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International Energy Agency fails to light the way to a safe climate future

2009-11-10T17:31:00.001+05:30

The keenly awaited 2009 World Energy Outlook contains some remarkable analysis but does not light the way to a safe carbon future, WWF said.

Emissions cuts canvassed in the outlook, the flagship annual publication of the International Energy Agency (IEA), are too small and too slow to keep the world out of the danger zone of unacceptable risks of catastrophic climate change, said Dr Stephan Singer, WWFs Director of Global Energy Policy.

Scientists, the UN and many governments including the G8 group have accordingly endorsed an objective of keeping average global warming less than two degrees Celsius over pre-industrial times - an objective WWF maintains would require developed nations cutting their emissions 40 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020.

But IEAs low emissions scenario sees OECD fossil fuel CO₂ emissions down just 4.5 per cent from 1990 levels by 2020.

“The proposed CO₂ emissions reductions by the IEA for the energy sector of the rich nations are dismal,” Dr Singer said. “The reductions seen as low carbon by the IEA are less even than the inadequate reductions so far on the table from developed nations for the UN climate change conference in Copenhagen next month.”

Also according to the IEA, global energy emissions would be one quarter more in 2030 than in the 1990 reference year.

"World-wide fossil fuel emissions in twenty years must be on a pathway to be reduced to more than 80 per cent below 1990 levels by mid-century to curtail the climate crisis. The IEA's scenarios violate this trajectory," Dr Singer said.

For WWF, with about two thirds of global greenhouse gas emissions, the energy sector has to lead the way to a low carbon future.

And although its alternative lower emissions scenario is clearly inadequate, WWF is pleased that the IEA identifies energy conservation as the measure with the best potential to bring it about.

“The IEA also finds most of the emissions savings mechanisms it identifies will be cost effective through the saving of fuel costs and this is a useful rebuff to those urging slow action or no action on climate on the basis of costs,” Dr Singer said.

“It is a pity that the IEA couldn’t stay up to date with the science on the level of emissions the atmosphere can safely digest and use this to point the way to a fully renewable power sector by mid-century.”

“What they are suggesting is not only dangerous, but it is much below what is technically possible.”

New transparent insulating film could enable energy-efficient displays

2009-11-09T10:32:00.000+05:30

Johns Hopkins materials scientists have found a new use for a chemical compound that has traditionally been viewed as an electrical conductor, a substance that allows electricity to flow through it. By orienting the compound in a different way, the researchers have turned it into a thin film insulator, which instead blocks the flow of electricity, but can induce large electric currents elsewhere. The material, called solution-deposited beta-alumina, could have important applications in transistor technology and in devices such as electronic books.

The discovery is described in the November issue of the journal Nature Materials and appears in an early online edition.

“This form of sodium beta-alumina has some very useful characteristics,” said Howard E. Katz, a professor of materials science and engineering who supervised the research team. “The material is produced in a liquid state, which means it can easily be deposited onto a surface in a precise pattern for the formation of printed circuits. But when it’s heated, it forms a solid, thin transparent film. In addition, it allows us to operate at low voltages, meaning it requires less power to induce useful current. That means its applications could operate with smaller batteries or be connected to a battery instead of a wall outlet.”

The transparency and thinness of the material (the hardened film is only on the order of 100 atoms thick) make it ideal for use in the increasingly popular e-book readers, which rely on see-through screens and portable power sources, Katz said. He added that possible transportation applications include instrument readouts that can be displayed in the windshield of an aircraft or a ground vehicle.

The emergence of sodium beta-alumina as an insulator was a surprising development, Katz said. The compound, known for decades, has traditionally been used to conduct electricity and for this reason has been considered as a possible battery component.

The material allows charged particles to flow easily parallel to a two-dimensional plane formed within its distinct atomic crystalline arrangement. “But we found that current does not flow nearly as easily perpendicular to the planes, or in unoriented material,” Katz said. “The material acts as an insulator instead of a conductor. Our team was the first to exploit this discovery.”

The Johns Hopkins researchers developed a method of processing sodium beta-alumina in a way that makes use of this insulation behaviour occurring in the form of a thin film. Working with the Johns Hopkins Technology Transfer staff, Katz’s team has filed for international patent protection for their discovery.

The lead author of the Nature Materials paper was Bhola N. Pal, who was a postdoctoral fellow in Katz’s laboratory. In addition to Katz, who is chair of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering in the university’s Whiting School of Engineering, the co-authors were Bal Mukund Dhar, a current doctoral student in the lab, and Kevin C. See, who recently completed his doctoral studies under Katz.

Funding for the research was provided by the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the National Science Foundation.

China records drop in energy consumption

2009-10-30T23:02:00.000+05:30

China's energy consumption per unit gross domestic product (GDP) has dropped more than 13 per cent since the beginning of the "Eleventh Five-Year Plan" (2006-10), disclosed Xie Zhenhua, vice director of the National Development and Reform Commission, in a news conference of the Third Ministerial Conference of the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate, which was held in Shanghai on October 27, 2009.

"Through our continuous efforts, the objective of reducing the energy consumption per unit GDP by 20 per cent proposed in the 'Eleventh Five-Year Plan' would be achieved at the end of next year," said Xie at the conference.

There are difficulties in achieving the binding indicator in energy conservation and emission reduction, especially in the current financial crisis, as China is in the process of industrialisation and urbanisation.

However, China has made energy conservation and emission reduction top priorities, and deems them critical issues in economic structural adjustment, as well as in shifting the manner in development.

In 2006, the energy consumption per unit GDP in China dropped 1.79 per cent; and the magnitude of drop was further extended to 4.04 per cent and 4.59 per cent in 2007 and 2008, respectively. In the first half of 2009, the value dropped 3.35 per cent. So far, the energy consumption per unit GDP in China has dropped more than 13 per cent accumulatively since 2006.

"It's expected that the energy consumption per unit GDP in China will drop about 5 per cent in 2009, and similar margin can be achieved next year. Therefore, it's possible to achieve the overall objective of 20 per cent by 2010," said Xie. This means that China will achieve its objective of saving 620 million metric tons of standard coal and reduce the emission of carbon dioxide by 1.5 billion tons annually by the end of 2010.

To achieve this objective on energy conservation and emission reduction, the Chinese government has eliminated a large quantity of inefficient production capacity in iron and steel, cement, coke and other industries, including the shutdown of a batch of inefficient small coal-fired units.

In addition, non-fossil energy is also developing swiftly in China, especially in the renewable energy sector. China has ranked at the top of the world both in the installed capacity of hydropower and the utilisation area of solar energy. China recently has proposed to improve the proportion of non-fossil energy in total primary energy consumption to about 15 per cent by 2020.

Harvesting energy from nature's motions

2009-10-30T21:59:00.000+05:30

Photo: Danleo/WikimediaBy taking advantage of the vagaries of the natural world, Duke University engineers have developed a novel approach that they believe can more efficiently harvest electricity from the motions of everyday life.

Energy harvesting is the process of converting one form of energy, such as motion, into another form of energy, in this case electricity. Strategies range from the development of massive wind farms to produce large amounts of electricity to using the vibrations of walking to power small electronic devices.

Although motion is an abundant source of energy, only limited success has been achieved because the devices used only perform well over a narrow band of frequencies. These so-called "linear" devices can work well, for example, if the character of the motion is fairly constant, such as the cadence of a person walking. However, as researchers point out, the pace of someone walking, as with all environmental sources, changes over time and can vary widely.

"The ideal device would be one that could convert a range of vibrations instead of just a narrow band," said Samuel Stanton, graduate student in Duke's Pratt School of Engineering, working in the laboratory of Brian Mann, assistant professor of mechanical engineering and materials sciences. The team, which included undergraduate Clark McGehee, published the results of their latest experiments early online in Applied Physics Letters.

"Nature doesn't work in a single frequency, so we wanted to come up with a device that would work over a broad range of frequencies," Stanton said. "By using magnets to 'tune' the bandwidth of the experimental device, we were able verify in the lab that this new non-linear approach can outperform conventional linear devices."

Although the device they constructed looks deceptively simple, it was able to prove the team's theories on a small scale. It is basically a small cantilever, several inches long and a quarter inch wide, with an end magnet that interacts with nearby magnets. The cantilever base itself is made of a piezoelectric material, which has the unique property of releasing electrical voltage when it is strained.

The key to the new approach involved placing moveable magnets of opposing poles on either side of the magnet at the end of the cantilever arm. By changing the distance of the moveable magnets, the researchers were able to "tune" the interactions of the system with its environment, and thus produce electricity over a broader spectrum of frequencies.

"These results suggest to us that this non-linear approach could harvest more of the frequencies from the same ambient vibrations," Mann said. "More importantly, being able to capture more of the bandwidth makes it more likely that these types of devices could someday rival batteries as a portable power source."

The range of applications for non-linear energy harvesters varies widely. For example, Mann is working on a project that would use the motion of ocean waves to power an array of sensors that would be carried inside ocean buoys.

"These non-linear systems are self-sustaining, so they are ideal for any electrical device that needs batteries and is in a location that is difficult to access," Mann said.

For example, the motion of walking could provide enough electricity to power an implanted device, such as a pacemaker or cardiac defibrillator. On a larger scale, sensors in the environment or spacecraft could be powered by the everyday natural vibrations around them, Mann said.

Metal-air battery: Cost effective and durable

2009-10-29T15:25:00.002+05:30

Image: ReVolt Technology Limited.Tired of changing your cell-phone batteries often? Wish to have longer runtime for your battery? Well, the solution is in the pipe.

The existing battery technologies – the Al-ion, Ni-metal hybrid – have reached their limits. And there is a new one taking shape. Metal-air battery.

