energy Annual Deals Analysis: M&A and Investments Trends - 2012" report is an essential source of data and trend analysis on the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and financings in the alternative energy market. The report provides detailed information on mergers and acquisitions (M&A), equity/debt offerings, private equity and venture capital (PE/VC) and partnership transactions recorded in the nuclear energy industry in 2012.

Renewable energy has appeared as a large sector in the global energy combination because huge investments has occurred on a worldwide scale. Renewable energy is the form of energy which is constantly replenished by the environment like solar, wind, tide, geothermal, nuclear, bio fuel etc., and it is present in abundance without the fear of it getting extinct.

According to a Stanford University researcher, 'wind, water and sun beat biofuels, nuclear and coal for clean energy.' The scientist 'has conducted the first quantitative, scientific evaluation of the proposed, major, energy-related solutions by assessing not only their potential for delivering energy for electricity and vehicles, but also their impacts on global warming, human health, energy security, water supply, space requirements, wildlife, water pollution, reliability and sustainability.' Wow! The researcher found that some sources of energy were 25 to 1,000 times more polluting than the best available options. Some of his conclusions make sense, some are controversial, but read more…

An environmentalist-sponsored report claims that by 2050, the United States could sever ties with coal and nuclear power, draw nearly all its electricity from renewable sources and cut its greenhouse gas emissions by more than 80% -- all with existing technology and with a net gain of 14 million jobs to the domestic economy. The report, commissioned by Greenpeace and the European Renewable Energy Council and conducted by Germany's equivalent of NASA, was released this morning at a press briefing in Washington. It is heavy on charts and supporting data and transparent on some key assumptions. And its sponsors call its findings "conservative." At its core, the report envisions a steep drop in the United States' energy use, both in absolute terms and compared with International Energy Agency predictions -- driven by strict efficiency standards. It also projects dramatic changes in the nation's electricity mix, with wind and solar power mushrooming to replace coal, oil and nuclear sources that would gradually go offline.

While the arguments rage on both sides, the experts say that time is running out For the workers at Oldbury-on-Severn nuclear power plant, the next new year celebrations could be rather poignant. Just as Britain is planning the rebirth of nuclear power generation, their ageing plant will be closing down, probably on December 31. Oldbury, in Gloucestershire, has been pouring power into the national grid since 1967 and is the latest in a series of closures that has seen Britain's nuclear generating capacity fall from nearly 40% of the nation's needs in the 1980s to just 15% now. Most of the slack has been taken up by new gas-fired stations.

BPA - Elliot Mainzer takes the key role in developing energy agency policy on climate change, planning and renewables As renewable energy becomes a bigger slice of the Northwest's energy pie, few institutions have as important a role to play as the Bonneville Power Administration, the federal agency that markets electricity generated at 31 dams and a nuclear plant in the region. BPA's regionwide web of transmission lines delivers electrons generated at wind farms east of the Cascades to power-hungry consumers in the Willamette Valley. The agency's flexibility to modulate electricity production at dams on the Columbia allows utilities to safely feed their spiky supply of wind energy onto the grid.

n 2008, more wind power was installed in the EU than any other European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) Logo today show that 43% of all new Electricity generating capacity built in the European Union last year was wind energy, exceeding all other technologies including gas, coal and nuclear power. A total of 19,651 MW of new power capacity was constructed in the EU last year. Out of this, 8,484 MW (43%) was wind power; 6,932 MW (35%) gas; 2,495 MW (13%) oil; 762 (4%) MW coal and 473 (2%) MW hydro power capacity. For the first time, wind energy is the leading technology in Europe. A total of 64,949 MW of installed wind energy capacity was operating in the EU

How about a power station in your basement? In a bid to create a decentralized electricity grid, German carmaker Volkswagen is launching thousands of mini power plants that could be installed in the basements of any residential home. Together with clean energy provider Lichtblick, Volkswagen plans to install up to 100,000 small power plants -- able to generate heat and electricity -- in people's homes to generate enough energy to offset two nuclear power plants. Taken together, all mini plants would have a capacity of 2 GW. The project could lure many Germans away from traditional utilities toward decentralized energy generation, which experts say will be the buzzword of tomorrow's energy mix.

