Group items tagged

"The IEA estimates that of all efforts required to deliver a 50% reduction in global emissions by 2050 24% will need to come from end use fuel efficiency, 12% has to come from end use electricity efficiency and a further 7% will need to come from power generation efficiency. There is substantial potential for improving thermal efficiency of Europe's power plants. Our coal plants operate at an average 38% (BAT - Best Available Technology - on new coal plants delivers 46%). Our gas plants operate at an average of 52% efficiency (BAT- Best Available Technology - on new gas plants delivers more than 60%). Due to the age of the installed base, the average efficiency of Chinese coal plants is now higher than in Europe."

Long ago, the industry determined that the combination of copper tubing and aluminum fins provided the most efficient transfer of thermal heat in condenser coils. Manufacturers of residential units are not necessarily on that same page - or that line of thinking - today. Most manufacturers, if not all, are revising, have revised, or continue to revise their outdoor coil construction. One of the main objectives, of course, is to increase heat transfer efficiency, as energy efficiency is high on every homeowner's wish list. In the end, each manufacturer believes it has engineered and/or perfected - at least up to now - the most-efficient coil design. Some, like Goodman Manufacturing, have made changes as a direct result of the efficiency offered from R-410A refrigerant.

"Donald Sadoway: The missing link to renewable energy Tweet this talk! (we'll add the headline and the URL) Post to: Share on Twitter Email This Favorite Download inShare Share on StumbleUpon Share on Reddit Share on Facebook TED Conversations Got an idea, question, or debate inspired by this talk? Start a TED Conversation, or join one of these: Green Home Energy=Hydrogen Generators-alternative sources Started by Kathleen Gilligan-Smith 1 Comment What is the real missing link in renewable energy? Started by Enrico Petrucco 8 Comments Comment on this Talk 60 total comments Sign in to add comments or Join (It's free and fast!) Sort By: smily raichel 0 Reply Less than 5 minutes ago: Nice smily raichel 0 Reply Less than 5 minutes ago: Good David Mackey 0 Reply 3 hours ago: Superb invention, but I would suggest one more standard mantra that they should move on from and that is the idea of power being supplied by a centralised grid. This technology seems to me to be much more beneficial on a local scale, what if every home had its own battery, then home power generation becomes economically more viable for everyone. If you could show that a system like this could pay for itself in say 5 years then every home would want one. Plus for this to be implemented on a large scale requires massive investment that could be decades away. Share the technology and lets get it in homes by next year. Great ted talk. Jon Senior 0 Reply 1 hour ago: I agree 100%. Localised energy production would also make energy consumers more conscious of their consumption and encourage efforts to reduce it. We can invent and invent all we want, but the fast solution to allowing renewable energies to take centre stage is to reduce the base energy draw. With lower baseline consumption, smaller "always on" generators are required to keep the grid operational. Town and house-l

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has launched the EnergySmart Hospitals initiative, with the aim of increasing the use of energy efficient technologies in hospitals across the United States. \n\nThe EnergySmart Hospital initiative will provide hospitals with design strategies, advanced energy design guides, technology assessments, case studies, training sessions, and an interactive Website to help hospitals increase their energy efficiency. The initiative intends to improve energy efficiency in existing hospitals by 20 percent and to help develop new hospitals that are 30 percent more efficient than current building standards. It will also support hospitals in meeting the challenge of lowering costs while delivering quality patient care and maintaining healthy healing and work environments. \n

The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy issued a report yesterday touting the role that semiconductor-based technologies have played in making the U.S. economy more efficient. At the same time, the International Energy Agency issued its own report calling on governments around the world to be more aggressive with efficiency standards for ICT and consumer electronics, which are expected to demand twice as much power by 2022 and three times as much by 2030 - creating a need for another 280 gigawatts of power generation (i.e. like adding another Japan to the world, or more than 230 nuclear reactors). "This will jeopardize efforts to increase energy security and reduce the emission of greenhouse gases," according to an IEA news brief.

Superconductor cables, only recently available for utility applications, uniquely solve these issues. A single distribution voltage superconductor cable can carry amounts of power normally associated with transmission voltage levels, therefore eliminating the need for multiple cables and greatly simplifying placement issues. Superconductor cables also have a unique dual-personality; under normal conditions they conduct power very efficiently, but during faults they actually limit the amount of current that can flow through them. This eliminates the risk of substation equipment damage from excessively high fault currents when paralleling substations. The installation of superconductor cable-powered bus ties between distribution substations serve as an efficient means to utilize more effectively and fully the existing power delivery infrastructure while simultaneously increasing reliability.

