Thread: Fossil Fuel Alternatives

The 4th Largest Economy In The World Just Generated 90 Percent Of The Power It Needs From Renewables

On Sunday, for a brief, shining moment, renewable power output in Germany reached 90 percent of the country’s total electricity demand.

That’s a big deal. On May 8th, at 11 a.m. local time, the total output of German solar, wind, hydropower, and biomass reached 55 gigawatts (GW), just short of the 58 GW consumed by every light bulb, washing machine, water heater and personal computer humming away on Sunday morning. See the graph below, courtesy Agora Energiewende, a German clean energy think tank. (It’s important to note that most likely, not all of that 55 GW could be used at the time it was generated due to system and grid limitations, but it’s still noteworthy that this quantity of power was produced.)

Snip

Germany still gets most of its power from fossil fuels. Sunday’s spike resulted from a combination of reduced demand — a Sunday morning lull in power consumption. It also came from robust supply — an abundance of wind and sunshine to drive up renewable energy output. On average, renewables supply 30 percent of the country’s power. That is nonetheless a huge proportion. By comparison, the U.S. gets just 13 percent of its power from renewables.

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World's largest floating windfarm to be built off Scottish coast

Statoil granted seabed lease to develop floating windfarm 15 miles off the coast of Peterhead that is expected to be operational by the end of 2017

The world’s largest floating windfarm is set to be built off the coast of Scotland after its developers were granted a seabed lease on Monday.

Statoil, the Norwegian energy company, expects to have five 6MW turbines bobbing in the North Sea and generating electricity by the end of 2017. The company has already operated a single turbine off Norway.

The Hywind windfarm will float 15 miles off Scotland’s east coast by Peterhead. The base of each turbine is a floating steel tube containing ballast, which is tethered to the sea bed. The Crown Estate, which manages the seabed, granted the lease on Monday.

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Portugal runs for four days straight on renewable energy alone

Zero emission milestone reached as country is powered by just wind, solar and hydro-generated electricity for 107 hours

Portugal kept its lights on with renewable energy alone for four consecutive days last week in a clean energy milestone revealed by data analysis of national energy network figures.

Electricity consumption in the country was fully covered by solar, wind and hydro power in an extraordinary 107-hour run that lasted from 6.45am on Saturday 7 May until 5.45pm the following Wednesday, the analysis says.

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Meet Proterra, The Next Generation Of Bus

Proterra’s 40-foot electric buses have fuel efficiency equivalent to 22 miles per gallon, giving them one-fifth to one-fourth of the per-mile fueling cost of regular diesels, hybrids, and natural gas buses. And they have much lower maintenance costs. So over the 10- to 12-year lifetime of a typical urban transport bus, the Proterra can save $400,000 in total operational costs compared to a typical diesel.

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The 2016 WAVE Trophy electric vehicle rally will be beginning just a few weeks from now — on June 11th, in the German city of Bremerhaven — giving enthusiasts from around the world the opportunity to showcase their vehicles.

The rally will see participants travel over 1,000 miles — from Bremerhaven, through the Alsace region of France, and all the way to the United Nations center in Geneva, Switzerland. The rally has stops in 60 cities along the way scheduled.

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UNSW Researchers Set New Solar Cell Efficiency Record Of 34.5%

Australia’s leading solar research scientists have achieved another significant milestone, reporting a huge leap in solar cell efficiency that could in time lead to a quantum reduction in solar power costs.

University of NSW team led by the renowned Professor Martin Green and Dr Mark Keevers (pictured) has reported a new world efficiency record for solar cells using unfocussed sunlight, the sort of light that falls on the rooftop solar modules on homes and businesses.

The striking part of the new record is that it is so far ahead of previous achievements – 34.5 per cent instead of 24 per cent – and is edging closer to the theoretical limits of sunlight to electricity conversion – and more than three decades before recent predictions.

Solar panels have gotten thinner than a human hair. Soon they’ll be everywhere.

South Korean scientists have created solar PV cells that are 1 micrometer thick, hundreds of times thinner than most PV and half again as thin as other kinds of thin-film PV.

The cells are made with gallium arsenide as the semiconductor, "cold welded" directly onto a metal substrate, with no adhesive to make them thicker. Remarkably, they produce roughly as much power as thicker PV cells, though in testing, "the cells could wrap around a radius as small as 1.4 millimeters."

With cells this thin, solar PV can be integrated in all sorts of "wearables" — clothes, glasses, hats, or backpacks with solar cells integrated, continuously feeding power to our portable electronics. More to the point, PV could be integrated into just about anything.

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G7 nations pledge to end fossil fuel subsidies by 2025

The G7 nations have for the first time set a deadline for the ending most fossil fuel subsidies, saying government support for coal, oil and gas should end by 2025.

The leaders of the UK, US, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the European Union encouraged all countries to join them in eliminating “inefficient fossil fuel subsidies” within a decade.