The Swiss based ReVolt Technology has come up with the novel idea. The new technology offers longer durability at a lower price as compared to the existing. The battery technology is based on 6 years of fundamental research at SINTEF, Norway.

Any effort to improve upon the fuel cell technology would face barriers from the cost factor. ReVolt Tech claims that the only solution to this quagmire is a combination of battery and fuel cell technology: the metal-air battery.

“Such batteries have a high potential for energy density and low production cost,” states the white paper on the technology issued by the company.

Batteries which use this technology are already in the market. But they have a serious shortcoming. They are just primary non-rechargeable batteries and hence can be used only in such devices as the hearing aid.

To solve these, one needs to cross a few barriers: inability to deliver sufficient power, high degradation rate and loss of power over time, lack of an adequate option for recharging, the unsuitability of non-electrical refilling, space and power consuming peripherals and higher cost.

ReVolt claims to have successfully overcome these obstacles.

Metal-air batteries – with a negative electrode made of from metals such as zinc (Zn), aluminium (Al), magnesium (Mg), iron (Fe), lithium (Li) and a positive electrode made from a porous structure with catalytic properties for the oxygen reaction – work by converting the oxygen in the atmosphere into hydroxyl ions in the air electrode. These ions migrate to the metal electrode and oxidise the metal contained in the electrode.
The reaction takes place on finely dispersed catalysts with a high surface area for reaction. By careful control of the hydrophobicity and the pore size distribution, a stable three phase zone is established inside the electrode.

The widespread use of Zinc in such batteries is due to the high energy density of zinc and its chemical stability in the electrolyte.

“Development of ReVolt’s portable battery has been achieved by focusing on the areas
of power, battery life, rechargeability and compact size,” claims the white paper. the company has identified certain issues which needs to be resolved before the commercial launch of the batteries.

One major concern that the company is addressing is the tendency of the Zinc battery to stop working after a few recharges. If this along with other issues related to power and size be resolved the new tech battery is ready to head to the market.

ReVolt’s new battery, which offers better power, longer lifetime, rechargeability and compact size is all set to revolutionise mobile power generation. The company expects to commercialise the zinc-air battery by next year. If this happens it would be a big step towards a sustainable energy future – and maybe the time is not far when cars run with Zinc-air batteries.

Hidden Costs of Energy

2009-10-21T11:14:00.003+05:30

Credit: Lars SundströmA new report from the National Research Council examines and, when possible, estimates "hidden" costs of energy production and use – such as the damage air pollution imposes on human health – that are not reflected in market prices of coal, oil, other energy sources, or the electricity and gasoline produced from them.

The report estimates dollar values for several major components of these costs. The damages the committee was able to quantify were an estimated USD120 billion in the U.S. in 2005, a number that reflects primarily health damages from air pollution associated with electricity generation and motor vehicle transportation.

The figure does not include damages from climate change, harm to ecosystems, effects of some air pollutants such as mercury, and risks to national security, which the report examines but does not monetise.

Requested by Congress, the report assesses what economists call external effects caused by various energy sources over their entire life cycle – for example, not only the pollution generated when gasoline is used to run a car but also the pollution created by extracting and refining oil and transporting fuel to gas stations.

Because these effects are not reflected in energy prices, government, businesses and consumers may not realise the full impact of their choices. When such market failures occur, a case can be made for government interventions – such as regulations, taxes or tradable permits – to address these external costs, the report says.

The committee that wrote the report focused on monetizing the damage of major air pollutants – sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, ozone, and particulate matter – on human health, grain crops and timber yields, buildings, and recreation.

When possible, it estimated both what the damages were in 2005 (the latest year for which data were available) and what they are likely to be in 2030, assuming current policies continue and new policies already slated for implementation are put in place.

The committee also separately derived a range of values for damages from climate change; the wide range of possibilities for these damages made it impossible to develop precise estimates of cost.

However, all model results available to the committee indicate that climate-related damages caused by each ton of CO2 emissions will be far worse in 2030 than now; even if the total amount of annual emissions remains steady, the damages caused by each ton would increase 50 per cent to 80 per cent.

Damages From Electricity Generation
Coal accounts for about half the electricity produced in the U.S. In 2005 the total annual external damages from sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter created by burning coal at 406 coal-fired power plants, which produce 95 per cent of the nation's coal-generated electricity, were about USD62 billion; these non-climate damages average about 3.2 cents for every kilowatt-hour (kwh) of energy produced. A relatively small number of plants – 10 per cent of the total number – accounted for 43 per cent of the damages. By 2030, non-climate damages are estimated to fall to 1.7 cents per kwh.

Coal-fired power plants are the single largest source of greenhouse gases in the U.S., emitting on average about a tonne of CO2 per megawatt-hour of electricity produced, the report says. Climate-related monetary damages range from 0.1 cents to 10 cents per kilowatt-hour, based on previous modelling studies.

Burning natural gas generated far less damage than coal, both overall and per kilowatt-hour of electricity generated. A sample of 498 natural gas fueled plants, which accounted for 71 per cent of gas-generated electricity, produced USD740 million in total non-climate damages in 2005, an average of 0.16 cents per kwh.

As with coal, there was a vast difference among plants; half the plants account for only 4 per cent of the total non-climate damages from air pollution, while 10 per cent produce 65 per cent of the damages. By 2030, non-climate damages are estimated to fall to 0.11 cents per kwh. Estimated climate damages from natural gas were half that of coal, ranging from 0.05 cents to 5 cents per kilowatt-hour.

The life-cycle damages of wind power, which produces just over 1 per cent of U.S. electricity but has large growth potential, are small compared with those from coal and natural gas.

So are the damages associated with normal operation of the nation's 104 nuclear reactors, which provide almost 20 per cent of the country’s electricity. But the life cycle of nuclear power does pose some risks; if uranium mining activities contaminate ground or surface water, for example, people could potentially be exposed to radon or other radionuclides; this risk is borne mostly by other nations, the report says, because the U.S. mines only 5 per cent of the world’s uranium.

The potential risks from a proposed long-term facility for storing high-level radioactive waste need further evaluation before they can be quantified. Life-cycle CO2 emissions from nuclear, wind, biomass, and solar power appear to be negligible when compared with fossil fuels.

Damages From Heating
The production of heat for buildings or industrial processes accounts for about 30 per cent of American energy demand. Most of this heat energy comes from natural gas or, to a lesser extent, the use of electricity; the total damages from burning natural gas for heat were about USD1.4 billion in 2005.

The median damages in residential and commercial buildings were about 11 cents per thousand cubic feet, and the proportional harm did not vary much across regions. Damages from heat in 2030 are likely to be about the same, assuming the effects of additional sources to meet demand are offset by lower-emitting sources.

Damages From Motor Vehicles and Fuels
Transportation, which today relies almost exclusively on oil, accounts for nearly 30 per cent of U.S. energy demand. In 2005 motor vehicles produced USD56 billion in health and other nonclimate-related damages, says the report.

The committee evaluated damages for a variety of types of vehicles and fuels over their full life cycles, from extracting and transporting the fuel to manufacturing and operating the vehicle. In most cases, operating the vehicle accounted for less than one-third of the quantifiable nonclimate damages, the report found.

Damages per vehicle mile traveled were remarkably similar among various combinations of fuels and technologies – the range was 1.2 cents to about 1.7 cents per mile traveled – and it is important to be cautious in interpreting small differences, the report says.

Non-climate-related damages for corn grain ethanol were similar to or slightly worse than gasoline, because of the energy needed to produce the corn and convert it to fuel. In contrast, ethanol made from herbaceous plants or corn stover – which are not yet commercially available – had lower damages than most other options.

Electric vehicles and grid-dependent (plug-in) hybrid vehicles showed somewhat higher non-climate damages than many other technologies for both 2005 and 2030. Operating these vehicles produces few or no emissions, but producing the electricity to power them currently relies heavily on fossil fuels; also, energy used in creating the battery and electric motor adds up to 20 per cent to the manufacturing part of life-cycle damages.

Most vehicle and fuel combinations had similar levels of greenhouse gas emissions in 2005. There are not substantial changes estimated for those emissions in 2030; while population and income growth are expected to drive up the damages caused by each ton of emissions, implementation of new fuel efficiency standards of 35.5 miles per gallon will lower emissions and damages for every vehicle mile traveled. Achieving significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 will likely also require breakthrough technologies, such as cost-effective carbon capture and storage or conversion of advanced biofuels, the report says.

Both for 2005 and 2030, vehicles using gasoline made from oil extracted from tar sands and those using diesel derived from the Fischer-Tropsch process – which converts coal, methane, or biomass to liquid fuel – had the highest life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions. Vehicles using ethanol made from corn stover or herbaceous feedstock such as switchgrass had some of the lowest greenhouse gas emissions, as did those powered by compressed natural gas.

Fully implementing federal rules on diesel fuel emissions, which require vehicles beginning in the model year 2007 to use low-sulphur diesel, is expected to substantially decrease nonclimate damages from diesel by 2030 – an indication of how regulatory actions can significantly affect energy-related damages, the committee said. Major initiatives to further lower other emissions, improve energy efficiency, or shift to a cleaner mix of energy sources could reduce other damages as well, such as substantially lowering the damages attributable to electric vehicles.

The report was sponsored by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research Council make up the National Academies. They are independent, nonprofit institutions that provide science, technology, and health policy advice under an 1863 congressional charter. Committee members, who serve pro bono as volunteers, are chosen by the Academies for each study based on their expertise and experience and must satisfy the Academies's conflict-of-interest standards. The resulting consensus reports undergo external peer review before completion.

China's power consumption on the rise

2009-10-19T22:39:00.001+05:30

In September 2009, China's overall social power consumption reached 322.41 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh), a 10.24 per cent increase year over year, according to a monthly report published by the China Electricity Council on October 15, 2009.

