tagged w/ Alternate Energy
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For every kilometer traveled by bike instead of by car, Copenhagen saves 7.8 cents in avoided air pollution, accidents, congestion, noise and wear and tear on infrastructure.
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Whenever I mention to Americans that I have worked in Copenhagen, I’m invariably asked (after an alarmingly large number confuse the Danes with the Dutch) about the bikes. For good reason.
Yes, the Danes love their bikes, as I came to love mine – even when peddling to work on dark, frigid, wet January mornings. Statistics only hint at the scale of the phenomenon (in 2010, 35% of all trips to work or school in Copenhagen were made by bike; for Copenhagen residents, the figure is 50%).
More persuasive than the data is experiencing yourself the exhilaration (and brief panic) that comes with merging into the peloton hurtling south along Nørrebrogade, Copenhagen’s busiest bike corridor, toward the city center during the morning commute.
I like to think of the ubiquitous bikes, however beneficial, as a symbol of much else that is right in Copenhagen on the sustainability front. A new report from *Green Growth Leaders, a Copenhagen-based global alliance of cities, regions, countries and corporations, collects data and case studies on the overlooked, but in no way marginal, benefits of Copenhagen’s environmental protection efforts.
Copenhagen – Beyond Green (PDF) illustrates the economic and social benefits that come with busy bike lanes, a swimmable harbor, and smart, integrated transit. Here’s the crux of the authors’ argument, from the foreword:
“Investing in cycling lanes not only cuts CO2 emissions and improves citizens’ health and quality of life, but improves the bottom line of the city. Cleaning the water in the harbor not only improves the environment, but increases real estate values, local business life and tourism. Investing in an integrated public transport system not only reduces traffic congestion, but saves billions of dollars and keeps the city efficient and competitive. Homegrown energy not only produces electricity, but allows local businesses to become strong and competitive.
The environmental benefits of convincing commuters to choose bikes over cars – avoided carbon emissions and localized air pollutants such as soot – are obvious. The City of Copenhagen took the analysis one step further by comparing the money saved in the shift from cars to bikes.
Researchers found that for every kilometer traveled by bike instead of by car taxpayers saved 7.8 cents (DKK 0.45) in avoided air pollution, accidents, congestion, noise and wear and tear on infrastructure. Cyclists in Copenhagen cover an estimated 1.2 million kilometers each day – saving the city a little over $34 million each year.
With so many residents commuting by bike, Copenhagen reaps additional benefits. The report authors cite one study which found that cycling for a half-hour daily increases mean life expectancy by 1-2 years. Not only can motorists who switch to a bicycle expect to live longer, they’ll be saving themselves (and other taxpayers) money.
The City of Copenhagen found:
“The health benefits of cycling also include fewer sick days, fewer medical expenses and treatments. Tallied up, the total health benefit of Copenhageners cycling is 5.5 DKK per kilometer – making the benefit per year a total of DKK 2 billon or $380 million.
Let’s take the analysis beyond the familiar bikes. Fifteen years ago, nearly 100 overflow channels carried wastewater into Copenhagen harbor after heavy rains. The water posed a serious health risk, and made the harbor not fit for swimming. The City of Copenhagen invested in infrastructure – rainwater reservoirs and conduits – that store wastewater until the sewage system is able to process the overflow. Seven years later, in 2002, the city had opened a public swimming facility in the harbor and closed 55 overflow channels.
In 1995, the water in Copenhagen harbor posed a serious health risk. Just seven years later, the city opened a public swimming facility in the harbor. Credit: Justin Gerdes
The Copenhagen harbor front today is some of the most sought after real estate in the city. The number of cafes, bars, and restaurants in the harbor area has increased 300% since the public bath opened.
Residents are increasingly choosing to buy homes near the harbor:
“From 2002 to 2011 the prices of apartments close to the harbor increased by 57 percent while apartments in the same area of town but further from the harbor only increased by 12 percent. In addition, the study shows that the price per square meter next to the harbor is 42 percent higher than real estate in the same part of town but not next to the harbor.
For those who can’t bike to work (or who might want to avoid peddling through the worst of the winter slush and chill), Copenhagen is served by an integrated transportation network: a driverless, punctual Metro (with one of the best airport connections in the world), regional trains, and buses.
More at the linkFor every kilometer traveled by bike instead of by car, Copenhagen saves 7.8 cents in... more
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http://www.euronews.net/2011/02/23/a-photovoltaic-oasis/
In the harsh, isolated, semi-desert region north of Cairo in Egypt, 150 acres has been planted with beans, peas and orange trees. But there is a problem: an endless need for water.
Farmer Tantawi Mostafa explains: “Each plant needs a certain amount of water, depending on the season. Peas, for instance, need a lot of water, I have to irrigate them at least five hours a day. Oranges and grapes need less water during the winter season. But in any case, I never need less than 4,000 cubic metres of water per day.”
They used to rely on old diesel pumps to bring the water to the surface. But local scientists have come up with different solutions to answer a whole range of problems.
Fuad Ahmed Abulfotuh, an electrical engineer at the Egyptian Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation, said: “In Egypt these diesel pumps are widespread. And we want this to change. These diesel machines have many inherent problems; they are very noisy, and very polluting. They release lots of toxic gases into the atmosphere. Also, they are quite expensive to use and maintain. You need to buy diesel, pass technical controls, change the motor oil, and buy spare parts. All this comes at a huge cost to farmers.”
So how can water be pumped to the surface in a green, cheap way in these isolated regions? Researchers from NACIR, (New Applications for Photovoltaic Concentrators) are looking at the sun for answers.
Gabriel Sala, the coordinator of the NACIR project took euronews to an experimental station where she explained: “We are testing the use of renewable energies to pump water and to provide irrigation in semi-desert regions.”
