By Bruno De Wachter / Published on Tue, 2009-04-21 12:47
Potential production capacity far overrated
The Office of Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) headquartered in Rotterdam and headed up by the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, has developed a master plan for large-scale wind energy production in the North Sea. The operative adjective here is large-scale. The plan projects a potential annual production of 13,400 TWh by 2050.
The principal idea is to develop a huge ring of wind farms on offshore marine sites in the Exclusive Economic Zones of Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, and the UK and to connect them by a power cable super ring. Such a ring would enable fewer connections with the coast, avoiding the necessity of connecting every wind farm with the grid separately.
The plan sounds good and looks brilliant. The trouble is that it appallingly neglects some basic technical aspects of wind energy. A quick verification of the annual production figure leads one to suspect that OMA simply "forgot" to take a capacity factor into account...
Read full story
By Isabelle Heriakian / Published on Tue, 2008-09-23 16:32
The EU-Asia Power Quality Initiative (APQI) was launched on September 19 in Beijing. As a project implemented by the International Copper Association (China) and co-funded by the European Commission's Asia-Invest program, APQI is geared to help China improve quality management for its electric power in order to facilitate energy saving, emission reduction, as well as companies' competitiveness. The project will also cover other Asian countries, including India, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, as well as the Philippines.
Read full story
By Hans Nilsson / Published on Mon, 2008-05-12 09:27
No doubt it is good that the European Union is able to enroll as many as possible into the forces to make positive changes for the future. Now the “Covenant of mayors” is underway, and it is certainly good to secure commitments from high-level politicians and important cities all over Europe.
Read full story
By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Fri, 2007-07-13 11:04
The Euro WhiteCert Project supports the conceptual and technical development of tradable white certificates systems covering energy savings and energy efficiency.
Read full story
By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Mon, 2007-06-18 15:20
In several European countries, the liberalisation process has progressed at varying speeds. Despite the fact that no straightforward path to success has emerged, there is a general lesson to be learned: Electricity market liberalisation is not an event. It is a long process that requires strong and sustained political commitment, extensive and detailed preparation, and continuous development to allow for necessary improvements while sustaining ongoing investment.
Read full story
By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Mon, 2007-05-07 13:40
Recognising the very large, growing number of slum residents lacking legal, safe and affordable access to electricity in developing countries, the International Copper Association (ICA), in cooperation with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), launched the Slum Electrification and Loss Reduction Program (SELR) in October 2005. One of the selected cities was São Paulo in Brazil, in which was identified Paraisópolis, a slum area in the middle of the city, to develop a pilot project in partnership with AES Eletropaulo, local utility; Nexans, cable manufacturer and Itaipu, transformer manufacturer.
Read full story
By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Wed, 2007-03-21 09:43
There is a wealth of information on electricity and energy on the internet, but it is largely unstructured, and a lot of it is unqualified, and very often the most valuable resources on specific subjects are hard to find.
Leonardo ENERGY's EvaluaRe (Evaluate Resources) project proposes a methodology to categorise internet-based open resources on electricity & energy, while reviewing them using a formal and validated methodology.
Status
The project is completed. A white paper on resource evaluation has been developed and peer reviewed.
Read full story
By Sergio Ferreira / Published on Wed, 2007-02-07 16:06
Leonardo ENERGY launches its 'potentials' project
Our energy system is like an immense tomato garden. Some tomato plants are ripe and ready for harvest (e.g. energy efficiency), but sometimes we don't harvest them, because we don't know how to find them. They are hidden in some remote corner of the garden. Other plants are a bit green, but with loving care, might grow up (e.g. some renewable technologies). On the other hand, we may be watering some plants that are already past expiry.
Read full story
Energy Technology Watch
By Sergio Ferreira / Published on Wed, 2007-01-31 18:17
This Leonardo ENERGY Community of Practice looks at energy technology from 2 perspectives:
- A broad view, assessing readiness for market and life-cycle stage of energy technologies
- Facilitating market introduction of selected new technologies
The group is moderated by Sergio Ferreira.
Read full story
Energy Efficiency
By Sergio Ferreira / Published on Mon, 2007-01-15 17:16
The EU's aims at 20% energy savings by 2020. Leonardo ENERGY provides here an information point on the latest developments and technologies towards reaching that target in the EU and improving efficiency across the world.