From January to September, China's overall social power consumption reached 2,663.55 billion kWh, a 1.4 per cent increase compared with the same period in 2008. Of that amount, power consumption in the first industry reached 72.46 billion kWh, a 6.35 per cent increase; consumption in the second industry reached 1,954.94 billion kWh, a 1.67 per cent drop; consumption in the third industry reached 293.50 billion kWh, an 11.26 per cent increase; and consumption in the household of urban and township residents reached 342.65 billion kWh, up 11.73 per cent year over year.

From January to September, the overall power consumption of industry reached 1,927.26 billion kWh, a 1.8 per cent drop year over year. Of that amount, the growth in light and heavy industry dropped 2.74 per cent and 1.6 per cent, respectively.

There are a total of 17 provinces and regions with increases above the national average level (1.4 per cent). Xinjiang jumped to the top in the rankings (9.9 per cent), followed by Jiangxi (7.95 per cent), Hainan (7.87 per cent), Anhui (7.57 per cent),Yunnan (7.25 per cent), Hunan (6.63 per cent), Hebei (6.41), Beijing (5.25 per cent), Chongqing (5.11 per cent), Sichuan (4.02 per cent), Guangxi (3.81 per cent), Guizhou (3.71 per cent), Shandong (3.23 per cent), Fujian (2.44 per cent), Tianjin(2.03 per cent), Zhejiang (1.92 per cent) and Hubei (1.67 per cent).

From January to September, the national investment in power source projects reached USD29.15 billion. (The investment in power source projects from January to August was corrected to USD24.85 billion). As of the end of September 2008, the total installed capacity of power plants of 6 MW or more in China reached 800.18 million kW, a 9.2 per cent increase year over year.

Of that amount, installed capacity of hydropower reached 155.51 million kW, a 14.1 per cent increase; thermal power reached 622.03 million kW, a 7.2 per cent increase; nuclear power reached 9.08 million kW, remaining at the same level; and wind power reached 13.33 million kW, an 88.8 per cent increase.

From January to September, the average accumulated utilisation of power generation equipment in China reached 3,352 hours, a drop of 283 hours year over year. Of that amount, the average utilisation hour of hydropower equipment reached 2,671 hours, a drop of 180 hours year over year; and the average utilisation hour of thermal power equipment reached 3,515 hours, a drop of 284 hours year over year.

From January to September, the average coal consumption in power supply reached 341 grams per kWh, a drop of 6 grams per kWh year over year; the accumulated plant service power consumption rate reached 5.88 per cent, of which hydropower was 0.60 per cent and thermal power was 6.68 per cent; and line-loss rate reached 6.21 per cent, an increase of 0.24 per cent year over year.

Biofuels - New report brings greater clarity to burning issue

2009-10-18T16:56:00.000+05:30

New International Panel Launches Wide-Ranging Assessment on Environmental Pros and Cons of Crop-Based Fuels

A far more sophisticated approach needs to be taken when developing biofuels as an environmentally-friendly energy option a new report concludes.

Governments should fit biofuels into an overall energy, climate, land-use, water and agricultural strategy if their deployment is to benefit society, the economy and the environment as a whole.

The report, the first by the United Nations Environment Programme's (UNEP) International Panel for Sustainable Resource Management, says some first generation biofuels such as ethanol from sugar cane can have positive impacts in terms of greenhouse gas emissions.

As currently practiced in a country such as Brazil, it can lead to emissions reductions of between 70 percent and well over 100 percent when substituted for petrol.

However, the way in which biofuels are produced matters in determining whether they are leading to more or less greenhouse gas emissions. Conditions under which production of biofuels does lead to higher emissions have been identified in the report.

The production and use of biodiesel from palm oil on deforested peatlands in the tropics is cited. It can lead to significant increases in greenhouse gas emissions-up to 2,000 percent or more when compared with fossil fuels.

This is mainly as a result of carbon releases from the soils and land. However, a positive contribution to greenhouse gas emissions can arise if the palm oil or soya beans are instead grown on abandoned or degraded land.

The report Towards Sustainable Production and Use of Resources: Assessing Biofuels is based on a detailed review of published research up to mid-2009 as well as the input of independent experts world-wide.

It has been written to assist governments and industry in making sustainable choices in an area that over the past few years has become deeply divided while triggering sharply polarized views.

Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme, which hosts the Resource Panel, said : "Biofuels are neither a panacea nor a pariah but like all technologies they represent both opportunities and challenges."

"Therefore a more sophisticated debate is urgently needed which is what this first report by the Panel is intended to provide. On one level, it is a debate about which energy crops to grow and where and also about the way different countries and biofuel companies promote and manage the production and conversion of plant materials for energy purposes-some clearly are climate friendly while others are highly questionable," added Mr. Steiner.

"However, it is also a choice about how humanity best manages its finite land bank and balances a range of competing interests in a world of six billion people, rising to over nine billion by 2050," he said.

"The report makes it clear that biofuels have a future role, but also underlines that there may be other options for combating climate change, improving rural livelihoods and achieving sustainable development that may, or may not involve turning ever more crops and crop wastes into liquid fuels," he explained.

"The European Commission has been the firm supporter of the Resource Panel right from its outset. It is part of our long-term strategy on sustainable management of natural resources in providing authoritative and independent scientific advice to underpin policies and with a global perspective. The report on biofuels will help us in designing and implementing targets and sustainability criteria for the use of biofuels," said Timo Timo Mäkelä of the European Commission.

The report by the Resource Panel, headed by Professor Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker and written by scientists including Dr Stefan Bringezu of the body's Biofuels Working Group, for example notes that:

Generating electricity at local power stations using wood, straw, seed oils and other crop or waste materials "is generally more energy efficient that converting biomass to liquid fuels".
Land, including abandoned land can be used for energy crops but could equally be used for re-afforestation or solar power which the report argues may be more efficient for turning sunlight into energy.
Meanwhile, in transport, modal shifts and higher fuel efficiency standards and the development of alternative technologies such as plug-in vehicles could dramatically reduce emissions in their own right.

The report points out that in the United States the Energy Independence Act requires fuel efficiency improvements of 40 percent for cars and light trucks by 2020. Similarly, Japan is set to adopt a 20 percent fuel efficiency improvement to be implemented by 2015 with car makers there claiming that 80 percent of vehicles already meet the proposed standard.

Professor Weizsäcker said: "There are also wider life cycle issues that need to be factored into government policy decisions and in some cases these require more urgent research. Growing energy crops can involve increased use of fertilizers which in turn have implications for water quality. Fertilizer use also increases emissions of N20 which is a powerful greenhouse gas in its own right."

"Using abandoned or so called waste land for biofuels might be a sensible option, but it may also have implications for biodiversity and greenhouse gas emissions might be better cut by forestry schemes,' he added.

Dr. Bringezu said: "If the world's cropland is used to feed a growing population and one increasingly consuming meat, any additional demand for energy crops will almost inevitably increase pressure on grasslands, savannahs and forests. This will lead to more greenhouse gas emissions as well as rising losses of biodiversity. Using wastes and residues represents one safer and more sustainable path out of this dilemma."

Key Findings From The Report:

Biofuel Market

World ethanol production for transport fuels tripled between 2000 and 2007 from 17 billion litres to more than 52 billion litres.

Biodiesel expanded 11 fold from less than a billion litres to 11 billion litres.

Biofuels provide 1.8 percent of transport fuels.

Investment in biofuels production capacity exceeded US$4 billion worldwide in 2007.

International trade has been small, about three billion litres in 2006/07, but is expected to grow rapidly in countries like Brazil where in 2008 five billion litres were exported.

Land-Use Changes and Related Impacts of First Generation Biofuels

Global cropland will expand only to feed a growing world population with an increasing demand for more protein rich food from animals. Any additional demand for non-food biomass crops will add to the pressure of converting natural land.

Global land use for biofuel crops was about two percent of global cropland in 2008, or about 36 million hectares.

First generation biofuels include, for example, ethanol from sugar cane or corn or biodiesel from rapeseed, soya or palm oil.

Globally about 118 to 508 million hectares of cropland would be needed to meet 10 percent of global transport fuel demand by 2030 if first generation biofuels are used.

On the one hand, these biofuels could potentially substitute 0.17 to 0.76 billion tonnes of fossil CO2. On the other hand, the associated land-use change would lead to additional 0.75 to 1.83 billion tonnes of CO2.

Altogether, there could be rather more greenhouse gas emissions for the coming decades due to energy crop-based biofuels.

Land-use change for biofuel crops cannot be avoided by product standards and certification alone, as long as global demand for biomass is growing. Certified production would drive non-certified production, particularly for food, to other areas.

Climate Pros and Cons of Different Biofuels

Whether a biofuel is climate-friendly or contributes to climate change depends on numerous factors, basically whether it is based on crops or production residues and waste. The use of the latter is usually beneficial for the environment, requires no additional land and also provides economic benefits.

The growing and conversion processes from biomass to fuel determine the environmental performance.

Brazil's sugar cane-to-ethanol industry is considered to have a positive climate benefit because and in part it uses wastes known as bagasse to power the processing and to also generate electricity for the national grid.

Bioethanol from corn can be less climate-friendly in cases where fossil fuels are used in the process of converting the crop to liquid fuel. Depending on the efficiency of modern mills and other factors, it actually leads to a nearly 60 per cent cut in CO2 emissions when compared with gasoline, or a five percent increase in green house gas emissions.

Palm oil biodiesel can reduce emissions when compared to fossil fuels by 80 percent. But if the palm oil is grown on cropland from cleared tropical forests, greenhouse gas emissions can be up to 800 percent higher.

And if the land use was cleared peat forests the emissions increases over using fossil fuels can rise to 2,000 percent.