The experimental station is well off the beaten track. And these are not ordinary photovoltaic panels. They use a brand new generation of photovoltaic cells built in Germany as part of an EU research project.
conthttp://www.euronews.net/2011/02/23/a-photovoltaic-oasis/
In the harsh, isolated,... more
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The natural beauty and unique species of the Grand Canyon are "in the crosshairs" because of renewed interest in the region's uranium reserves. That is the warning from critics of the mines, ahead of the release of a government report on Friday on the potential impact of fresh mining.
Mining has been banned within the Grand Canyon national park since President Roosevelt declared it a national monument in 1908. But since 2003, foreign companies have submitted 2,215 claims to prospect on the edge of the canyon.
Ken Salazar, the secretary of the interior, temporarily withdrew 1m acres of land from exploration in 2009 to allow time for an environmental assessment. Salazar must decide by July whether to ban "mineral entry" for two-thirds of the claims for the next 20 years.
Uranium deposits mineralise in 2,000-feet deep "breccia" pipes, a geological feature common to the world-famous golden brown sedimentary rock in the canyon. When left alone, the uranium is not harmful. But once dissolved in water, it can leach into springs and aquifers that then feed into the Colorado river, which ultimately supplies 18 million people in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The water can remain contaminated for decades after a mine shuts.
Taylor McKinnon, campaigns director of public lands at the Centre for Biological Diversity, said the expansion of mining would threaten the park's delicate ecosystem that ranges from desert scrub in the parched canyon to the Californian condors that wheel above the craggy outcrops.
He said: "The Grand Canyon is an international treasure and known for its breathtaking expanses. Its isolated seeps, springs and caves harbour a remarkable diversity of life, including species found nowhere else on earth. Uranium mining puts those species in the crosshairs."
Mining companies have been drawn to the Grand Canyon area since the 1940s, because of large quantities of high-grade uranium that fuelled the nuclear weapons and nuclear power industries in the US.
But fast-paced nuclear power programmes in countries such as China and Korea are fuelling a new rush for "hard rock", and have sent uranium prices soaring from $7.10 a pound in 2001, to $63.88 a pound in 2011.
Vane Minerals, a UK-based company, has submitted approximately 700 claims. Kristopher Hefton, the company's director and chief operating officer, said: "The deposits are among the highest-grade deposits that you can find in the United States, so they are a good target for exploration and mining."
cont.The natural beauty and unique species of the Grand Canyon are "in the... more
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Our canoe emerged from that unsettled land, past the confluence with the Clearwater River, and into the stunning industry of the oil sands. We coasted past high banks of bermed-up sand. Yellow machines the size of houses roared down the roads, tore into the ground, stripped up the layers of earth to get at the seams of bitumen, or tar. Our mouths fell open - the scale of it, the sounds, and the effluent pouring back into the river that we had come to know. Even without understanding the challenges of refining that sludge, the transportation required and the environmental damage being done, we knew that we were gliding past a monster.
A quarter century has passed since that summer. The oil sands strip-mining effort has continued unabated, and steadily expanded. It has gone on non-stop, day after day, year after year, decade on decade: Knocking down forest, peeling up peat, dredging bitumen-soaked sand, denuding habitat, dumping countless gallons of tainted river water.
The Chipewyan settlement of Fort Chipewyan, downstream, worries about elevated instances of kidney failure, Graves disease, and the risk of cancer from river water tainted with arsenic, mercury, other metals and sediments laced with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons - toxics commonly found in tailings pond water. Chipewyans are told not to eat fish caught in the river, but fish and game provide their traditional diet.
Polluted river water sullies the Athabasca delta, one of the world's most important wetlands and migratory bird habitats. Year by year the mining expands its footprint, a scar visible from outer space. Combined, the oil sand fields of northern Alberta cover an area of 54,000 square miles, an expanse larger than England.
Northern Alberta is far enough off the radar that it might as well be another planet. Very few people live there. It's easy to forget about that carnage, even if, like me, you've been there.
Two years ago, watching the movie Avatar it all came back.
This is an old, tired story, I thought, watching the industrial colonization of a foreign planet, the clear-cutting of ancient forest and the apocalyptic demise of the beings who lived there. But in that dark theater, I felt the canoe paddle in my hands again, felt the river beneath the hull, witnessed the assault taking place just over the Athabasca's bank. I know where this Hollywood plot is unfolding right now, I thought.
And right now I'm reminded again because trucks are hauling behemoth loads across Montana, where I live, delivering equipment on a scale even science fiction screenwriters didn't anticipate.
Mega-trucks are pulling loads nearly 600,000 pounds, three stories high and 220 feet long across Idaho and Montana. This equipment is manufactured in Asia, shipped to the west coast, transported on barges up the Columbia watershed to the port of Lewistown, Idaho, and then transferred onto trucks that wind their way through some of the West's most picturesque river canyons and mountain passes.
These are the test runs. Imperial Oil, the Canadian arm of ExxonMobil, has plans to truck 200 similarly gargantuan loads along the same route to the oil sands of the North.
The trucks will hammer the pavement, stop traffic, add nothing to local economies. Scenic lands which support recreation and tourism are at risk. Citizen groups are waging campaigns. The Missoula County Commission and several districts of the U.S. Forest Service have lodged complaints.
But we are a small state, and the pressures from industry are immense.
The oil sands produce roughly 1.5 million barrels of oil per day. Alberta's biggest customer is the United States. Long-range, the plan is to build a pipeline from Alberta through Montana and Wyoming to Denver, and perhaps on to the Gulf Coast.
The problems are tremendous. The oil doesn't flow, to start with. It has to be separated, steam-injected, and mixed with liquids before it will even move through the pipe. Once south, it has to be further refined before it can be rendered usable.