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have set a world record in solar cell efficiency with a photovoltaic device that converts 40.8% of the light that hits it into electricity. This is the highest confirmed efficiency of any photovoltaic device to date. The inverted metamorphic triple-junction solar cell was designed, fabricated and independently measured at NREL. The 40.8% efficiency was measured under concentrated light of 326 suns. One sun is about the amount of light that typically hits Earth on a sunny day. The new cell is a candidate for the space satellite market and for terrestrial concentrated photovoltaic arrays, which use lenses or mirrors to focus sunlight onto solar cells.

measures to encourage the greater use of energy efficient mortgages (EEMs). Such mortgages allow people to purchase or refinance their principal residence and incorporate the cost of energy efficiency improvements into the mortgage.

Of course, consumers can currently invest in energy efficient technology (or anything) using mortgage funds. However, the EEM is an important concept. This is because it may offer funds above a usual individual mortgage limit. Therefore, this additional money can provide guaranteed funds to grow demand/the efficiency market.

The road to grid parity for PV power generation will be difficult, needing five or more years to compete with utility power, unsubsidized, on a large scale, noted Mark Thirsk, managing partner at Linx Consulting, at a recent SEMI PV forecast luncheon (Sept. 18) in Santa Clara, CA Most input materials for PV production are in relative oversupply and will not constrain production, Thirsk pointed out - and for this reason manufacturers are conservative about capacity investment. In particular, his PV module production forecast (see Fig. 1, above) shows an overstep in demand in 2008. One reason for suppliers' reluctance to build capacity for entering the silicon supply chain is that it is an inefficient process. "Only about 15% of all the silicon going into the supply chain goes into the wafers, so it's a pretty wasteful and capital intensive process, so there is a lot of reluctance to build capacity," said Thirsk. Despite the efficiency challenges, Thirsk's forecast indicates that an oversupply may occur in 2009 Because >40% of PV grade silicon is lost at the wafering step, Thirsk believes this represents a significant opportunity for the right technology. Additionally, diamond wire is a potential replacement for slurry technology, but this technology is still immature. In the crystalline silicon (c-Si) value chain, Thirsk sees opportunities for optimizing mono-crystalline wafers with metal wrap technology and backside contacts; process optimization and material improvements would improve cell efficiency, and glass, wafer, backsheet, and grid improvements can enable more efficient light capture. Looking ahead, Thirsk told the audience that while thin-film technologies will enjoy strong growth "and may be more attractive to value-add materials and equipment suppliers, thin-film cell production will remain a minority share for the medium term." (see Fig. 3, below) He closed his presentation encouraging the creation of a Moore's Law type of roadmap for the PV

Energy-efficient machine tools help to reduce operating costs for users and increase productivity. Investments in new machinery and equipment must make financial sense for the future. At the same time, it must be possible to operate machines efficiently and adapt them flexibly to meet new product requirements. This is what users are looking for in new machines. A central component of efficient machine operation is end-to-end management of energy requirements and usage.

Top-level executives disagree with other senior executives on how much their companies are doing to address energy efficiency, according to a study by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). In the survey by EIU and Ingersoll-Rand, 49 percent of C-suite executives said their organizations do not do enough to integrate energy efficiency into business strategy, compared to 61 percent of executives below that level.

"For buyers of plant and machinery who appreciate that the cost of ownership is more significant than the purchase price, energy efficiency is a very important factor. Alistair Rae reports on the European Minimum Energy Performance Standard scheme for electric motors, and highlights some of the most efficient motors currently available."

Pennsylvania Gov. Edward Rendell has approved a bill that establishes a $500 million fund to support alternative energy projects. Special Session House Bill 1 authorizes the Commonwealth Financing Authority to borrow $500 million, most of which will be split into six funding sources relating to energy efficiency and renewable energy: $80 million in grants and loans for solar energy projects; $100 million in grants, loans, and rebates for up to 35 percent of the cost of solar energy projects at residences and small businesses; $165 million in grants and loans for alternative energy projects, excluding solar energy, at businesses and local government facilities; $25 million for wind and geothermal energy projects; $40 million to help start-up businesses involved in energy efficiency technologies; and $25 million in grants and loans to improve the energy efficiency of new and existing homes and small business buildings.