Examples of other beneficial biofuels are biomethane from manure, with emissions savings of over 170 percent and second generation ethanol produced from agricultural and forestry wastes- savings in the region of 80 percent to 90 percent over petrol.

Jatropha, an energy crop being recommended in drylands in India and across Africa, can generate greenhouse gas savings if grown on degraded land but if grown on shrubland this can increase emissions through land use change. However, this needs to be balanced with the possibility to satisfy energy needs that are currently satisfied largely with traditional biomass use, which often leads to deforestation - again with an impact on climate change.

There are other impact categories beyond climate change that need to be assessed. The report highlights impacts on water quality and quantity and biodiversity.

The Way Forward

The report calls for governments to consider a variety of measures and for additional research including:

Development of harmonized product standards for biofuels based on internationally-recognized life cycle-assessments-ones that factor in wider environmental aspects such as greenhouse gas emissions linked with fertilizers, impacts on water and implications for land use.
Reconsideration of current biofuel mandates, targets and quota in order to limit the demand to levels which can sustainably be supplied - considering impacts for land use globally through targets for national use.
Measures to limit the expansion of arable land into high-value natural ecosystems, such as forests and areas with high biodiversity. Brazil, for example, is developing a zoning system for palm oil production that distinguishes between suitable land and land of high conservation value.
More comprehensive assessments of the amount of degraded land in the world that might be suitable for biofuel production set against its other potential uses such as for food production or forestry or natural regeneration, also considering the economic viability of biofuels produced on degraded land.
Action to sustainably boosted yields in currently low-yielding countries and regions such as Africa so as to produce more crops per hectare of land for both food and energy use.
Research into the environmental performance of advanced (often referred to as second and third) generation biofuels such as those derived from wastes and sources such as switch grass and marine algae.
Research to compare the relative advantages in site specific locations of stationary power generation versus converting biomass into liquid fuels-assessments too of the relative merits of biofuels versus solar power on the same land.
Introduce policies that reduce overall fuel consumption in countries such as through fuel taxes and fuel efficiency standards-for example, the European Union's Directive on energy end-use efficiency and energy services says every member state must improve its energy efficiency beyond the trend by one percent annually.

Energy savings in black and white

2009-10-09T17:12:00.000+05:30

A blast from a heat gun has turned most of the black tile in this image white. The prototype tile, developed by recent MIT graduates, is designed to turn dark in cold weather and white in warm weather.
Patrick GilloolyMIT students develop concept for color-changing roof tiles that absorb heat in winter, reflect it in summer

Anyone who has ever stepped barefoot onto blacktop pavement on a hot sunny day knows the phenomenon very well: Black surfaces absorb the sun's heat very efficiently, producing a toe-scorching surface. In the wintertime, that can be a good thing: A dark roof heats up in the sun and helps reduce your heating bill. But in summertime, it's definitely a bad thing: Your house gets even hotter, and your air conditioning has to work harder. In most places, the summertime penalty is greater than the wintertime gain, it turns out, so that's why many people, including US Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, strongly advocate switching to white roofs.

It's no small matter. In fact, Chu says that turning all the world's roofs white would eliminate as much greenhouse gas emissions in 20 years as the whole world produces in a year. But some critics point out that in northern cities, the gain in summer could be outweighed by the loss in winter. The ideal situation, then, would be to get the advantage of white roofs when it's hot and black roofs when it's cold.

Now, there may be a way to have both. A team of recent MIT graduates has developed roof tiles that change color based on the temperature. The tiles become white when it's hot, allowing them to reflect away most of the sun's heat. When it's cold they turn black and absorb heat just when it's needed.

The team's lab measurements show that in their white state, the tiles reflect about 80 per cent of the sunlight falling on them, while when black they reflect only about 30 per cent. That means in their white state, they could save as much as 20 per cent of present cooling costs, according to recent studies. Savings from the black state in winter have yet to be quantified.

The team, which the students call Thermeleon (rhymes with chameleon, because of its color-changing property), was one of the competitors in this year's Making and Designing Materials Engineering Contest (MADMEC), a competition for teams of MIT students (or 2009 graduates). Now in its third year, the contest this year was specifically devoted to projects aimed at improving energy efficiency through innovative uses of materials. The final showdown was held Wednesday night, and the Thermeleon team took first place, earning USD5,000 in the process.

Nick Orf PhD ’09, a member of the Thermeleon team, explains that he and his teammates originally tried to develop a color-shifting roof tile using a system of mixed fluids, one dark and one light, whose density would change with temperature: the dark substance would float to the top when it was cold, and white would float when it was hot. But the system proved too complicated, and instead they hit on a simpler, less expensive method.

Now, they use a common commercial polymer (in one version, one that is commonly used in hair gels) in a water solution. That solution is encapsulated - between layers of glass and plastic in their original prototype, and between flexible plastic layers in their latest version - with a dark layer at the back.

When the temperature is below a certain level (which they can choose by varying the exact formulation), the polymer stays dissolved, and the black backing shows through, absorbing the sun's heat. But when the temperature climbs, the polymer condenses to form tiny droplets, whose small sizes scatter light and thus produce a white surface, reflecting the sun's heat.

They are now working on an even simpler version in which the polymer solution would be micro-encapsulated and the tiny capsules carried in a clear paint material that could be brushed or sprayed onto any existing surface. The tiny capsules would still have the color-changing property, but the surface could easily be applied over an existing black roof, much more inexpensively than installing new roofing material.

Although they have not yet made specific plans for forming a business to commercialise their concept, Orf says the team members are determined to pursue the project and develop it into a marketable product.

Because the materials are common and inexpensive, team members think the tiles could be manufactured at a price comparable to that of conventional roofing materials, although that won't be known for sure until they determine the exact materials and construction of their final version.

The biggest remaining question is over durability, and answering it will require spending some time to do accelerated testing by running the material through repeated hot-cold cycles.

Hashem Akbari, leader of the Heat Island Group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, is a long-time advocate of white roofs as an energy-saving measure. He says that some other groups, including a team at the University of Athens, have done research on the use of color-changing materials for roofs, but that in those tests, "the cost and durability has been a serious issue."

The Thermeleon team hopes to address those concerns. "It's got to stand up to very harsh conditions," Orf says. "Those sorts of tests would have to be done before we'll know if we have a viable product."

Training the energy researchers of the future

2009-10-09T15:00:00.001+05:30

A new 3 million pound venture will help the next generation of scientists and engineers meet the biggest challenges of the 21st century.

The Midlands Energy Graduate School (MEGS), a collaboration between the Universities of Nottingham, Loughborough and Birmingham, will produce highly-trained postgraduates in renewable energy, power generation and carbon capture, hydrogen and fuel cells, sustainable building, energy efficiency and many other areas crucial to the low carbon economy of the future.

Responding to unprecedented climate change and the need for more secure energy supply, MEGS will train significant numbers of postgraduate researchers to help satisfy the increasing national demand for leading academics and industrialists in the low-carbon energy sector. Its graduates will make a major contribution to addressing the skills gap, combining specialist knowledge of energy technologies with highly-developed engineering skills to put solutions into practice.

The School had its official launch at the East Midlands Conference Centre, Nottingham, on October 6.

MEGS will be run by the Midlands Energy Consortium, a flagship collaboration between the three universities formed in 2007 to bring together the cutting-edge energy research of more than 200 academics taking place at Birmingham, Loughborough and Nottingham.

Professor Colin Snape of The University of Nottingham, Director of MEGS, said: “The school will provide an unrivalled concentration of energy-related research and development within the UK, and will significantly increase the number of postgraduates in low-carbon technologies to match the clear market demand. They will be thoroughly versed in cutting-edge fossil energy research, capable of operating in multi-disciplinary teams across a range of roles, and skilled to analyse the overall economic and social context of their projects.”

Professor Shirley Pearce, Vice-Chancellor of Loughborough University, said: “The Midlands Energy Graduate School is an exciting initiative that will bring a new level of collaboration to doctoral training in energy. It will provide students at the three consortium universities with an exceptional opportunity to broaden their understanding of energy technologies by drawing upon the expertise of some of the country’s leading specialists in their field.”

Modules will be delivered across the three institutions via a video-conferencing facility and there will also be summer school/networking activities, collaborative MSc programmes and an annual energy-focused recruitment fair for undergraduates to attract them to work in the energy sector.

Professor Richard Green, of The University of Birmingham, will lead a module on the overview of the energy system in the UK, from a technical and a socio-economic point of view.

Professor Green said: “I am delighted to be involved in the Midlands Energy Graduate School, teaching by video-link is an excellent low-carbon way to share our expertise across the three universities, and give all of our research students a broader experience and better foundation for their future careers. Our three universities complement each other very well in energy research, and this is a way of maximising our collective impact.”

Joy as coal-fired power plant postponed in the UK

2009-10-09T13:38:00.001+05:30

UK power company E.On has announced it is to shelve plans for a new coal-fired power station in Kent for three years.

Had it gone ahead the Kingsnorth plant would have pumped millions of tonnes of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

While welcoming the development, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds' (RSPB) Ruth Davis said: “This is a victory for the thousands of campaigners who have spent the last three years fighting this proposal. It was sheer madness to consider building a new, dirty coal station just when emissions need to be slashed to avoid dangerous climate change.”

However, while the ‘postponement’ of Kingsnorth is good news, it has not put an end to the threat from dirty coal.

Other plants are planned, including at Hunterston in Scotland, which, as well as contributing to climate change, would destroy hundreds of acres of wildlife habitat that is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest on the Clyde Estuary.

Ruth Davis said: “If this is to be a real 'green letter day' for the climate, the end of Kingsnorth must also signal the end for dirty coal, full-stop. The Government in Westminster now has a fantastic opportunity to start again with a clear slate, and implement a truly sustainable energy policy for the UK. We also call on Ayrshire power and the Scottish Government to abandon plans for the climate wrecking power station at Hunterston to help realise this goal.”