To turn one barrel of oil sands bitumen into something you can pump into your gas tank requires removing two or three tons of earth, using three barrels of water, and burning 1,200 cubic feet of natural gas in a convoluted series of expensive processes to separate the oil, liquefy it, and refine it. All of this produces two to four times the amount of greenhouse gases as refining conventional petroleum. Talk about burning the candle at both ends. The mines pull 359 million cubic meters of water from the Athabasca River each year. While land reclamation is part of the discussion, not one reclamation certificate has been awarded to date, and the challenges of returning the landscape to anything remotely approximating its original state are appalling.
It took days to regain our mental rhythm, to let "river time" reassert itself. Life, and the river, bore us on. But now, it comes stabbing back.Meanwhile, Alberta's regulators just approved the ninth open-pit mine north of Fort McMurray. An industry-led monitoring body concluded that the pit would produce "no significant adverse environmental effects on water quality."
cont.Our canoe emerged from that unsettled land, past the confluence with the Clearwater... more
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New analysis pegs 2006 as highpoint of conventional crude production.
The International Energy Agency forecasts that Iraq will triple production from its oil fields, like the al-Fakkah, shown here, but global crude production will stagnate. IEA says the world is becoming increasingly reliant on expensive unconventional sources, like the tar sands of Alberta, Canada, below.
For National Geographic News
This story is part of a special series that explores energy issues. For more, visit The Great Energy Challenge.
The year 2006 may be remembered for civil strife in Iraq, the nuclear weapon testing threat by North Korea, and the genocide in Darfur, but now it appears that another world event was occurring at the same time—without headlines, but with far-reaching consequence for all nations.
That’s the year that the world’s conventional oil production likely reached its peak, the International Energy Agency (IEA) in Vienna, Austria, said Tuesday.
According to the 25-year forecast in the IEA's latest annual World Energy Outlook, the most likely scenario is for crude oil production to stay on a plateau at about 68 to 69 million barrels per day.
In this scenario, crude oil production "never regains its all-time peak of 70 million barrels per day reached in 2006," said IEA’s World Energy Outlook 2010.
In previous years, the IEA had predicted that crude oil production would continue to rise for at least another couple of decades.
Now, because of rising oil prices, declines in investment by the oil industry, and new commitments by some nations to cutting greenhouse gas emissions, the new forecast says oil production is likely to be lower than the IEA had expected.
End of Cheap Oil
The projected flat crude oil production doesn’t translate into an immediate shortage of fuels for the world’s cars and trucks. IEA actually projects that the total production of what it calls “petroleum fuels” is most likely to continue steadily rising, reaching about 99 million barrels per day by 2035.
This growth in liquid fuels would come entirely from unconventional sources, including "natural gas liquids," which are created as a by-product of tapping natural gas reservoirs.
(Quiz: “What You Don’t Know About Natural Gas”)
The consequences for the world’s energy consumers of this increased reliance on natural gas liquids and other unconventional fuels are stark.
"The age of cheap oil is over," said Fatih Birol, IEA chief economist.
"If the consuming nations do not make major efforts to slow down the oil demand growth, we will see higher oil prices," Birol said, "which we think is not good news for the economies of the consuming nations."
(Related: “The End of Cheap Oil”)
IEA was set up by most of the world's industrialized countries after the 1970s world oil crises to analyze the world’s energy situation and advise them on policy.
The closely watched most-likely scenario, which the IEA calls the "New Policies Scenario," assumes that countries stick to the commitments they have made in the past couple of years to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
(Related: “Warming Solution: Just Stop Cold?”
But even under IEA’s so-called “business-as-usual” scenario, without the projected efforts to cut fossil fuel pollution, oil production would be significantly lower in 20 years' time than the IEA had forecast even just a few years ago.
Oil production might rise marginally under the "business-as-usual" scenario, the report said, but supplies would be short enough to send oil prices soaring to double today’s level.
Fighting Decline
A major reason for the rising prices and flatlining production is that for "the currently producing fields of crude oil, the production will decline," Birol said.
Today's active oil fields produce about 70 million barrels per day, but by 2035, he said, "they will produce less than 20 million barrels per day of oil."
cont.New analysis pegs 2006 as highpoint of conventional crude production.
The... more
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Germany could derive all of its electricity from renewable energy sources by 2050 and become the world's first major industrial nation to kick the fossil-fuel habit, the country's Federal Environment Agency said today.
The country already gets 16% of its electricity from wind, solar and other renewable sources – three times' higher than the level it had achieved 15 years ago.
"A complete conversion to renewable energy by 2050 is possible from a technical and ecological point of view," said Jochen Flasbarth, president of the Federal Environment Agency.
"It's a very realistic target based on technology that already exists – it's not a pie-in-the-sky prediction," he said.
Thanks to its Renewable Energy Act, Germany is the world leader in photovoltaics: it expects to add more than 5,000 megawatts of photovoltaic capacity this year to reach a total of 14,000 megawatts. It is also the second-biggest wind-power producer after the United States. Some 300,000 renewable energy jobs have been created in Germany in the last decade.
The government has set goals for cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 40% between 1990 and 2020, and by 80-85% by 2050. That goal could be achieved if Germany switches completely to renewable sources by 2050, Flasbarth said.
About 40% of Germany's greenhouse gases come from electricity production, in particular, from coal-fired power plants.
Flasbarth said the Environment Agency's study found that switching to green electricity by 2050 would have economic advantages, especially for the vital export-oriented manufacturing industry. It would also create tens of thousands of jobs.
"The costs of a complete switch to renewables are a lot less than the costs to future generations that climate change will cause," he said.
