Half the Energy Needs of Europe from the Oceans?
Saturday, October 30th, 2010
The Marine Board Vision Document, Marine Renewable Energy sees Europe sourcing 50% of its electricity needs from renewable ocean energy, through offshore wind, wave and tidal energy. Such a scenario will have and impact not only on the quality of environment through reducing carbon dioxide emissions and other result but also on energy security, economic and technological development and jobs creation in Europe.
The vision document was presented at the Eurocean 2010 Conference at Ostend during October. The conference sought to highlight the role of the seas and oceans in the earth and climate system and as an important source of wealth and job creation for Europe.
Issues such as sustainable seafood harvest, opportunities from marine biotechnology, blue energy, marine transport, human health, environmental and conservationist challenges such as climate change and marine biodiversity, and governance issues such as maritime spatial planning and importance of international cooperation make the oceans and marine research key focus areas.
Among other things, the conference highlighted the need for clear identification of economic and social benefits arising from marine research and communication of research outputs in a useful and usable format.
Marine Board Position Paper Marine Biotechnology: A New Vision and Strategy for Europe was also presented at the conference. Developments in genomics have created new research possibilities and priorities, for example.
Read about the conference at Afloat, Ireland’s sailing and boating magazine.
Tags: marine biotechnology, oceans, renewable energy
Posted in biotechnology, energy generation, environment, marine life research, renewable energy | No Comments »
Electric Vehicles: Why they are Superior
Sunday, October 24th, 2010
The energy needed by Internal Combustion Engines (ICE) in our cars comes from fossil fuels, which are not only getting exhausted but are also causing harm to the environment through their emissions. Electricity, on the other hand, can be generated from many sources, including sustainable sources such as sunlight, wind and ocean tides. Vehicles that are powered by electricity are thus superior in terms of sustainability to ICE powered vehicles.
Electric vehicles cover a wide range of vehicles that use electric motors (rather than ICEs) for propulsion. The range includes not only cars and trucks but everything from smaller material handling vehicles through trains to spacecraft. Actually, it is only the cars and trucks that are still dominated by ICE power.
Electric vehicles have also the added benefit of converting the energy used in braking to electricity for further use.
Nations are trying to develop economic and convenient electric cars that can perform as well as ICE vehicles. Electric cars are non-polluting and can also free us from dependence on the depleting petroleum resources. As supply of fossil fuels decline, its price can shoot up, as we have already experienced.
An Electric Vehicles Market Research Report analyzes the market for electric vehicles segmented into Battery Powered Electric Vehicles (BPEVs), Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs), and Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEVs). It includes a historic analysis of electric vehicles market and forecasts to 2015.
Tags: electric car, electric vehicles, energy, renewable energy
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Smart Electricity Grids and Energy Efficiency
Friday, October 15th, 2010
A huge amount of energy generated at power stations is lost at various points. There are losses during transmission of the energy to consumers, wasteful use of energy at the consumer ends and even theft of energy leading to unaccounted losses. Any effort at efficient use of energy, a scarce resource, can benefit communities significantly.
Smart Electricity Grids employ several means to achieve the final goal of efficient use of available energy. Sensing, measurement and control devices are used to automatically regulate energy consumption etc in response to specific conditions. Superconductive transmission lines might be used to reduce losses during transmission of power. Advanced Metering Systems is typically an essential component of smart grids.
Advanced Metering Systems (AMI) not only measure energy usage as conventional metering systems do but also analyze energy usage patterns and communicate relevant information to those involved, including suppliers and customers. Two-way communication allows information recipients to respond with actions that lead to solutions. For example, customers become aware of unexpectedly heavy energy usage and can respond with actions that lead to lowering of their energy bills.
Suppliers can tailor their charging pattern in ways that discourage energy use during peak load times. Advanced Electric Meters can record separately the energy usage in differentiated registers for each time period.
Read about a seminar on smart grid development in the Taiwan.
Tags: energy efficiency, information technology, smart grids
Posted in energy distribution, energy efficiency, energy generation, information technology, sensors | 1 Comment »
Fuel Cells: Significance and Markets
Monday, September 13th, 2010
Fuel cells can theoretically provide energy for everything from running a power plant to running your computer. And they provide it with high efficiency, low emissions and quietly, with the byproducts being heat and water, not carbon dioxide. It is no wonder that governments, businesses and academic institutions are working towards producing this green source of energy.
In essence, a fuel cell combines hydrogen and oxygen to make water, and generates electricity in the process. And unlike a battery, the chemicals needed for a fuel cell, viz. hydrogen and oxygen, do not get exhausted all that easily. What this means is that the fuel cell is not likely to go dead, unlike the battery.
