By Fernando Nuno / Published on Mon, 2011-08-15 17:30Already today wind power offers low and long-term stable costs of energy and therefore is able to compete with large scale conventional power generation. Using wind power directly for energy intensive industrial processes requires an optimized hybrid configuration as well as a balanced load and/or energy management.
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By Fernando Nuno / Published on Mon, 2011-08-15 16:37There is no unified approach in European regulation of how to calculate primary energy when assessing energy performance of buildings. Instead, member states can decide on their own method of calculation of primary energy. As the share of renewables will progress towards 2050, the primary energy factors for electricity in Europe will also be subject to changes over time.
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Tue, 2011-06-28 04:30Growth expected to continue regardless of circumstances
In May 2011, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a literature study assessment of the contribution of six major renewable energy sources (REs) to the mitigation of climate change. In the majority of the scenarios, REs are expected to become the dominant climate change mitigation option by 2030. The report ranks them ahead of improved energy efficiency, nuclear power, and fossil fuels as well as carbon capture and storage (CCS). RE growth is expected to be the strongest in developing countries.
The IPCC report is based on 164 global scenarios from 16 different large-scale integrated models. The renewables considered are bioenergy, direct solar energy, geothermal energy, hydropower, ocean energy, and wind energy.
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By Fernando Nuno / Published on Tue, 2011-05-10 16:45The cost of losses is a critical input to the planning, design and operational activities of distribution network businesses. Whilst the cost of losses will rarely provide the complete justification for an augmentation project, it will change the relative ranking of alternatives, particularly when comparing development options of different voltages.
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By Fernando Nuno / Published on Tue, 2011-05-10 16:24For several reasons, the world will need an adapted energy system to accommodate its growing population. Climate change, depletion of natural resources and a growing dependence on only a few energy suppliers are a threat to our current system.
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By Fernando Nuno / Published on Thu, 2011-04-28 09:11This talk discusses a plan to power 100% of the world’s energy for all purposes with wind, water, and sunlight (WWS) within the next 20-40 years. The talk starts by reviewing and ranking major proposed energy-related solutions to global warming, air pollution mortality, and energy security while considering other impacts of the proposed solutions, such as on water supply, land use, resource availability, reliability, wildlife, and catastrophic risk.
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Tue, 2011-03-29 04:30Two radically opposed visions
Can we evolve to a post fossil-fuel economy by 2050? A recent study at Stanford University investigated the development of an energy system driven solely by wind, water, and the sun. In contrast to that, the article 'Renewables Won’t Keep the Lights On' by Euan Mearns, which appeared in the Oil Drum, sketched a pitch-black view of our energy future and considered nuclear energy the only reasonable option. The fact that both scenarios are possible in terms of energy flows has already been well-argued by David MacKay in his book 'Sustainable Energy Without the Hot Air'. Unlike MacKay, however, the Stanford University and Euan Mearns texts also take the cost of the future energy system into account. It is interesting that they arrive at two radically different conclusions. It should be noted that both articles were written before the Fukushima accident in Japan.
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Tue, 2011-01-18 05:30State of affairs as of 01/01/11
In 2007, Leonardo Energy reported the inauguration of the 11 MW PV plant in Serpa, Portugal. For a short time, it was the world’s largest plant of its kind. Four years later however, it has dropped to 94th place in the world ranking.
This shows just how fast the market of solar energy has been evolving in recent years.
The current top five are as follows:
- Sarnia, Ontario, Canada: 97 MWp
- Montalto di Castro, Italy: 84 MWp
- Finsterwalde, Germany: 81 MWp
- Rovigo, Italy: 70 MWp
- Olmedilla, Spain: 60 MWp
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Tue, 2011-01-11 05:30
This is not a light bulb...
Incandescent light bulbs are often criticized for having a luminous efficiency of only 5%. However, flip-flop your perception and you have a device with a heating efficiency of 95%. Change the name from 'light bulb' into 'heatball', and same device transmogrifies from efficiency Class F to efficiency Class A.
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By Fernando Nuno / Published on Sun, 2011-01-09 20:28Development and use of Renewable Energy Sources is one of the key elements in European Electricity Research. However, connecting energy sources such as photovoltaics and wind turbines to the electricity grid causes significant effects on these networks. Bottlenecks are stability, security, peaks in supply & demand and overall management of the grid. Energy storage systems provide means to overcome technical and economic hurdles for large-scale introduction of distributed sustainable energy sources.
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By Fernando Nuno / Published on Fri, 2011-01-07 17:15Development and use of Renewable Energy Sources is one of the key elements in European Electricity Research. However, connecting energy sources such as photovoltaics and wind turbines to the electricity grid causes significant effects on these networks. Bottlenecks are stability, security, peaks in supply & demand and overall management of the grid. Energy storage systems provide means to overcome technical and economic hurdles for large-scale introduction of distributed sustainable energy sources.
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By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Wed, 2010-12-22 05:00On the energy vision of Bill Gates
In an interview appearing in MIT Technology Review by Editor-in-chief Jason Pontin last August, Bill Gates criticized the systems of feed-in tariffs and tax rebates for renewable energy. It was his opinion that taxpayer’s dollars would be better spent on research. As could be expected, the interview provoked a firestorm of controversy and many heated discussions are still ricocheting around the Internet regarding his position.
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By HDK / Published on Thu, 2010-10-14 16:40This is a selection of articles that appeared on the Sustainable Energy Blog over the past four years. They are discussions that are as timely today as when first posted. The collection is certainly not an exhaustive, all-embracing overview. However it does attempt to present a broad spectrum of themes, issues, and opinions that have been flying around in the world of sustainable energy in recent years.
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