Last month a report by the UK's Centre for Alternative Technology in Machynlleth, mid Wales, said Britain could eliminate all its carbon emissions by 2030 by overhauling its power supply.Germany could derive all of its electricity from renewable energy sources by 2050 and... more
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Note: This commentary has been endorsed by renowned climate scientist Dr. James Hansen, who adds the following comment:
“Governments will not put young people and nature above special financial interests without great public pressure. Such pressure is not possible as long as big environmental organizations provide cover. So the best hope is this — individuals must demand that the leaders change course or they will lose support.”
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“Our friends have become the planet’s worst enemies"- Dr. James Hanson
With climate scientists warning that we are in a global emergency and tipping points leading to runaway catastrophe will be crossed unless carbon pollution is rapidly reduced, one would expect groups identified as environmental defenders to be shifting into high gear. Instead, we are witnessing the unspeakably tragic spectacle of a mainstream environmental movement allowing itself to be seduced and co-opted by the very forces it should be vehemently opposing. At the very moment when moral leadership and courage are needed the most, what we see is a colossal failure of both – with potentially irreversible consequences for our civilization.
If Congress chooses an inadequate response to the crisis, policies can get “locked in” which virtually guarantee that these tipping points are crossed. These organizations are using their significant financial resources to create a public impression that the “environmental community” has given its “stamp of approval” to this policy and to marginalize the voices of the genuine grassroots activists who represent the heart and soul of the climate movement. With nothing less than the future of the planet at stake, these groups must now be publicly challenged and held accountable for their actions.
The stage has been set for this necessary debate by publication of Johann Hari’s excellent commentary entitled “The Wrong Kind of Green” ( link: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20100322/hari/single ). In this piece, Hari provides important insight into some of the relevant history. He describes how in the 1980s and 1990s some of the larger environmental groups began to adopt a policy often called “corporate engagement”. The basic idea was that by participating in “partnerships” with corporations – some involving receipt of monetary contributions – there would be opportunity to exert positive influence.
It is not possible to look into the minds of those who promoted this shift. Perhaps there was a sincere hope that corporations would be moved toward more responsible behavior. Whatever the case, the critically important task at this time is not to evaluate possible motives but rather the real life consequences. To do so honestly, all self-interested blinders must be set aside.
The truth is that this policy has created a “slippery slope” leading to severely compromised stances – nowhere more apparent than in regard to the over-arching issue of climate. In 2007, a coalition was formed between corporations and environmental organizations called the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, or USCAP – whose purpose was to influence U.S. climate legislation. Some of the large groups that joined were Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), the Nature Conservancy, and National Wildlife Foundation. In January 2009, USCAP presented its proposals and these became the framework of the Waxman-Markey bill.
The physical context is that previously projected worst case scenarios are already being surpassed and humanity is running out of time. Ice is melting far more rapidly than expected, releasing the “albedo effect” where open water absorbs more heat and accelerates further melting. The normally quite cautious National Science Foundation is ringing alarm bells about the methane – a greenhouse gas over 30 times as powerful as CO2 – now venting from the Siberian seabeds (NSF press release: http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=116532&org=NSF&from=news ) . According to the NSF statement: “Release of even a fraction of the methane stored in the shelf could trigger abrupt climate warming.” These are only two examples of “reinforcing feedbacks” that can significantly move the process closer to tipping points.
Within a context so dire that in reality a war-time level of mobilization is needed, what kind of legislation is being offered? First of all, the emission reduction targets themselves - apart from the theoretical strategies for achieving them – categorically ignore the science. The goals do not even aim at stabilization at 350 ppm (let alone the lower figures more likely to be necessary) and the time frame for enacting meaningful reductions is not even remotely close to the speed needed to prevent disaster.
Beyond the issue of targets is that of reduction strategies. USCAP would like to see a trillion dollar carbon market put into place, where traders can claim “pollution rights” to the sky and seek profits from the exchange of such “rights”. Such a system – which would determine whether life-supporting ecosystems survive or collapse – would be placed into the same manipulative hands on Wall Street that brought on the financial meltdown. As this commentary goes to press, several traders in the European carbon market (the world’s prototype) have been arrested in connection with a massive fraud estimated at $6.75 billion. ( http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE62T44K20100330 ) While some of us lay in the street in nonviolent civil disobedience to block this immoral atrocity (including one of the authors, 5 minute video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHJOOiyZR_s ), NRDC and EDF are sending their own people to promote it at carbon trade conferences.
continuedNote: This commentary has been endorsed by renowned climate scientist Dr. James... more
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Predicting the end of oil has proven tricky and often controversial, but Kuwaiti scientists now say that global oil production will peak in 2014.
Their work represents an updated version of the famous Hubbert model, which correctly predicted in 1956 that U.S. oil reserves would peak within 20 years. Many researchers have since tried using the model to predict when worldwide oil production might peak.
Sponsored LinksA 9mm is a Futile DefenseDiscover What Survivalist Masters & The Army Don't Want You To Know www.CloseCombatTraining.comBlood Pressure DiscoveryHugh Downs Reports: Artery clearing secret from Nobel Prize Winner www.bottomlinesecrets.comHow to make Electricity$49 kit has energy co's execs calling for a ban on its sale. www.Power-4-Homes.com Some have said production already peaked. One earlier model by Swedish researchers suggested that oil would peak sometime between 2008 and 2018. And other researchers have argued there are decades to go before oil production goes into irreversible decline. The only thing they all agree on: Oil is a finite and very valuable resource.
The issue's profile was raised today with a new report projecting increased demand. After peaking above $130 a barrel in mid-2008, crude oil prices dipped to below $40 in early 2009 as global demand tanked amid the recession. Prices have been rising ever since and are above $80 now. Today, the International Energy Agency said it expects demand to resume the sort of growth that was common in recent years. Much of that growth has involved the modernizing economies of China and India.