Fuel cell technologies come in different varieties such as PEMFC, SOFC, AFC, MCFC, PAFC and DMFC. Some are more suited for one purpose while others are best in other contexts, such as transportation systems, large power plants and stationary power generators.
Honda’s concept car based on fuel cells has a reported energy efficiency of 60 percent, i.e. 60 percent of the energy that goes in comes out in the form of moving the car. Compare this to the 20 percent efficiency of the fossil fuel burning car, where most of the energy is wasted as heat and for powering incidentals.
Though a battery-powered electric car has an efficiency of 72 percent, the battery has to be charged using AC power, which has a low efficiency, and the charging process itself causes some loss of efficiency. Compared to the 60 percent overall efficiency of the fuel cell, the net battery efficiency is just 26 percent.(See How Fuel Cells Work).
The research report Fuel Cell Technologies Worldwide provides insights into the end user markets for fuel cells and also the various technologies used for making fuel cells.
Tags: energy efficiency, fuel cell technology, green energy, nanotechnology
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Power Grids: Making them smart and smarter
Sunday, August 8th, 2010
With increasing demand for power, it becomes necessary to optimize the utilization of electricity grid capacity. This is sought to be done by incorporating information technology solutions to measure and report, and to sense and self-heal into the grid. R&D in this area also seeks to increase the quantity of power transmitted through the lines.
Superconductive transmission lines can reduce power loss, and tackling bottlenecks in transmission where certain lines remain under-utilized owing to full capacity utilization of connecting lines can increase overall capacity. Instabilities in the system is another area that R&D focuses upon as these can reduce the effective capacity compared to the technical one.
Integrating power from renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power generators pose its own problems owing to the differing nature of current flow. Technical issues resulting from intermittency, ramp rates, over supply and inertia are the problems in this area, according to an article on integrating renewables at intelligentutility.com.
Smart meters that report power consumption levels to the supplying utility automatically, programmable thermostats that can automatically adjust power utilization and smart home appliances that reduce power consumption can all be part of the overall campaign for creating a smart grid.
The intelligentutility.com website has resources on the practical issues of smart grids.
Tags: energy efficiency, energy generation, information technology, power transmission
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Challenge to develop the next Generation Power Grid
Thursday, July 15th, 2010
General Electric, in partnership with venture capital firms Emerald Technology Ventures, Foundation Capital, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and RockPort Capital have announced a $200 million innovation challenge. The challenge asks technologists, entrepreneurs and startups to share their best ideas for an electric power grid that will meet the needs of the 21st century. The challenge, announced on July 13, 2010, is named as “GE ecomagination Challenge: Powering the Grid.”
The challenge, open immediately at Ecomagination Website is reportedly one of the largest of challenges ever announced.
The goals are to find ways to reduce the carbon footprint during electricity generation, optimize the flow of energy through distribution systems to minimize power losses and use energy more efficiently through better designed buildings and in other ways.
GE is already offering digital energy grids and wants to make it a comprehensive one by working with ideas generated globally. By accelerating the development of a cleaner, more efficient and economically viable grid through collaboration, GE hopes to “jump-start new ideas and deploy them on a scale that will modernize the electrical grid around the world.”
The fund of $200 million will be invested globally into promising startups and ideas. GE will also help the entrants in other ways. Read the news release at MarketWatch.
Tags: cleaner energy generation, digital electricity grids, energy efficiency, power transmission losses
Posted in business, clean technology, energy distribution, energy efficiency, energy generation, environment, information technology, innovation | 1 Comment »
Nanotechnology and the Environment
Saturday, June 19th, 2010
While the use of nanotechnology in food and medicine is viewed with some apprehension because of the possibility of unexpected dangers, clean energy is one area where its use is seen as highly promising. Nanomaterials and nanocoatings are considered to offer promising opportunities for energy-related applications such as batteries, supercapacitors, fuel-cells, hydrogen-storage, thermoelectrics and photovoltaics.
The Nano4Energy conference being organized by Nanotechnology Knowledge Transfer Network (NanoKTN) at the University of Birmingham will focus on the potential of nanotechnology for clean energy. The conference, to be held on June 30, 2010, will see representatives from Nissan and the Carbon Trust discussing the role of nanotechnology in clean energy solutions.
Reviewing new developments in nanotechnology related to energy generation and energy storage will be a focus area. In particular, new technologies nearing commercialization will be featured at the conference, as will be the companies leading clean energy solutions.
Success in this area requires adequate networking and interactions among the players constituting the supply chain and the conference will provide a forum for industry professionals and academics to discuss the developments and issues.