This autumn, the Government will introduce a new Energy Bill to Parliament, offering a real chance to get the UK’s energy policy on the right track.

The RSPB said it and its supporters will be campaigning to make sure that the Bill includes the tough pollution standards for all power plants, which are needed to create a zero-carbon power sector by 2030.

There also needs to be increased investment in Carbon Capture and Storage technology, which takes the emissions from coal stations and buries them underground.

Ruth Davis said: “Power stations that capture all their carbon emissions in this way offer the chance to dramatically reduce emissions from fossil fuels, yet successive governments have put off making the investment needed. This isn't good enough. There are CCS projects out there waiting for the green light - projects which, unlike Kingsnorth, will not produce millions of tonnes of new carbon dioxide pollution."

“When we get the Energy Bill we are looking for, we will know that today's announcement by E.On really did signal the dawn of a new era of green, clean power for the UK. Until then, this is just a welcome step on the way.”

Supporting clean energy technology

2009-10-09T11:57:00.001+05:30

DOE announces USD87 million in funding to support solar energy technologies

At the opening of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Solar Decathlon on the National Mall, Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced up to USD87 million will be made available to support the development of new solar energy technologies and the rapid deployment of available carbon-free solar energy systems. Of this funding, USD50 million comes from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The 47 projects with universities, electric power utilities, DOE's national laboratories, and local governments have been selected to support use of solar technologies in U.S. cities, help address technical challenges, ensure reliable connectivity with the electrical grid, and train a new generation of solar workers to install and maintain solar energy systems. These projects will help speed adoption of solar energy nationwide, while supporting development of a skilled workforce, and continuing to pursue new scientific breakthroughs to increase the efficiency and lower the cost of solar technologies.

"Today's awards are among the many investments made to create new jobs and a clean energy future with solar power. The projects will help accelerate the use of solar energy by residents, businesses and communities, and promote the long-term viability of solar energy by investing in the technologies of the future" said Secretary Chu. "I applaud each of these award winners who are vital to moving our country towards a sustainable solar infrastructure."

The selected projects will help accelerate the commercialisation of solar technologies in an effort to achieve cost-competitive solar electricity by 2015, in addition to developing advanced solar technologies for the future. Projects focus on both technology improvements and the elimination of market barriers to help make solar electricity accessible to a wide variety of consumers.

Conventional oil production is likely to peak before 2030

2009-10-08T13:16:00.005+05:30

A new report by the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC) argues that conventional oil production is likely to peak before 2030, with a significant risk of a peak before 2020. The report concludes that the UK government is not alone in being unprepared for such an event, despite oil supplying a third of the world’s energy.

The report finds that we are entering an era of slow and expensive oil as resources get harder to find, extract and produce.

Major new discoveries, such as those announced recently in the Gulf of Mexico, will only delay the peak by a matter of days or weeks. Simply maintaining global production at today’s level would need the equivalent of a new Saudi Arabia every three years.

According to the report’s chief author, Steve Sorrell, senior researcher at UKERC, “In our view, forecasts which delay a peak in conventional oil production until after 2030 are at best optimistic and at worst implausible.

"And given the world's overwhelming dependence upon oil and the time required to develop alternatives, 2030 isn't far away. The concern is that rising oil prices will encourage the rapid development of carbon-intensive alternatives which will make it difficult or impossible to prevent dangerous climate change.”

The report defends more optimistic estimates of the size of oil resources but notes that much of this is in smaller less accessible fields which may only be produced relatively slowly and at high cost. It also highlights the accelerating decline in production from existing fields; more than two thirds of current crude oil production capacity may need to be replaced by 2030 to prevent production from falling.

Steve Sorrell: “It makes no sense to provide precise forecasts of when a peak in oil production will occur. The data is unreliable, there are multiple factors to consider and a ‘bumpy plateau’ seems more likely than a sharp peak. But we can say that the window is narrowing rapidly. The effects of global oil depletion will depend greatly on the response from governments and on the scale of investment in new energy technologies.”

UKERC’s report is the first study to take an independent, thorough and systematic review of the evidence and arguments in the ‘peak oil’ debate. It addresses the following question: What evidence is there to support the proposition that the global supply of ‘conventional oil’ will be constrained by physical depletion before 2030?

Masdar City launches energy management pilot project

2009-10-04T22:12:00.014+05:30

Masdar City and GE Consumer & Industrial announced today a landmark pilot program that will investigate the reduction of peak power demand through the use of smart home appliances.

Involving some of the first residents of Masdar City – the world’s first carbon neutral, zero waste city being built in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi – the program will test how GE smart (or Demand Response enabled) appliances and Home Energy Manager (HEM) can lower power demand in the home and across the city.

GE specifically designed and manufactured the appliances and networks for this pilot, which leverages Masdar City’s status as a cleantech cluster and one-of-a-kind “living laboratory” for exciting new sustainability technologies. The equipment will be installed in early 2010 in the first building to be completed at Masdar City, the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology.

“The GE smart appliances used in the pilot will be the first in the world to provide two-way communication and built-in advanced energy management functionality that will reduce power demand in response to notification of changing utility prices and energy demand, while also measuring and transmitting real-time power consumption data,” explained GE Consumer & Industrial President and CEO James Campbell. “Participating in such a significant, globally relevant experience by bringing leadership technology to this program is extremely exciting for our business.”

“This is truly a historic venture for both GE and Masdar,” explained Steve Fludder, Vice President of GE’s ecomagination initiative. “We are building on the commitment GE and Masdar announced the first of this year to collaborate on sustainable business solutions and to develop new and innovative technologies. This pilot program will provide a residential technology solution that supports broader GE ecomagination and Masdar goals.”

Ten of the Masdar Institute’s 100 residences will participate in the two-year pilot project. The information developed from the program will not only provide important early feedback in testing consumers’ energy-consumption behavior in the face of Demand-Response technology, but it also will assist Masdar City in planning and designing its smart power grid in order to achieve its carbon-neutral, zero-waste, 100%-renewable-energy-powered objectives.

“This is a significant milestone in the realisation of our vision to see Masdar City become not only a global centre of research and development in renewable energy and clean technologies but also a unique metropolitan-scale test bed for these new technologies,” said Masdar CEO Dr. Sultan Al Jaber. “Working with industry-leading partners such as GE, Masdar City is creating a community of prominent companies, organizations and academic institutions committed to finding solutions to humankind’s toughest challenges.”

The Masdar City pilot project comes as part of the broader relationship between GE and the Mubudala Development Company, of which Masdar is a wholly owned subsidiary, which extends to a broad range of initiatives in the fields of aviation, commercial finance, industry and corporate learning.

Masdar City, whose first phase of construction is set to finish by 2013, has already attracted a number of leading international entities. In addition to GE – an anchor partner that will build in the city its first ecomagination Center focused on sustainable business solutions – the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) announced in June that it would locate its new global headquarters in Masdar City. As well, the Masdar Institute is cooperating with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to offer courses focused on education and research in advanced energy solutions and sustainable technologies.

How the Masdar City Pilot Program Will Work

The pilot residences in the Masdar Institute building will be equipped with a Home Energy Manager and European-style and size demand response-enabled refrigerators, cooktops and combination clothes washers/dryers that work on 220volt/50HZ platforms. During the pilot, the HEM and appliances will receive signals from the grid, which will simulate peak energy usage periods. In response, the HEM and smart appliances will customize the appliances’ responses to save energy, reducing energy demand on the grid.

For example, the HEM and refrigerator will receive a signal that electricity prices are going up. When the refrigerator gets that signal, it can delay the defrost cycle and raise the temperature inside the refrigerator by a couple of degrees, thereby saving energy and money. When the refrigerator receives a signal that electricity prices have gone down, it will defrost the refrigerator and return the internal temperature to the original setting. The entire process does not require any involvement of the person living in the pilot residence, unless they choose to override the demand response function.

GE’s Demand Response and Home Energy Manager Technology:

Energy Home Manager- the central nervous system to the home that will enable consumers not only to monitor their energy usage and generation but also manage their energy use in the most cost effective manner. The energy manager can help the consumer determine when they should use energy from the grid, use stored energy, or self generated energy or other sources.

Energy Optimization/Demand Response Appliances- GE will enable consumers to manage their control costs and energy consumption while helping the grid shed load, reducing the need for more power generation. GE plans to be the first manufacturer to offer a full suite of demand response appliances that will work with utility smart meters to help shed load from the grid and consumers save money during peak usage and pricing times. These appliances work with smart meters to delay or reduce energy use without major interruption to consumer’s lifestyles by giving them control over their energy use.

Carrying forward energy efficiency and conservation

2009-10-02T14:26:00.001+05:30

Obama administration delivers nearly USD72 million for energy efficiency and conservation projects in 7 states and territories

US Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced that nearly USD72 million in funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is being awarded to 7 states and territories to support energy efficiency and conservation activities. Under the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) program, these states will implement programs that lower energy use, reduce carbon pollution, and create green jobs locally.

"This funding will allow states across the country to make major investments in energy solutions that will strengthen America's economy and create jobs at the local level," said Secretary Chu. "It will also promote some of the cheapest, cleanest and most reliable energy technologies we have – energy efficiency and conservation – which can be deployed immediately. Local communities can now make strategic investments to help meet the nation's long term clean energy and climate goals."
States and territories receiving funding today include: Idaho, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Puerto Rico, South Dakota, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Today's awards to the State Energy Offices will be used to support state-level energy efficiency priorities, along with funding local conservation projects in smaller cities and counties. At least 60 per cent of each state's award will be passed through to local cities and counties not eligible for direct EECBG awards from the Department of Energy. The EECBG Program was funded for the first time by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and provides formula grants to states, cities, counties, territories and federally-recognised Indian tribes nationwide to implement energy efficiency projects locally.