Updated model
The scientists from Kuwait University and the Kuwait Oil Company adopted a newer approach by including many Hubbert production cycles, or bell-shaped curves showing the rise and fall of a non-recyclable resource. Earlier models typically assumed just one production cycle, despite the fact that most oil-producing nations have historically experienced more of a rollercoaster ride in production.
Such production cycles reflect the influence of new technological innovations in the oil industry, government regulations, economic conditions and political events. The factors include the discovery of new oil deposits, the recent economic recession and the rise of renewable energy.
Take Mexico as just one example. The nation that has long represented a top oil exporter has experienced plummeting oil production, and might even begin importing oil within the decade, the New York Times reports. Its troubles have arisen from a lack of technology to explore more inaccessible oil deposits, and a conundrum stemming from a 1938 law that banned foreign oil companies.
Caltech physicist David Goodstein has argued for a practical approach that focuses on preparing for the end of oil, regardless of when it happens. He noted that the latest prediction seems to represent a serious, thoughtful estimate.
"Of course there are large uncertainties in estimates of this kind, but this one is as good as any I've seen," Goodstein told LiveScience.Predicting the end of oil has proven tricky and often controversial, but Kuwaiti... more
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The United States could source 10 percent of its electricity from solar power by 2030, a report said Tuesday, winning support from a US lawmaker who wants to boost the number of US solar panels.
The report, produced by the independent environmental group Environment America, was presented to Congress with backing from Senator Bernie Sanders who in February introduced legislation to install 10 million solar panels across the United States within a decade.
Sanders praised the report, which said the United States could get 10 percent of its electricity from solar power by 2030, up from just 0.1 percent in 2008, according to the Energy Information Administration.
Sanders's bill, which has gained the support of several other Democratic senators, proposes "rebates for the purchase and installation of an additional 10,000,000 solar roofs... by 2019."
"At a time when we spend 350 billion dollars importing oil from Saudi Arabia and other countries every year, the United States must move away from foreign oil to energy independence," Sanders told a press conference Tuesday.
The legislation introduced by Sanders, who heads a sub-committee on green jobs, would offer a rebate of 1.75 dollars per watt of installed capacity in 2010, an offer that would fall to 0.25 dollars per watt by 2019.
http://current.com/groups/solar-energyThe United States could source 10 percent of its electricity from solar power by 2030,... more
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Coed Hills is situated in the picturesque Vale of Glamorgan, just 8 miles west of Cardiff, Wales. At the heart of Coed Hills lies a core community of around 20 people that embrace the new and old in order to lead a more sustainable existence, both ecologically and socially.
The site is run on alternative energy, there is permaculuture garden, and residents and volunteers live a variety of structures such as Mongolian Yurts, tipis and straw bailed buildings.
The place is an inspiration for the budding and more experienced eco-conscious, and a chance to engage with the community engage and share in their knowledge and enthusiasm for sustainable living.
http://www.coedhills.co.uk/
01446 774084
info@coedhills.co.uk
This short film is part of "The Journey" an unique documentary project that delves into environmental, socio-culture and economic issues, with a questioning mind.
The focus of the project is to find and film inspiring ideas and projects over a wide spectrum of individuals and cultures, whilst examining our ability to reform our ideals, and our lifestyle in order to make positive changes for our planet and the human race.
The “Journeymen” (a person whom travels in order to gain experience, skills and knowledge) go in search of these stories - equipped only with minimal filming gear and personal possessions, they document their experience as they travel to global communities to observe, question and learn.
It is an organic process that grows, evolves and takes it’s own direction. With no planned route nor destination, the journeymen believe they will connect with the right people and places at the right time to film, aid and guide them on.
The project is currently filming and traveling through the UK. As the project travels short films are uploaded that can be viewed on this website. It is the long-term goal that this project will travel internationally to create a feature length film that will be released, to be viewed for free.
The projects aims to benefit individuals, projects and communities by sharing knowledge, offering solutions and connecting people through film.
It is the hope this project will touch and inspire people, by conveying the beauty within human nature and our world and resonating what is actually possible, when it comes it comes to our ability to change the world for the better.
know of an inspiring story? want to get involved?
info@the-journey.tv
follow “the journey” on facebook
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Journey/81206620786
www.the-journey.tvCoed Hills is situated in the picturesque Vale of Glamorgan, just 8 miles west of... more
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Iowa has become the second-largest producer of wind power in the U.S., and some credit an aggressive and supportive role played by local government.
That support is seen in numerous ways: Wind-energy producers and equipment makers enjoy state tax breaks, and projects of 25 megawatts or smaller don't need to be certified by the utilities board. In addition, producers know ahead of time that they will be able to recover their costs from customers, which makes them more likely to invest. Iowa counties, meanwhile, appreciate the revenue and the jobs that wind farms produce, and have few zoning regulations for wind turbines.
"Iowa shows that concentrated and consistent leadership from governors and consistent support from the state regulatory commission can get a lot done," says Hans Detweiler, director of state policy at the American Wind Energy Association, or AWEA, a trade group based in Washington, D.C.
Indeed, as more states and the federal government seek to encourage more production of renewable energy, Iowa may point the way.
"There's very little regulation," says Terry Monson, who deals with permitting and legal work at independent power developer Renewable Power Markets Access Inc., based in Juno Beach, Fla. "It's very expeditious." Mr. Monson's company has eight wind projects established or under development in Iowa.
Flat Is Good
Nature and geography have lent a hand, too, of course.
Iowa may point the way as more states seek to encourage production of renewable energy
."First, it's relatively flat, making it easy to build," says Scott Jacobson, managing director of wind power finance at Iberdrola Renewables SA, a Spanish engineering and renewable energy company that entered the state in 2003 and now has more than 300 megawatts of local wind projects. Iowa is also "relatively rural, making land control easy," Mr. Jacobson says.