“Given the fact that energy production and use account for around two-thirds of global greenhouse gas emissions, we recognise the crucial role that the energy sector has to play in combatting climate change,” said the leaders’ declaration, issued at the end their summit in Japan. The pledge first entered into G7 (then known as G8) declarations in 2009 but has until now lacked a firm timeline.
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Coal-Killing Perovskite Solar Cell Beats 20% Efficiency Mark, Aims For 30%

The lab of perovskite solar cell pioneer Michael Graetzel is at it again. The Switzerland-based research team has been fine-tuning its method for growing the finicky crystals on a thin film, and the latest variation injects a “burst” of vacuum flash into the mix. If commercialized, the new technique could lower manufacturing costs, and keep the cost of solar power heading on a downward spiral.

Perovskite solar cells offer another pathway for transitioning out of coal, but it’s too soon to sound the death knell for silicon.

One main obstacle is the lead component in conventional perovskite solar cells. In a conversation with CleanTechnica a couple of years ago, Graetzel cautioned that the commercial use of perovskite solar cells could be limited to secure sites where cradle-to-grave materials management can virtually eliminate the risk of lead hazards.

Assuming the lead issue can be resolved, Graetzel foresees that a combination solar cell with perovskites layered onto silicon could jump over the 30% efficiency mark. Such a solar cell would be considerably cheaper than silicon alone.

In that case, rather than killing off silicon solar cells, perovskites could actually extend the lifespan of the silicon industry — at least until something cheaper comes along.

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Australia’s Carnegie Wave Energy Project Sets World Record

Australian ingenuity backed by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) is once again leading the pack. As the Perth based Carnegie Wave Energy Project breaks a world record, completing 14,000 cumulative operating hours - the highest ever recorded for the global wave energy industry.

For the past 12 months, the CETO 5 project has used an array of three off-shore wave power generators to provide clean electricity and potable desalinated water to Australia’s largest naval base, HMAS Stirling, on Garden Island in Western Australia.
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UK solar eclipses coal power over month for first time

Longer days helped solar panels generate 50% more electricity than coal across the whole of May, analysis shows

Solar power in the UK produced more electricity than coal across the whole of May, the first ever month to pass the milestone, according to research by analysts at Carbon Brief. Solar panels generated 50% more electricity than the fossil fuel across the month, as days lengthened and coal use fell. Solar generated an estimated 1,336 gigawatt hours (GWh) of electricity in May, compared to 893GWh output from coal.

Coal was once the mainstay of the nation’s power system but the rapid rise of solar panels and of climate change concerns has seen its use plummet, leading to a series of milestones in recent weeks.

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Renewable energy smashes global records in 2015, report shows

Last year saw record worldwide investment and implementation of clean energy such as wind, solar and hydropower

An upsurge in new wind, solar and hydro plants and capacity saw renewable energy smash global records last year, according to a report on new supply.

Some 147 Gigawatts of renewable electricity came online in 2015 - the largest annual increase ever and as much as Africa’s entire power generating capacity.

Clean energy investment increased to $286bn (£198bn), with solar energy accounting for 56% of the total and wind power for 38%.

Overall, more than twice as much money was spent on renewables than on coal and gas-fired power generation ($130bn in 2015), the REN21 global status report found.

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Originally Posted by S Landreth

On Sunday, for a brief, shining moment, renewable power output in Germany reached 90 percent of the country’s total electricity demand.

And some wonder why some of the FOX viewers/Republicans don’t have a grasp on reality.

Great thread SLandreth. Thanks.

^ you’re welcome

Record 46% of UK's electricity generated by clean energy sources in 2015

Official figures show low-carbon sources accounted for almost half of national electricity supply last year - outstripping coal for the first time

Almost half the UK’s electricity came from clean energy sources such as wind and nuclear power last year, official figures have revealed.

Renewables accounted for a quarter of the country’s power supplies in 2015, outstripping coal power for the first time, the data published by the government revealed.

In total, low-carbon power sources, which produce little in the way of greenhouse gas emissions, supplied a record 46% of the UK’s electricity in 2015, as the amount of renewables grew and nuclear generation rose after outages in late 2014.

Coal supplied just over a fifth (22%) of power in 2015, down from 30% in 2014, while gas continued to provide around 30% of the UK’s electricity.

Nuclear power’s contribution rose slightly from 19% in 2014 to 21% last year, the figures from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy showed.

The amount of onshore and offshore wind turbines and solar panels increased, while higher wind speeds and more rainfall boosted hydropower - helping to generate more clean energy.

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In notable solar news, Portugal has authorized the processing of licenses for solar projects which total more than 2,000 megawatts (2 gigawatts) of potential power.

Specifically, 180 MW of solar projects have presently been authorized under the existing market system in the nation’s southern region, and an additional 68 licenses for solar projects are being processed, which total more than 2 GW of potential.

The news comes on the heels of Portugal and Morocco signing two cooperation agreements focusing on the development of renewable energy in the African country.

Currently, Portugal’s single electrical interconnection is with Spain. But now, the Portuguese government plans on conducting a viability study concerning an electrical interconnection with Morocco.