Projects eligible for support include the development of energy efficiency and conservation strategy, energy efficiency audits and retrofits, transportation programs, the creation of financial incentive programs for energy efficiency improvements, the development and implementation of advanced building codes and inspections, and installation of renewable energy technologies on municipal buildings.

Transparency and accountability are important priorities for the EECBG program and all Recovery Act projects. All grantees have specific measures they must take before spending the full amount of awarded funding, such as ensuring oversight and transparency, submitting a conservation strategy to the Department of Energy, and complying with environmental regulations.

Throughout the program's implementation, DOE will provide strong oversight at the local, state, and tribal level, while emphasising the need to quickly award funds to help create new jobs and stimulate local economies. Communities will be required to report regularly to DOE on the progress they have made toward successfully completing projects and reaching program goals.

Hydro projects investigation for future safety

2009-10-01T15:17:00.001+05:30

Sayano-Sushenskaya Hydro Power Plant Photo: Sayano Shushenskaja GESPutin calls for investigation of Russian hydropower plants after Sayano-Shushenskaya disaster

Nearly a month after the accident at the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydropower plant in Siberia claimed 75 lives, Russian Premier Vladimir Putin has called for a thorough investigation of all hydropower ventures in the country. Stressing the need for a comprehensive and objective examination process, Putin demanded that an initial investigation be carried out regarding hydroelectric equipment, which plays a crucial role in the safety of the entire facilities.

Putin also expressed the need for control mechanisms to be strengthened at the state level, as the power plant in question had met with an accident in spite of obtaining all necessary licenses and permits. The facility had also undergone an inspection last year.

Putin expressed the opinion that compromising plant safety by subcontracting crucial functions to inexperienced third-party service providers, as well as cutting costs on safety-related measures, was detrimental to safety at these power plants. Putin proposed setting up monitoring mechanisms at hydropower dams and other crucial installations, similar to the "black boxes" on airplanes. Coordinated control between the systemic operator and individual plant-specific management and contractors was also suggested to alleviate future crisis situations.

With the Deputy Premier Igor Sechin accusing former personnel at the Sayano-Shushenskaya station of adopting unfair methods to secure work tenders for the project, Putin has also ordered a crackdown on corruption within the government.

Meanwhile, RusHydro OJSC (Moscow, Russia), the operator of the plant, has let the law take its course in nailing the guilty in this matter. The company is expected to incur significant expenditure in repairing damages caused by the disaster. According to RusHydro sources, the restoration process is expected to take a few months to complete. However, Putin has said that the plant will commence operations next year, and Emergencies Minister Sergei Shoigu has alleged that repair processes will last a few years. It is unclear how long it will take the project to get back on track.

The accident at the Sayano-Shushenskaya power plant in Siberia occurred on August 17, when the roof of the main turbine hall collapsed after the explosion of an oil-filled transformer, flooding the entire structure and trapping workers in rooms beneath the hall. Although the exact cause of the accident has not been determined, it has been attributed to a hydraulic fault, which resulted in the forced shutdown of all 10 power units of the plant. The oil spillage from the unit has formed a 3-mile oil slick on the Yenisei River. However, there was no damage to the dam structure.

Research for environmentally responsible use of resources

2009-10-01T10:21:00.003+05:30

The Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres and the University of Alberta in Canada have announced plans to intensify their research collaboration, particularly in the areas of Energy and Earth and Environment. The President of the Helmholtz Association, Prof. Jürgen Mlynek, and the President of the University of Alberta, Prof. Indira Samarasekera, signed a Memorandum of Understanding in the presence of government representatives.

The partnership is slated to last for several years and will cover research topics such as the environmentally responsible use of oil sands, carbon capture and storage (CCS), geothermal energy, land and water restoration and recultivation and landscape design. “We will bring our expertise to the table to help other countries use these important energy resources in an environmentally friendly way. The partnership also opens up new opportunities for technology transfer and collaboration with business and industry,” said Mlynek.

The Helmholtz-Alberta initiative will also incorporate the research competences of both partners to study how the oil sands deposits of Alberta, the largest in the world, can be used in an environmentally responsible manner.

“This is a large source of raw material for meeting global energy demands in the foreseeable future. In the past, however, extracting it has had a serious impact on the environment,” said Mlynek. Significant amounts of energy are needed to extract and refine the material, which is a type of bitumen. Extracting oil sands also requires large quantities of water, which then need to be retreated. In addition, strip mining severely damages the landscape, necessitating careful recultivation.

Four Helmholtz Centres have already joined the initiative: the Helmholtz Centre Potsdam – German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ), the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) and Forschungszentrum Jülich.

With 36,000 students and an annual budget of CAD500 million, the University of Alberta is one of Canada’s most important universities. Due to its close proximity to large deposits of oil sands, the institution performs a great deal of research on the substance.

Milestone in recovery act awards for clean energy projects

2009-09-23T15:06:00.002+05:30

Geithner, Chu hold roundtable discussion with energy companies on expanding development of clean, domestic sources of energy

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and Energy Secretary Steven Chu hosted a group of clean energy developers and manufacturers at the White House to discuss how the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) is creating jobs and helping expand the development of clean, renewable domestic energy. At the meeting, Secretaries Geithner and Chu announced USD550 million in new awards through the Recovery Act's 1603 program, bringing the total to more than USD1 billion awarded to date to companies committed to investing in domestic renewable energy production.

"This Recovery Act program is an example of a true federal partnership with the private sector," said Treasury Secretary Geithner. "Not only are our Recovery dollars meeting an immediate funding need among innovative companies, they are also jumpstarting private sector investment in communities across the country - with benefits for the renewable energy industry and our economy alike."

Secretary Chu said, "These investments are crucial to ensuring America can compete and win in the race for the clean energy jobs of the future. With American workers and American innovation, we can and must lead the world when it comes to the new Industrial Revolution in clean energy."

Created under Section 1603 of the Recovery Act, the program provides cash assistance to energy producers in place of tax credits. The payments improve project viability, enabling companies to create and retain jobs, and establish sufficient financing bases for projects that may otherwise not be possible, dramatically expanding and accelerating the development of renewable energy projects throughout the country. Under this program, the federal government provides cash payment in lieu of a tax credit totalling 30 per cent of the qualifying cost of the project; for each federal dollar spent in payments, more than two dollars are spent in private sector investments.

Today the Treasury Department will make the second round of awards, all of which will be made in half the statutorily mandated turnaround time of 60 days. The first round of awards totalling USD502 million was announced on September 1, 2009. The new announcement provides an additional USD550 million.

Building energy efficiency programmes in Europe and Australia

2009-09-21T11:11:00.002+05:30

Offer important lessons for the United States, study finds

The United States can become more energy efficient and create more "green" jobs by adopting some of the strategies used by the European Union and Australia to rate and disclose the performance of commercial and government-owned buildings, according to a new RAND Corporation study.

The study finds that wealthier countries use more than a third of their energy to heat, cool and illuminate buildings, but not always efficiently. Recent steps taken by the European Union and Australia to inspect, rate and publicly disclose the energy efficiency of buildings indicate the buildings use less energy and are worth more when sold or leased.

The buildings sector has unique characteristics that make design of energy efficiency policies particularly challenging: transactions are infrequent, capital costs are high, and the variability of design and siting makes energy efficiency comparisons difficulty. Often, owners must bear the costs of efficiency improvements while costs savings are obtained by tenants.

"Nevertheless, investments in renovation and energy-aware construction should be part of a green jobs strategy," said Charles Ries, the report's lead author and senior fellow at RAND, a nonprofit research organisation. "If the United States wants to be a global competitor in green building technology, it can learn from the ways in which information disclosure, building codes, financial incentives and benchmarking have been used in Europe and Australia."

In examining the recent efforts in the EU and the Australian Commonwealth to promote energy efficiency, researchers focused on five key policy tools: building codes, energy efficiency ratings, the role of public buildings, the training and certification of experts, and the issuance of tradable "white certificates."

Building codes have been effective in improving energy efficiency in new buildings and in buildings undergoing major refurbishments because they are mandatory and have specific requirements. However, codes are slow to have a significant effect on energy use because at most three per cent of a nation's building stock is newly constructed or renovated, the study finds. The EU now requires all member nations to have energy efficiency elements in building codes, and the EU codes must be reviewed every five years.

Since a building's good energy performance can be attractive to potential buyer or tenant, the EU has made presenting a standardised rating of a building's energy efficiency before or at the time of sale or lease an integral part of its approach.

In 2002, the EU began requiring energy performance certificates be presented for all building sales or rentals. Some Australian states also require energy efficiency certificates. The ratings may be based on a building's design characteristics, energy performance, or both. Many highly rated building designs fail to perform up to potential, however, often because of the way they are managed or because of tenant behaviour.

"Incentives may be needed to improve the energy efficiency of older, poorly performing buildings where the biggest aggregate gains are to be made," Ries said.

"Ratings systems should be designed to allow for achievable improvements for older buildings, so the perfect is not the enemy of the good."

For public buildings, the EU requires that energy efficiency ratings be posted in a prominent place, typically at the entrance. In Australia, several jurisdictions have policies that set a minimum "Green Star" voluntary rating for any building that is leased or purchased for government use. The RAND study recommends that public building ratings be based on measured energy performance rather than design characteristics alone.

Researchers find that implementing the program throughout Europe has taken time as governments create benchmarks for efficiency ratings, and inspectors have had to be trained to assess buildings and given credentials. The EU is considering amending the system, notably to require a building's energy grade be included in all property advertisements.