What's more, winds there are strong, and the state lies in an enviable position on the grid—close to load centers like Chicago and Milwaukee.
Last year, Iowa added 1,600 megawatts of wind capacity, jumping ahead of California for second place behind Texas. At the end of the second quarter of 2009, Iowa had 3,043 megawatts of total wind capacity, compared with 8,361 megawatts in Texas and 2,787 megawatts in California, according to the wind-energy association. Iowa's wind now powers about 15% of the state's electricity consumption, which represents a lofty goal for many other states.
The so-called Corn State began promoting renewable-energy sources as early as 1978, when, in response to the oil shock, it passed a property-tax exemption for wind, solar and other types of generators whose electricity was used on site. Then, in 1983, the state adopted the first renewable-energy mandate in the U.S., requiring that its investor-owned utilities draw power from 105 megawatts of renewable generation by 1990.
That's not much by today's standards, but it got the ball rolling. During the 1990s, Iowa added a few megawatts of wind installations a year, until 1999, when the total jumped to 232 megawatts installed, thanks largely to new federal tax credits and the arrival of powerful new European turbines. Iowa met its renewable-power mandate goal in 1997.Iowa has become the second-largest producer of wind power in the U.S., and some credit... more
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Greg Bove steps into his pickup truck and drives down a sandy path to where the future of Florida's renewable energy plans begin: Acres of open land filled with solar panels that will soon power thousands of homes and business.
For nearly a year, construction workers and engineers in this sleepy Florida town of citrus trees and cattle farms have been building the nation's largest solar panel energy plant. Testing will soon be complete, and the facility will begin directly converting sunlight into energy, giving Florida a momentary spot in the solar energy limelight.
The Desoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center will power a small fraction of Florida Power & Light's 4-million plus customer base; nevertheless, at 25 megawatts, it will generate nearly twice as much energy as the second-largest photovoltaic facility in the U.S.
The White House said President Barack Obama is scheduled to visit the facility Tuesday, when it officially goes online and begins producing power for the electric grid.
As demand grows and more states create mandates requiring a certain percentage of their energy come from renewable sources, the size of the plants is increasing. The southwest Florida facility will soon be eclipsed by larger projects announced in Nevada and California.
"We took a chance at it and it worked out," said Bove, construction manager at the project, set on about 180 acres of land 80 miles southeast of Tampa. "There's a lot of backyard projects, there's a lot of rooftop projects, post offices and stores. Really this is one of the first times where we've taken a technology and upsized it."
Despite its nickname, the Sunshine State hasn't been at the forefront of solar power. Less than 4 percent of Florida's energy has come from renewable sources in recent years. And unlike California and many other states, Florida lawmakers haven't agreed to setting clean energy quotas for electric companies to reach in the years ahead.
California, New Jersey and Colorado have led the country in installing photovoltaic systems; now Florida is set to jump closer to the top with the nation's largest plant yet.
The Desoto facility and two other solar projects Florida Power & Light is spearheading will generate 110 megawatts of power, cutting greenhouse gas emissions by more than 3.5 million tons. Combined, that's the equivalent of taking 25,000 cars off the road each year, according to figures cited by the company.
The investment isn't cheap: The Desoto project cost $150 million to build and the power it supplies to some 3,000 homes and businesses will represent just a sliver of the 4 million-plus accounts served by the state's largest electric utility.
But there are some economic benefits: It created 400 jobs for draftsmen, carpenters and others whose work dried up as the southwest Florida housing boom came to a closure and the recession set in. Once running, it will require few full-time employees.
Mike Taylor, director of research and education at the nonprofit Solar Electric Power Association in Washington, said the project puts Florida "on the map."
"It's currently the largest," Taylor said of the Desoto photovoltaic plant. "But it certainly won't be the last."Greg Bove steps into his pickup truck and drives down a sandy path to where the future... more
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Within the Consolider HOPE project (projects funded by the Ministry of Innovation and Science), a group of scientists at Universidad Pablo de Olavide (UPO), headed by Juan Antonio Anta, are working on the optimisation of a type of photovoltaic cell (Grätzel cell) that artificially mimics photosynthesis.
Grätzel cells are photovoltaic devices that take advantage of the interaction of a structured semiconductor less than nanometre in size and an organic dye that acts as a solar collector.
According to Elena Guillén, member of UPO's Coloides y Celdas Solares Nanoestructuradas (Nanostructured Colloids and Solar Cells) Group, this dye can be either synthetic or natural and can even enable the use of chlorophyll for this type of cell.
Thus, researchers at UPO have begun a study with which they hope to increase the efficiency of these eosin or mercurochrome -based organic components by incorporating ionic salts, known as green solvents, with a view to preventing evaporation of the liquid compounds and the consequent reduction in efficiency.
Previous studies show that ionic salts are less volatile and it is this characteristic that the group headed by Professor Anta seeks to exploit. "Notwithstanding its liquid state, these types of solvents have high viscosity levels and, therefore, during the coming months we will continue our study, working on different alternatives within ionic liquids, their synthesis, etc.," comments Elena Guillén.
The pros and cons of the new generation
Although there are already some third generation cells on the market (for example, for recharging mobile phones), according to the researchers their practical use is anecdotal. However, due to their properties of flexibility and variety of colours and shapes, the future of these cells lies in new market niches such as decoration or use in coloured windows that not only allow light through but use this light to generate electricity.
On the other hand, apart from the rapid amortisation of energy production costs -estimated in one year's use-, there is also the low cost of the materials. "Organic materials are usually cheaper," affirms the researcher, despite which the search continues for an alternative organic dye to the one currently used, derived from ruthenium.Within the Consolider HOPE project (projects funded by the Ministry of Innovation and... more
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FAR out to sea, the wind blows faster than it does near the coast. A turbine placed there would thus generate more power than its inshore or onshore cousins. But attempts to build power plants in such places have foundered because the water is generally too deep to attach a traditional turbine’s tower to the seabed.
