Clean Energy Transition

CSEM, the Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology, has signed a contract with the government of the Emirate of Ras Al-Khaimah (RAK) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), to develop a prototype of a “Solar Island”. The aim of the project is to validate a concept for the large-scale transformation of solar energy into hydrogen and electricity at very low cost. It is funded by 5 mio US$ by the Gouvernment of Ras al Khaimah. The plan is to build large “Solar Islands” floating in the sea. These giant floating islands will be fitted with solar panels which will convert solar energy into electricity and/or hydrogen. A prototype of such a solar island, equipped with thermal solar panels, is to be built and tested in the desert of the United Arab Emirates.

The “25 by 25″ resolution is the result of a big lobbying campaign by a coalition consisting of more than 600 agricultural, energy, and environmental groups, business and labour interests and NGOs.

The implementation of new high-speed transport technologies re-shapes the demand balance between transport modes and rebound effects may occur. In this paper first a definition of environmental rebound effects of high-speed transport is presented and various cases are discussed. Second, a method is developed to determine and quantify the environmental rebound effects employing life cycle assessment. The method is illustrated in a case study by investigating the greenhouse gas emissions of a frequently discussed future underground maglev train system for Switzerland.

23% of China’s CO2 emissions in 2004 were due to demand from the West for manufacturing products made in the new economic giant. This 23% is as much as the combined emissions from Germany and Australia and more than twice the national emissions of the UK.

EnerDel’s Li ion solution for the Electric Vehicle drive train is designed to have higher energy density than HEV cells and to enable vehicles to last up to a goal of 100 miles (160 kilometers) without recharging.

After safety, the longevity of the batteries in a plug-in hybrid is the greatest unknown. Can a plug-in hybrid’s battery pack retain the bulk of its energy capacity over 10 years of daily use and more than 4000 full-discharge cycles? (For a deeper look at the challenges facing plug-in hybrid batteries, see “Lithium Batteries Take to the Road”.)[ LINK: http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/sep07/5490 ] As Don Hillebrand of Argonne National Laboratory, in Illinois, said tartly, “Batteries are the showstopper.” Periodic demands from the grid, even for only a small fraction of the battery’s stored energy, would clearly affect the cells’ life span—but no one has data on how much. Another open issue is the development of creative financing models for replacement battery packs costing several thousand U.S. dollars even after mass production is achieved. Third-party battery leasing could be one answer, if combined with a secondary market for batteries whose performance has fallen below automotive levels. Carmakers, electric utilities, and large consumer-financing groups are quietly batting around these notions to see if they can build a financial model that makes sense for all three parties.

he European Commission today launched infringement procedures against Belgium, Estonia, France, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Sweden for failure to notify their national Energy Efficiency Action Plan by 30 June 2007, as required by the 2006 Energy End-Use Efficiency and Energy Services Directive[1]. The Action Plans should present national strategies on how to achieve a 9% energy savings target by the end of 2016 as well as how Member States comply with a number of other provisions of the Directive.

The rule specifically applies to liquid-immersed transformers and medium-voltage, dry-type transformers. Utility transformers are already extremely efficient at delivering energy with minimal losses, but because they handle large amounts of electricity, small gains in efficiency can yield large energy savings. According to the published rule, the new rule could raise the cost of liquid-immersed transformers by up to 12%, but should decrease electrical losses by as much as 23%. It could also raise the cost of medium-voltage, dry-type transformers by up to 13%, but should decrease electrical losses by as much as 26%.

On this site you'll find links to more than 350 lesson plans and activities on energy efficiency and renewable energy for grades K-12. Each includes a short summary that identifies curriculum integration, time, materials, and national standards. For more education resources, please see the EERE Energy Education Web site.

The 20th-anniversary race will cover 3,010 kilometers—about 1,870 miles—as it heads south through the outback, ending in Adelaide, South Australia, on October 28th (although the first cars should start arriving on October 25th). The event features two classes of solar racers: the "Adventure Class" that features veteran solar cars and the "Challenge Class" that features new cars with more practical features, including upright seating and solar panels that don't exceed 6 square meters in total area.

The use of electricity is growing fast, and it’s growing faster than the consumption of primary energy. Paradoxically, this may be an opportunity rather than a problem, since electricity’s high efficiency at the point of use in combination with increasing options for low-carbon generation can be one of the main roads towards a sustainable energy system.

As a case study of a successful approach, let’s take a look at what Spain has been able to accomplish. Spain has tackled its development of renewable energy sources aggressively. With 11,615 megawatts (MW) of installed wind capacity at the end of last year, Spain is second in the world to Germany in capacity (and about on par with the United States). The 23,372,000 MWh generated in 2006 provided just over 8.5% of Spain’s electricity: only Denmark boasts a higher percentage.

Now they have developed the ideas in a new book, "Break Through:From the Death of Environmentalism to the Politics of the Possible," which subordinates regulation and carbon-trading to massive government investment on a scale of Apollo, the Manhattan Project, not to mention Iraq.

MIT Energy Club has put together this fact sheet on US electricity production and consumption that is quite handy. I share it here for the Energy buffs….

Concernant les cuisinières électriques, je pense qu’il serait judicieux de conseiller les modèles à induction électromagnétique, plus économes (rendement compris entre 80 % et 90 %) et plus rapides que les modèles à rayonnement par résistance chauffante ou par combustion de gaz.

Locals are uninterested in having the 340 turbine project in their back yard, but the UK needs to focus on these massive renewable projects in order to meet it's Kyoto targets. Without them, it simply won't happen.

HySeries Drive plug-in hybrid. Electricity only for 25 miles (with a 336-volt lithium-ion battery pack). Serial hybrid, with the fuel cell (or think biofuel system) recharging the battery pack, not directly driving the wheels.

Space-based solar power would use kilometre-sized solar panel arrays to gather sunlight in orbit. It would then beam power down to Earth in the form of microwaves or a laser, which would be collected in antennas on the ground and then converted to electricity. Unlike solar panels based on the ground, solar power satellites placed in geostationary orbit above the Earth could operate at night and during cloudy conditions.

After ten years of research and development, Statkraft believes the time is now right to build the first osmotic power plant prototype and is therefore stepping up its initiatives and investments to develop the technology. With this decision Statkraft will have invested more than NOK 100 million to develop a new, renewable energy technology. The research work is supported by The Research Council of Norway.  The global technical potential for osmotic power production is estimated at around 1600 TWh, including around 200 TWh in Europe and 12 TWh in Norway, or 10 percent of Norway’s current power production. The innovation has already attracted attention in the international energy community.