The representative of Nissan Europe will discuss their new 100% Electric, zero emission, compact car that is expected to push the boundaries of clean energy transport. Another participant, Nanoco, will discuss the use of quantum dots in the manufacture of high efficiency, low-cost solar cells.
Read the release about the conference at the Material Handling World magazine.
Tags: clean energy, clean energy solutions, energy generation, energy storage, nanotechnology
Posted in energy generation, energy storage, nano batteries, nanomaterials, nanotechnology | 1 Comment »
Energy Innovation: The Next Focus Area for the USA?
Wednesday, June 16th, 2010
The members of American Energy Innovation Council (AEIC) include top business leaders such as Bill Gates, Chairman of Microsoft; Norm Augustine, former Chairman of Lockheed Martin; Ursula Burns, chairman and chief executive of Xerox; John Doerr, partner at Kleiner Perkins; Chad Holliday, chairman of Bank of America and former CEO of DuPont; Jeff Immelt, chief executive of GE; and Tim Solso, chairman and chief executive of Cummins. These leaders have first hand experience of what innovation can do to the country and the world. And they think that the next focus area for US innovation should be in the area of low-cost and clean energy.
AEIC has now produced a report titled “A Business Plan for America’s Energy Future.” The recommendations of the plan include:
- Create a Congressionally mandated Energy Strategy Board charged with (1) developing and monitoring a National Energy Plan for Congress and the executive branch, and (2) oversight of a New Energy Challenge Program.
- Increase investment in clean energy research to more than three times the present amount to $16 billion, to change the present scenario of all the best energy innovations, such as fuel cells, energy storage technologies and wind technologies occurring outside the US.
- …
Read the news release at PR Newswire
Tags: clean energy, energy, energy generation, energy innovation, energy storage
Posted in energy generation, energy storage, environment | 1 Comment »
Nanotechnology’s Potential to Help with Sustainable Energy
Monday, June 14th, 2010
Using fossil fuels as the main energy source is not a sustainable solution as fossil fuels are exhaustible, sooner than later at current rates of consumption. These sources of energy also lead to increased carbon emissions and global warming. Hence, a serious search has been on for sustainable and environment friendly sources of energy.
Current solutions such as solar, wind and other such sources of energy have not yet become economic, while going for biofuels might lead to land being diverted from food crops to commercial crops, leading to food shortage.
The suggested solutions to energy problems include using renewable sources of energy, improving the energy use efficiency of industrial processes and preventing loss and wasteful use of energy. The new science of nanotechnology is promising some solutions to the energy problem.
Hydrogen is considered an almost inexhaustible source of energy if technology can be developed to tap it conveniently and economically. Nanomaterials such as Carbon nanotubes and nanofibers might be able to help in this area. Nanotechnology also promises better storage of energy preventing, for example, battery power leakage.
Nanotechnology can also help reduce the cost of solar energy by making it possible to produce less expensive PhotoVoltaic cells.
Read about the European inititatives of using nanotechnology for solving energy problems of the world at Nanotech-Now.com.
Tags: energy efficiency solutions, energy problem solution, energy storage solutions, renewable energy sources
Posted in energy generation, energy storage, nano batteries, nanotechnology | 1 Comment »
Energy Efficiency Using a Wasted Property of Electrons
Friday, May 28th, 2010
Electrical energy is presently obtained by utilizing the difference between positively and negatively charged electrons. Electrons have a third property, their spin, or a small magnetic field pointing up or down. This property is not used currently by electrical devices because the devices are too big compared to the nanoscale electrons.
A researcher in Israel is focusing on using the spin information to create energy efficient batteries and to prevent the huge quantities of power that we lose while transmitting electricity through conventional wires. Superconductors can prevent such energy loss; but technology now requires super cool temperatures for superconductors to work. Researchers are hoping that using nanotechnology, they might be able to develop superconducting materials that work at room temperatures.
Today’s solid state disk drives manage to use ordered atoms packed together. When atoms in a material are arranged in an ordered fashion, properties of the material change. Working at nanoscale, it is theoretically possible to design materials with customized properties.
Working at nanoscale is no simple matter, however. A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter and you need highly advanced tools like Scanning Electron Microscope to find what is happening at this scale. The Israel research facility has just been equipped with equipment like a Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry, Scanning Electron Microscope and Environmental Scanning Microscope.
Using these advanced facilities, researchers hope to understand how maerial properties change at nanoscale and other issues involved. Read the report at Israel21c.
Tags: energy efficiency, nanotechnology, spin property of electrons, spintronics
Posted in energy generation, energy storage, nano batteries, nanomaterials, nanotechnology | No Comments »