One way round this would be to put the turbine on a floating platform, tethered with cables to the seabed. And that is what StatoilHydro, a Norwegian energy company, and Siemens, a German engineering firm, have done. The first of their floating offshore turbines has just started a two-year test period generating about 1 megawatt of electricity—enough to supply 1,600 households.
The Hywind is the first large turbine to be deployed in water more than 30 metres deep. The depth at the prototype’s location, 10 kilometres (six miles) south-west of Karmoy, is 220 metres. But the turbine is designed to operate in water up to 700 metres deep, meaning it could be put anywhere in the North Sea. Three cables running to the seabed prevent it from floating away.
It is an impressive sight. Its three blades have a total span of 82 metres and, together with the tower that supports them, weigh 234 tonnes. That makes the Hywind about the same size as a large traditional offshore turbine.
Even though it is tethered, and sits on a conical steel buoy, the motion of the sea causes the tower to sway slowly from side to side. This swaying places stress on the structure, and that has to be compensated for by a computer system that tweaks the pitch of the rotor blades to keep them facing in the right direction as the tower rocks and rolls to the rhythm of the waves. That both improves power production and minimises the strain on the blades and the tower. The software which controls this process is able to measure the success of previous changes to the rotor angle and use that information to fine-tune future attempts to dampen wave-induced movement.
If all works well, the potential is huge. Henrik Stiesdal of Siemens’s windpower business unit reckons the whole of Europe could be powered using offshore wind, but that competition for space near the coast will make this difficult to achieve if only inshore sites are available. Siting turbines within view of coastlines causes conflicts with shipping, the armed forces, fishermen and conservationists. But floating turbines moored far out to sea could avoid such problems. That, plus the higher wind speeds which mean that a deep-water turbine could generate much more power than a shallow-water one, make the sort of technology that the Hywind is pioneering an attractive idea.FAR out to sea, the wind blows faster than it does near the coast. A turbine placed... more
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SYDNEY scientists have scored gold, helping create the world's most efficient technology for turning sunlight into electricity.
Just as swimmers and runners struggle to shave 10ths of a second off their times, solar cell scientists battle for years to add fractions of a per cent to the efficiency of their creations.
US researchers developed experimental technology that could turn 42.7 per cent of the sunlight received into power - a world record.
By comparison, commercial cells often used in solar modules on Australian roofs convert only about 15 per cent.
The US technology was made of five separate cells, each tuned to draw energy from different parts of the light spectrum. One, for example, was designed to collect energy from the ultraviolet light band, while another, at the other end of the spectrum, was tuned to the far infrared.
By replacing one of the US cells with a new design developed by the Photovoltaic Centre for Excellence at the University of NSW, the technology's efficiency has now been nudged to a record 43 per cent.
The Sydney cell converts 46 per cent of red and near infrared light received into electricity, ''dragging up'' the overall efficiency of the American technology just 0.3 percentage points.
While progress may seem agonisingly slow, ''years of effort went into developing the cell'', the university's photovoltaic centre research director, Martin Green, said.
Although highly experimental, and far too expensive for commercial solar panels, the cell will inevitably inspire other researchers to race to develop even better technology.
snip
Professor Green estimated that by combining hundreds of advanced experimental cells, each tuned to different parts of the spectrum, an efficiency rating of up to 86 per cent was theoretically possible. But, he warned, ''it's not as easy as it sounds''.SYDNEY scientists have scored gold, helping create the world's most efficient... more
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It is disappointing that for all of the innovative work going on in the field of solar energy that we still do not have a more aggressive saturation of the solar market en masse in the United States.
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On a 104-degree Friday in July when sunlight bathed The University of Arizona campus, doctoral student Dio Placencia sat before a noisy vacuum chamber in the Chemical Sciences Building trying to advance the renewable energy revolution.
As a member of UA professor Neal R. Armstrong's research group, Placencia conducts research aimed at creating a thin, flexible organic solar cell that could power a tent or keep a car charged between trips to work and back home again.
He's passionate about renewable energy and says it's a waste that so little solar has been incorporated into society. "I have a little flat panel that I walk around with," Placencia said. "I usually put that on my backpack, and I charge my cell phone when I'm walking to school."
The sun is clean and free. "Here it is," he said. "Why not use it?"
Across the University, professors, researchers, students and others involved in policy planning and economic analysis are working to make that question moot. In a region noted for abundant sunlight, they are chipping away at problems like how to employ solar at the utility-generating plant level, how to harness it to charge the newly indispensable products of the day - cell phones, MP3 players, laptops - what to do at night and when clouds halt the energy giveaway from the sky.
The research proceeds in labs amid state-of-the-art equipment funded by multimillion-dollar federal grants. It's the product of students' hunches and long careers spent unlocking the mysteries of science. Along the way, students are being immersed in a nascent industry that many hope will be the economic engine of the next decade.
"Looking at renewable energy is a perfect place to emphasize that we don't know where the next breakthrough is going to be," said Leslie P. Tolbert, UA vice president for research, graduate studies and economic development.
"Somewhere in a lab someplace, there's somebody figuring out a whole new way to capture sunlight. In fact, there are many people doing that. And even they are depending on knowing that there is, behind them, a cadre of basic science researchers producing new information that will feed their thoughts."
Armstrong, a professor of chemistry and optical sciences at the UA, occasionally teaches freshman chemistry. He decided one day near the end of the semester to try to make the material even more relevant. "I said to myself, well, lithium ion batteries in my cell phone, in my iPod," - his daughter had given him one - "I wonder how much coal we burn to charge those guys up at the end of the day.