Read full story
By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Fri, 2006-11-10 12:19
Summary
The aim of the SEEDT project is to increase awareness of market actors and to suggest strategies which will promote the choice of energy efficient DTs, so that the aforementioned potential for energy savings is achieved.
Read full story
By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Thu, 2006-08-31 17:23
Passive-On is a research and dissemination project funded within the Intelligent Energy for Europe SAVE programme. The project aims to promote Passive Houses in warm climates.
Background
The last ten years has seen increasing interest in North Europe in the Passive House construction standard, particularly in Germany. "Passive Houses" are buildings which assure a comfortable indoor climate in winter without the need of a conventional heating system.
Read full story
By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Tue, 2006-08-01 14:08
Leonardo ENERGY has developed an ecodesign toolbox for energy-using equipment, in partnership with material producers, equipment manufacturers and academic organizations. The tool harnesses the full power of the GABI software and database, yet presents a simple interface to users, who need not be experts in lifecycle assessment (LCA). It allows for fast turnaround, yet accurate LCA of equipment such as motors, transformers and cables in up to 3 design alternatives. It can be used for a variety of applications:
Read full story
By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Tue, 2006-05-09 14:42
The international harmonisation initiative SEEEM, for efficient electric motors, will be officially launched at a side event of EEDAL’06 on June 20th 2006 in London.
Electric motors for pumps, fans, compressors, traction, etc. use some 614 TWh per year electricity in industry in Europe: 202 TWh per year worth a staggering Euro 10 billion per year could be saved with more efficient motors and drive systems. 79 million tonnes of CO2 could be saved along this, 45 GWe of power plants would not be needed! (De Keulenaer et al., 2004).
The fact that motor energy efficiency standards are not the same in Europe, the US, Canada, Australia, China, etc. slows the market transformation towards efficiency considerably. The traditional European testing method of motors is not accepted by overseas countries because it is considered not to be accurate enough (stray losses not measured). Many countries have introduced mandatory energy efficiency standards (MEPS) to speed up the replacement of old inefficient motors. In the US and Canada 70% of the newly sold motors are now Eff1 or even better (Premium) efficiency, in Australia 42%. In Europe the Eff 1 sales account still for less than 10%. European motors need to make a big jump forward in the next decade to contribute to the climate and energy goals of the EU.
We now have the pleasure of inviting you with this mail to the official launch of the international motor efficiency initiative SEEEM on June 20th 2006 in London.
We have planned the launch as a one day side event of EEDAL’06. We will have competent speakers from China, Australia, the US and Europe to give us a first hand and up to date review of the status of high efficiency electric motor and drives. The participation to the SEEEM event is free of charge.
The harmonisation of the testing procedures, the introduction of minimal energy efficiency (MEPS) standards and universal labelling is the declared goal of SEEEM: We want to speed up the market introduction of high efficient motors and systems.
SEEEM has been started after EEMODS’05 in Heidelberg/Germany last fall, when Paolo Bertoldi (EC DG JRC) invited for an informal workshop on the harmonization of motor standards. Since then we have gained wide support and have built an organizational structure. A first preparatory meeting of the Technical Advisory Group (Anibal de Almeida, Austin Bonnett, Qin He and Zhang Xin) has been held in April 2006 in New York.
Read full story
By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Tue, 2006-02-14 13:10
The 4EM project was launched in Brussels on January 24-25th, with the aim of promoting the Motor Challenge Programme in the new member states and candidate countries.The project will raise energy efficiency awareness of policy makers and industry in the area through:
Read full story
By Hans De Keulenaer / Published on Sun, 2006-01-08 18:37
Motor driven systems account for more than 60% of the industrial energy use, and their savings potential is substantial. The 'Motor Challenge Program' (MCP) is an initiative promoted by the European Commission that aims to realize this savings potential. It offers technical support, information and recognition to companies who voluntary improve the efficiency of their motor driven systems. The number of companies joining the MCP is growing gradually. The attached briefing paper presents some background on High Efficient Motor Systems, a description of the MCP initiative, the conditions for joining the program and a testimony of MCP partner Johnson & Johnson.
Read full story