In Australia, the states of New South Wales and Victoria issued "white certificates" that could be sold to utilities and big energy users who are required to reduce energy use under the states' cap-and-trade programs. Ries said the effort shows promise, but in some cases third party aggregators distributed low-cost energy saving equipment (compact fluorescent bulbs or low-flow showerheads, for example) to homeowners in order to claim the white certificates. Subsequent studies have shown not all the equipment was actually used and the program had to be changed.

New proposals being considered include a buildings-only cap-and-trade system in which owners of large buildings are given energy savings obligations that can be met either directly, or by buying certificates from better-performing buildings. Such a system would provide more incentives for owners and users to operate buildings more efficiently, the authors find.

Among the report's key considerations for U.S. policymakers:

•Building-materials manufacturers will be able to better standardise their products if there is regional consistency in the energy efficiency requirements for building codes. This will provide relatively quick benefits. For the long term, performance codes should also be considered, with expanded use of building codes accompanied by aggressive training and quality-assurance programs for inspectors.

•Energy Performance Certificates should be understandable and meaningful enough to affect marketplace behaviour. Moreover, they should be required to be used in property advertisements and listings.

•Widespread energy efficiency gains are possible only through retrofitting and making operational improvements to existing buildings. Energy use monitoring, as well as incentives, inspection and improvement recommendation systems are essential.

•Public buildings should continue to be a test bed for new energy-saving ideas and should promote awareness of building energy-performance levels.

•Building energy-efficiency programs can play an important part of a cap-and-trade program for reducing emissions of carbon dioxide. A ratings system, along with a cadre of trained and licensed experts to conduct the ratings, is crucial to any roll-out of a broad-based "white certificate" program.

China to get clean coal technology soon

2009-09-18T13:50:00.000+05:30

Southern Company has announced that China will be the site for the first worldwide commercial implementation of the Transport Integrated Gasification (TRIG) technology for producing low-emission coal-based electricity.

TRIG is an advanced integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) technology that produces electricity with lower emissions than traditional coal power plants. It also is compatible with lower rank coals that are abundant in China.

The technology was developed by Southern Company, KBR Inc., and other partners, including the US Department of Energy, at the DOE's research facility in Wilsonville, Ala., that is managed and operated by Southern Company.

Under the terms of their technology licensing arrangements with KBR Inc., the companies will provide Beijing Guoneng Yinghui Clean Energy Engineering Co., Ltd. with licensing, engineering services and proprietary equipment for the implementation of TRIG technology at a power plant operated by Dongguan Tianming Electric Power Co., Ltd. (Dongguan TMEP) in Guandong Province, Peoples Republic of China.

At the Dongguan TMEP facility, TRIG technology will be added to an existing gas turbine combined cycle plant so that it can use clean synthetic gas from coal as its fuel for generating electricity, rather than fuel oil.

"China's rapid growth vividly demonstrates the global need for advanced technologies to ensure reliable, affordable and cleaner supplies of energy," said Southern Company Chairman, President and CEO David Ratcliffe. "This plant will demonstrate that TRIG offers an effective technological solution to these challenges."

The 120-megawatt Dongguan TMEP plant, expected to begin operation in 2011, would demonstrate an example of advanced U.S. IGCC technology that is being developed in partnership between the DOE and industry. This IGCC technology is compatible with carbon capture, and its deployment in China is an important step toward positioning IGCC for future integration with carbon capture technology.

Home-based CHP plants in Germany

2009-09-17T14:28:00.003+05:30

A Zuhause-Kraftwerk plant. Photo:Thomas Leibig

European automobile giant Volkswagen AG and renewable energy company Lichtblick AG have announced plans to jointly launch mini home-based power plants in Germany by the spring of 2010. The combined heat and power (CHP) generating units, which will provide a flexible and decentralised supply of power, are expected to open new avenues in the intelligent energy systems market.

Volkswagen will act as the technology partner, while Lichtblick will handle marketing and distribution activities.

The CHP plants will be based on Volkswagen's Ecoblue technology, which is also used in the company's Golf car model in Europe and other models sold in North America. Lichtblick will market the power generating units under the name of Zuhause-Kraftwerk in Germany.

Lichtblick, a privately funded energy company, addresses the energy requirements of 15,000 commercial establishments and about 500,000 households in the country. Established in 1998, the company is a fully owned subsidiary of Turina Holding GmbH & Company (Hamburg).

What is CHP?

Cogeneration (also combined heat and power, CHP) is the use of a heat engine or a power station to simultaneously generate both electricity and useful heat.

Conventional power plants emit the heat created as a by-product of electricity generation into the environment through cooling towers, flue gas, or by other means.
CHP or a bottoming cycle captures the by-product heat for domestic or industrial heating purposes, either very close to the plant, or – especially in Scandinavia and eastern Europe – as hot water for district heating with temperatures ranging from approximately 80 to 130 °C. This is also called decentralized energy.

In the United States, Con Edison distributes 30 billion pounds of 350 °F/180 °C steam each year through its seven cogeneration plants to 100,000 buildings in Manhattan – the biggest steam district in the world. The peak delivery is 10 million pounds per hour (corresponding to approx. 2.5 GW) This steam distribution system is the reason for the steaming manholes often seen in "gritty" New York based movies.

By-product heat at moderate temperatures (212-356°F/100-180°C) can also be used in absorption chillers for cooling. A plant producing electricity, heat and cold is sometimes called trigeneration or more generally: polygeneration plant.

Cogeneration is a thermodynamically efficient use of fuel. In separate production of electricity some energy must be rejected as waste heat, but in cogeneration this thermal energy is put to good use.

Source: Wikipedia

A Zuhause-Kraftwerk plant, which will operate on the Ecoblue natural-gas-fired turbine system, will also be configured to run on biogas in the future. The units can produce electricity on demand within 60 seconds, and can store the heat produced during electricity generation.

The heat will be used for warming water and providing centralised heating for the household. The unit will also consist of a computerised smart-metering system, which will link the household to the energy utility and the grid.

In case of a power shortfall, this feature will enable the household to transfer any surplus electricity back to the grid at short notice. Industry experts say that the Zuhause-Kraftwerk units will be a big advantage in harnessing the huge renewable energy potential in Germany and also offset the possible unpredictability of power supply from these sources.

The Zuhause-Kraftwerk plants are expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions up to 60 per cent. Energy experts are optimistic that this technology will help Germany gradually phase out coal-based and nuclear power plants. The Zuhause-Kraftwerk plant will have an efficiency of about 94 per cent, compared to 30 per cent to 40 per cent efficiency of nuclear reactors.

There are plans to pay a small rent to households that install the Zuhause-Kraftwerk units and also provide a year-end bonus to homes, based on the revenues generated by Lichtblick. A feed-in tariff system will also be implemented to decide on the payment for surplus electricity purchased by the energy utility from households.

Lichtblick plans to launch the units in Hamburg, followed by other locations in the country in a phased manner. Volkswagen's Salzgitter plant, which will manufacture equipment for these mini plants, is expected to add 160 new jobs. The company has initially targeted power generation of approximately 2,000 megawatts through these units.

The Ecoblue system can only be installed in households that are linked to Germany's gas pipeline network. About 50 per cent of German households receive gas through the pipeline system, while the rest use oil to fulfil their energy needs. The cost of a Zuhause-Kraftwerk power generating system will be about 5,000 Euros (USD7,300). In the coming years, Lichtblick plans to install about 100,000 such power plants in the country.

Volkswagen has prior experience in energy generation. The company operates cogeneration power plants in Mlada Boleslaw in the Czech Republic, and Emden, Hanover, Wolfsburg and Kassel in Germany.

The company, which is the largest carmaker in Europe, operates 61 production facilities and employs 370,000 people worldwide. In a recent development, Volkswagen and Porsche entered into an agreement to merge their businesses by 2011. As part of the deal, Volkswagen will purchase a 42 per cent stake in Porsche at a reported 3.3 billion Euros (USD4.7 billion) by the end of this year.

Germany's energy-generation sector is dominated by oil, which accounts for 38 per cent of the power produced in the country. Coal, gas, nuclear power and hydropower account for 26 per cent, 24 per cent, 11 per cent and 1 per cent, respectively. Germany has set a target to generate at least 45 per cent of its energy demand from renewable sources from 2030. Energy sector analysts have observed that the distribution of Zuhause-Kraftwerk units, which should be fairly commonplace by this time, will contribute significantly toward achieving this target.

Indian power sector faces funds shortage

2009-09-16T23:28:00.002+05:30

The Indian power sector is hampered by a shortage of funds of about USD102 billion in power-generation projects. The Indian Minister of State for Power, Bharatsinh Solanki, presented the grim scenario while addressing "India–Electricity 2009," a three-day trade fair organized in New Delhi late last week by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry.

Solanki said that the country's power sector is facing several obstacles, including threats of relatively less expensive Chinese equipment being dumped in the country, the lack of a level playing field in India's power sector, the high cost of debt, and disparities in duties and taxes.

Other issues that plague the Indian power sector include viability of projects, marketing risks, operational inefficiencies, and inadequate fuel supplies.

Solanki suggested that the exposure limit of banks, international institutional investors and non-banking firms should be increased from 20 per cent to 30 per cent for individual borrowers, and from 50 per cent to 70 per cent for group borrowers in order to enable timely financial closure of power projects.

He also suggested that external commercial borrowings by financial institutions such as Rural Electrification Corporation Limited and Power Finance Corporation Limited should be brought under the automatic route, and should not require approval from the Reserve Bank of India.

India aims to achieve a target of 350,000 megawatts (MW) of power-generation capacity addition by 2017, which would require an annual addition of 27,000 MW of power-generation capacity. Recent estimates reveal that India has a very low per capita consumption of power at 600 kilowatts (kW), compared to 10,000 kW in the United Arab Emirates, 8,000 kW in the United States, and 1,800 kW in China. The country's power sector is estimated to require investments of about USD600 billion.