"Because that's one of the big drivers for portable power, to get all this stuff off the grid." After making some very conservative calculations, he arrived at an answer, which he shared with the class: "You burn about a quarter of a pound of coal per charge of your lithium ion battery, and you generate about half a pound of CO2 per charge, per battery, per day .... The room got really quiet."
The next time, he intends to calculate how much coal is burned per Twitter tweet.
"It really is chilling," Armstrong said. "You start doing the math and thinking about the number of consumer electronic devices that you and I have added to our lives in the last decade that I charge up typically once every night - my laptop computer and my cell phone. Then you start thinking about, 'What if I do buy an electric car, and I come home at night and plug that sucker in,' and you do the same thing. We'll shut this grid down in no time."
end of excerptIt is disappointing that for all of the innovative work going on in the field of solar... more
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On one of the fields where students learn about agriculture, the University of Maryland Eastern Shore will soon be planting a new kind of crop with a constantly renewable yield - 20 acres' worth of photovoltaic panels, the largest solar farm in the state.
The 2.1-megawatt system, to be built by Beltsville-based SunEdison, will generate electricity for the 4,100-student campus in Princess Anne when it's finished, which is expected by the end of the year.
"We hope it will be a model for other universities as well as the surrounding businesses in the area," said Suzanne Street, the university's spokeswoman.
The solar farm, about the size of 22 football fields, should help stabilize electricity costs for the historically black university, its officials say. And in the process, they say, getting electricity from the sun should displace more than 100 million pounds of climate-warming carbon dioxide over the next 20 years that a coal-burning power plant would otherwise emit to keep the lights on on campus.
The project, announced this week, indicates renewed interest in the fledgling solar power industry, which had seen new installations slowed since last fall by the slumping economy, industry officials say.
"It's a good sign that they're starting to come back," said Peter Lowenthal, a renewable energy consultant in Washington and regional director for the Solar Energy Industry Association.
Energy incentives in states like Maryland, in addition to increasingly generous federal ones, are turning the Mid-Atlantic region into a hot spot for new solar projects, said Monique Hanis, spokeswoman for the Solar Energy Industries Association.
"We expect it to vie with California for becoming one of the better regions for solar in the next five years," she said, noting that New Jersey has the second-largest amount of solar power generation installed.
Maryland has a long way to go to challenge other states for solar supremacy. Nellis Air Force Base near Las Vegas boasts the largest photovoltaic system in the nation for now, a 14-megawatt array spread across 140 arid Nevada acres. A batch of much larger ones are in the works.
But by itself, the university project will nearly double the state's solar generating capacity of about 3 megawatts, says Christina Twomey, spokeswoman for the Maryland Energy Administration. The next largest is a roughly 1 megawatt photovoltaic system installed by Constellation Energy last year on the roof of McCormick & Co.'s mill and distribution center in Hunt Valley.
"For one system, that's a pretty significant accomplishment and a good step forward," said Joseph Verrengia, spokesman for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Boulder, Colo. Although the Sunbelt is seeing some huge solar farms proposed, Verrengia said that systems can convert sunlight to electricity efficiently even in more northerly places like Maryland.
"Maryland is really coming on strong," said Matthew Dickey, SunEdison's sales manager, who noted that his company has installed solar arrays on four Montgomery County schools and has a contract to do four more.
end of excerptOn one of the fields where students learn about agriculture, the University of... more
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And people think we will pay with cap and trade or a carbon tax? Why then aren't the same people crying about the huge amounts of money taxpayers are left holding the bag for by these loans given to energy/coal companies they don't pay back? THEY DESERVE TO BE TAXED.And people think we will pay with cap and trade or a carbon tax? Why then aren't... more
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SRS Energy has completed one of the first residential installations of the Sole Power Tile system at a residence in Bermuda Dunes, CA. The Sole Power Tile is the first building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) roofing product designed for curved roofing systems.
"This installation illustrates how homeowners can go green and make smart, sustainable choices without compromising curb appeal," said Marty Low, CEO of SRS Energy. "The revolutionary design of the Sole Power Tile system will enable this home to generate clean solar energy for decades to come."
The Sole Power Tile system seamlessly blends with several styles of US Tile's clay tiles, providing energy and preserving the home's roofline, unlike unsightly roof-mounted solar panels. The combination of clay and solar tiles delivers the Spanish-style aesthetics of traditional curved clay tile roofs commonly found in the Pacific West and Southwest.
The Sole Power Tile system employs cutting-edge thin film solar technology, valued for its ability to convert a greater range of light - including the light at dawn and dusk - into solar energy when compared to other solar technologies.
The curved design of the tile allows for greater air circulation under and around the tiles, helping to prevent degradation in performance caused by the region's desert heat.
SRS Energy installed approximately 300 square feet of Sole Power Tile on the residence's roof. The tiles are expected to generate approximately 2,400 kilowatt hours of electricity per year. The Bermuda Dunes home is one of several demonstration installations SRS Energy and US Tile are undertaking this summer to support the product's launch. The homeowners will be able to install a larger solar upgrade beginning this fall when commercial shipments commence.
The Sole Power Tile system was installed in three hours by Roof Tile Specialty, a Sole-Certified US Tile contractor based in the Palm Springs area. Sunshine Solar Energy of Costa Mesa, CEC-approved solar contractors, installed the system's off-roof components to the utility grid.SRS Energy has completed one of the first residential installations of the Sole Power... more
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Good to see it is being led by the US and China... however, what will it mean if both these countries continue to spew oil and coal emissions out at about the same pace as now? We need to wean off coal and oil and become much more aggressive into bringing affordable accessible solar into people's homes, businesses, etc. Investing is great, but it needs to go beyond that now.Good to see it is being led by the US and China... however, what will it mean if both... more
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