The IHT has a report on a plan by Matt Simmons and George Hart to build the world's largest wind farm in the gulf of Maine - Plans for the world's biggest wind farm. It is not the usual green suspect. But it hopes to build a 5-gigawatt, deep-water wind farm - the largest in the world, equal to the output from five nuclear plants. "It" is the Ocean Energy Institute, a tiny research organization founded by Matthew Simmons. An energy investment banker who specializes in oil and gas, Simmons was an energy adviser to President George W. Bush. His main partner, George Hart, is a physicist who consults for the Pentagon on the Strategic Defense Initiative, where he uses supercomputers for the mathematical modeling of complex systems. He also co-invented a laser used for eye surgery and semiconductor manufacturing.

WASHINGTON (AP) - An Energy Department report concludes that wind turbines can produce a fifth of the nation's annual electricity needs within about two decades. That is about the same share of electricity produced today by nuclear power. Wind energy today accounts for only about 1 percent of the nation's electricity. The government report to be released Monday said by 2030 wind energy could account for 300,000 megawatts of power, or about 20 percent of the total electricity generated.

Last year the Swiss nuclear regulator requested that the Convention on Nuclear Safety mandate that the safety of existing nuclear power plants should be in line with standards for new nuclear power plants. In February the Convention declined. Was it right to do so?

The US could replace all its cars and trucks with electric cars powered by wind turbines taking up less than 3 square kilometres - in theory, at least. That's the conclusion of a detailed study ranking 11 types of non-fossil fuels according to their total ecological footprint and their benefit to human health. The study, carried out by Mark Jacobson of the atmosphere and energy programme at Stanford University, found wind power to be by far the most desirable source of energy. Biofuels from corn and plant waste came right at the bottom of the list, along with nuclear power and "clean" coal.

President Obama's proposed $9.9 billion Energy Department budget contains up to $28 million for a Pantex wind farm that would be designed to meet the nuclear weapons plant's energy needs. The Pantex Renewable Energy Project would be built on land in the vicinity of the plant and could generate surplus electrical power that could be sold to utilities, according to budget documents. Preliminary plans call for the wind farm to be built by 2012. The project's overall scope would depend on future funding, but plans call for enough wind turbines to generate up to 75 megawatts of electrical generating capacity. Initial funding would only support construction of a 10- to 15-megawatt system.

No one will be surprised that Greenpeace is against the construction of new nuclear power stations, but what some may find unusual is one of the solutions we are proposing to meet our energy needs and reduce our CO2 emissions - industrial CHP, or combined heat and power.

The 6,000MW Zaporizhye Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), located in Energodar in the south-eastern part of Ukraine, is the biggest nuclear power plant in Europe and the fifth biggest in the world. It is owned and operated by Ukraine's national nuclear energy generating company Energoatom and is one of the four operational NPPs in the country.

The mission of Energy Policy TV is to educate our audience of major stakeholders in energy and the environment. EPTV is unique. We are the only website that aggregates third-party video content from thought-leaders and decision-makers in all segments of energy and the environment-in Washington and across the country.

I must admit that I have been a bit nonplussed to see that the peak oil community seems to share the oil industry's dismissal of wind power as irrelevant and useless in the face of the currently energy challenge (maybe I am unfairly judging from a few individuals' comments, but it's definitely an existing undercurrent in the community). So, in reaction, let me put up here a few arguments that suggest that wind could play a major role in solving our current energy woes - not a silver bullet, but rather more than a side show. First, the "wind is too small to make a difference" argument: well, so was nuclear, until it got big enough. Wind is following the exact same growth trajectory [as shown below].