Solanki said that while the country's power sector presents immense opportunities, it requires long-term commitment and planning to overcome low growth, slow pace of implementation, obsolete technology, and low-performing power plants in terms of plant load factor and thermal inefficiency. The minister stressed the need for support to the power sector in development of supercritical technology and equipment manufacture.

The Indian power sector has a shortage of key players ranging from equipment suppliers to contractors, with Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited the only major supplier of power plant equipment in the country. The situation is further aggravated with only a handful of balance-of-plant suppliers operating in the country. As a result, power projects that have attained financial closure and could be commissioned within a period of 32 months now require a minimum of 46 months to go on stream.

Solanki also suggested that a national campaign on energy efficiency ought to be launched for propagating energy efficiency measures among all stakeholders and interest groups at the national as well as regional levels, and estimated that such a campaign would enable the country to save 20 per cent to 25 per cent of the current energy use. The Ministry of Power has rolled out the National Mission on Enhanced Energy Efficiency under the National Action Plan on Climate Change, which was launched last year.

Solanki stated that his department is working with the ministries concerned in order to ensure adequate supply of fuels such as natural gas, coal and liquefied natural gas to power plants. Power Secretary H S Brahma also said that about 37 applications for gas-fired power plants, with a combined power generating capacity of 35,000 MW, are pending with the government, primarily due to non-availability of gas.

Brahma said that the ministry is confident of achieving at least 62,000 MW of new power generation capacity against the target of 78,000 MW by the end of the ongoing 11th five-year plan period, 2007-12. The power ministry has requested for an allocation of 40 million metric standard cubic meters per day of gas by 2012, and is confident of generating an additional 8,000 MW by the end of this period if the allocation of gas were to be approved.

Solanki also expressed concern over human resources being lured away from public sector utilities by players in the private sector, but stressed that his department is working towards development of human resources in all the business segments of the power sector.

Australia behind in carbon competitiveness

2009-09-15T10:26:00.002+05:30

Kings Canyon is part of the Watarrka National Park in Northern Territory, Australia. Photo: Ueli FahrniAustralia and most other nations are short of the carbon productivity and competitiveness improvements necessary to stabilise global greenhouse gas concentrations at 450 parts per million (ppm) or lower, according to a report on low carbon competitiveness by Climate Institute.

The G20 Low Carbon Competitiveness Report, prepared by London-based economics consultancy, Vivid Economics, details three indices: the low carbon competitiveness index (how carbon competitive countries currently are), the low carbon productivity index (how quickly their carbon productivity is improving) and the low carbon gap index (whether countries are improving quickly enough to meet their share of the commitments needed to stabilise global greenhouse gas concentrations at the IPCC 450 ppm scenario.

Only Mexico and Argentina are currently improving their carbon productivity rate. Argentina is ranked 13th out of 19 countries. It has the lowest use of air freight out of any of the countries which improves its ranking in the sectoral composition category, but is consistently ranked in the bottom half across all the indicators.

India is a poor performer and is ranked 17th. It has the second lowest score in the early preparation category with carbon intensive electricity being distributed via an inefficient grid. It is a low GDP per capita country where the costs of starting a business are high. Conversely, it has a low per capita use of energy in the transport sector.

The US is ranked tenth; four places behind China and just in front of Mexico. It achieves a top five ranking in the future prosperity category, but has the highest use of energy in the transport sector and the highest use of air freight. It also performs poorly because of high car ownership and relatively low levels of investment in physical capital. Its ranking is boosted by having the highest amount of investment in sustainable energy businesses and a high share of high technology exports, along with low business start-up costs.

South Africa and Germany are close to being on target and China would also be close if it could return to the carbon productivity gains of the 1990s. Australia is 16th with only Turkey, Russia and Saudi Arabia requiring bigger turnarounds to reach this target. The top five positions in the low carbon competitiveness index are held by France, Japan, the UK, South Korea and Germany. Australia is ranked 15th, the lowest position of any industrialised nation.

While its carbon productivity is improving, Australia's low ranking stems from its carbon intensive exports, low use of clean energy and high consumption of transport fuels.

China attains a ranking of sixth, the highest ranking by a non-OECD country. High rates of reforestation and low transport sector energy consumption lead to a strong performance in the sectoral composition category, but it is a poor performer in the early preparation category due to its rapid recent emissions growth and carbon intensive electricity supply. China has the highest rate of investment in physical capital, and also the second highest share of high technology exports in total exports.

The UK's ranking in third place is driven by the fact that its exports are the least carbon intensive of any of the G20 countries. Other notable contributors are its high prices for transport fuels, high reforestation rates, low cost of business start-up procedures and high investments in sustainable energy businesses.

According to the report, Indonesia is the worst performer. It combines low GDP per capita, very high rates of deforestation, an inefficient industrial sector and cheap transport fuels. It performs better in terms of its transport sector (low use of air freight, car ownership and energy consumption in transport) and its relatively high investments in physical capital.

Saudi Arabia, ranked 18th, has a weak performance across all categories and is the bottom ranked country in a number of indicators including use of clean energy, price of transport fuels, population growth, depletion of natural capital and share of high technology exports. One exception to this is investment in human capital, the proportion of education expenditure in GNI, for which Saudi Arabia ranks first.

South Africa comes near the bottom of the index at 16th out of 19. It has low use of air freight and low transport sector energy consumption, but the most carbon intensive exports, high carbon intensity electricity and the second lowest rate of investment in physical capital.

In his preface to the report, Lord Nicholas Stern writes, "a global economic recovery will present an ideal opportunity for countries to shift towards low carbon growth. Countries who don't seize this opportunity will undermine their future competitiveness and prosperity."

"This report underscores the urgency of preventing further handouts for big polluters, for economy wide reforms with a stronger Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme and for more decisive energy efficiency measures to improve Australia's carbon productivity."

Energy consumption affects Spanish forestry

2009-09-13T13:44:00.003+05:30

The felling of eucalyptus forests in Galicia. Photo: Aula Silvicultura/ SINCSpain is one of the leading European countries, along with Sweden, in terms of wood production for paper paste, but this uses large amounts of energy. Spanish and Swedish scientists have compared the environmental load stemming from forestry operations, and have concluded that the Spanish sector uses more energy than the Swedish one. They are proposing improvements, such as the use of biofuels, in order to make forestry production more sustainable.

In order to predict the consequences of forestry operations, the scientists have studied the most important wood species used in making paper paste – the eucalyptus (Eucalyptus globulus) plantations in Spain, and those of the Norway Spruce and Scots Pine in Sweden.

The research study, published recently in the International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, shows that the Swedish system requires less energy than the Spanish one under the same environmental conditions, because of the type and amount of wood produced. Paper paste production and supply in Spain uses 7 per cent more energy in Spain than in Sweden.

"There are large differences, but there are several problematic stages in both countries", Sara González, lead author and a researcher at the University of Santiago de Compostela, who has worked in partnership with the Forestry Research Institute of Sweden in Uppsala, Sweden, tells SINC. The scientist says heavy fertiliser use, the stage of supplying wood to the factory, and the cutting and transport of the wood in the field contribute "considerably" to impacts such as acidification, eutrophication and global warming.

In Spain, the scientists suggest using more effective machinery for the cultivation and harvest stages, since energy consumption in these is higher than in the Swedish case. In Sweden, the researchers propose reducing the amount of wood imported (which comes predominantly from the Baltic states), and the use of trains to deliver wood instead of shipping, which would reduce energy use by up to 40 per cent.

In addition, introducing biofuels such as biomass from forestry itself, would be "an option in both of the cases studied for reducing the environmental impact associated with forestry operations", says González.

The European forestry sector is "extremely multifunctional and provides a broad range of materials, energy and other services used for a more sustainable society", underlines the researcher. According to the scientists, European forests account for 5 per cent of the world total and cover 33 per cent of the land area of Europe. The area covered by European forests is growing by around 0.5 million hectares per year.

How to reduce households emissions?

2009-09-10T14:02:00.004+05:30

Each garbage bag contains 100 grams of carbon dioxide. A household of three people could easily produce enough greenhouse gas emissions in one year to fill 500,000 garbage bags. Photo: CSIROCSIRO scientists say householders can reduce their home and car energy use by as much as 50 per cent by making changes to daily activities.

They explain how in The CSIRO Home Energy Saving Handbook – How to Save Energy, Save Money and Reduce Your Carbon Footprint, launched by Innovation Minister Senator Kim Carr.

“Climate change requires a global solution, but that solution will require action from every individual,” Senator Carr said.

“Australians have a pretty good idea why we need to cut back on our greenhouse emissions. This book tells them how.”

The CSIRO Home Energy Saving Handbook is a practical guide to saving energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions around the home.

It is written by CSIRO Energy Transformed Flagship’s Dr John Wright, Dr Peter Osman and Peta Ashworth.

“When it comes to tackling climate change, people often ask, ‘What can I do?’,” said co-author Dr John Wright.

“As the book explains, there are lots of things that we, as individuals, can do to reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions at home.

“There has never been a more important time to save energy. Not only is it becoming more vital to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, but the pressure on energy prices will be putting an increasing strain on households across the country.

“Just how much energy and money a person can save depends on their current energy use and the number and types of changes they can make. It’s up to them. Even better, the book shows people how it’s possible to cut their energy use without too much impact on their lifestyles.”

The handbook offers information and advice on how to measure and reduce an *individual’s carbon footprint in all aspects of modern living, including:

*simple energy-saving tricks around the house

*maximising a home’s potential for easy heating and cooling

*ways to save on shopping and transport

*making the most of gardens

*tips for building and renovating homes.