Portugal’s Commitment to Renewable Electricity

During May of this year, the Guardian reported that Portugal supplied its electricity with just renewable energy for four consecutive days — a clean energy milestone revealed by data analysis of national energy network figures that very few countries can claim.

Electricity consumption in the country was fully covered by solar, wind, and hydro power in a 107-hour run lasting from 6.45 am on Saturday, May 7, until 5.45 pm the following Wednesday.

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Around The World On Wings Of The Sun

Taking turns at the controls of Solar Impulse 2 (Si2) — the revolutionary zero-emission solar-powered airplane — pilots Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg have succeeded in their mission of achieving the first ever Round-The-World Solar Flight.

More plane news

In a big leap for the electrification of aviation, an Extra Aircraft aerobatic plane performed its maiden flight with an electric powertrain. The crucial component was a world record motor from Siemens. Weighing a mere 50 kilograms, the motor has an output of 260 kilowatts, resulting in an unparalleled power-to-weight ratio.

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Mercedes-Benz just unveiled the world’s first all-electric big rig truck

Imagine a future where big rig trucks slide quietly down the road, powered by electricity. Tesla has been working for years to make this vision happen – but this week, Mercedes-Benz beat them to the punch. The Urban eTruck is the world’s first fully electric big rig – and it’s quiet, powerful, and has an admissible total weight of around 29 tons.

Just about a week ago, Elon Musk revealed in a blog post that his company is also working on a Tesla Semi, which they plan to unveil in 2017. Now it’s a race to see who will start producing their electric big rig first.

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Australia Moves Forward On Three Wind Projects, Including Wind/Solar Hybrid

Canberra

Gullen Wind Farm-1The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) announced on Tuesday that Australia’s largest large-scale solar farm to be co-located with wind turbines is set to be built near Canberra, Australia’s capital. The 10 MW solar PV plant will be built adjacent to the existing 165.5 MW Gullen Range Wind Farm. ARENA hopes that the new project will serve as an example and push for other such projects to be developed around the country.

Hughenden

Announced on Wednesday by global wind energy development company Windlab, construction of the first stage of the 50 MW Kennedy Energy Park in Hughenden, Queensland, will begin in early 2017, having just received development approval. The Kennedy Energy Park is a hybrid combination of 30 MW of wind energy, 20 MW of solar, and 2 MWh of Lithium-ion battery storage.

Hornsdale Stage 2

Finally, Siemens announced on Tuesday that it had been awarded the contract to supply, install, and commission 32 3.2 MW wind turbines at the Hornsdale Stage 2 onshore wind farm in South Australia. Stage 2 is an addition to Hornsdale Stage 1 wind farm, which Siemens signed a contract for in August 2015.

Hornsdale Stage 2 will be completed with a capacity of 100 MW by June 2017, adding to the 100 MW of Stage 1. There is also a Stage 3 in pre-development planning.

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First solar-powered, net-zero apartment building in Los Angeles opens its doors

Hanover Olympic is the first solar-powered, net-zero apartment building in Los Angeles. Ten rooftop photovoltaic panels provide energy for 20 eco apartments, cutting tenants' electricity bills by around $100 per month. The project also features an additional array of 220 panels that feed excess energy into the grid.

The eco-conscious project was developed by Hanover Company, developer and manager of high quality multi-family residential properties across the U.S. Each apartment has Energy Star-rated appliances, LED lighting, as well as a Nest Thermostat and an iPad Mini energy tracker that allow tenants to monitor their solar energy generation and consumption. The units range from studios (539-579 square feet), 1-bedroom apartments (650-916 square feet) and 2-bedroom apartments (975-1342 square feet).

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In 2007, the city of Greensburg, Kansas was destroyed by powerful winds. Now, wind powers the city.

In spring of 2007, a series of deadly storms devastated the Midwest. It was the most intense tornado season the region had seen in 50 years and the city of Greensburg, Kansas saw the worst of it. In a matter of minutes, hundreds of families were made homeless. After the skies cleared, Greensburg residents emerged from their tornado shelters to a grim new landscape: 95 percent of the buildings in the town were just rubble.

But the greening of Greensburg didn’t stop with energy conservation. Within a few short years, 100 percent of the electricity used in Greensburg came from renewable sources, thanks to the Greensburg Wind Farm, which produces 12.5 MW of electricity – enough to power every house, business, and government building in the town.

Today, wind power is the very foundation of Greensburg’s economy, an irony not lost on the town’s citizens. “The very wind that destroyed this town in the tornado is now the wind we’re utilizing to power the town,” says Mayor Dixson. “We didn’t have control over whether or not a tornado came here but we did have control over how we reacted to it.” The city of Greensburg came together to redefine what it means to be a community, with residents recognizing their responsibility to take care of one another and people all over the globe.

Second phase of world's biggest offshore windfarm gets go-ahead

Multibillion-pound Hornsea Project Two, 55 miles off Grimsby coast, would see 300 turbines span an area five times size of Hull

Plans for the world’s biggest offshore windfarm off the Yorkshire coast are to be expanded to an area five times the size of Hull after being approved by ministers.

The multibillion-pound Hornsea Project Two would see 300 turbines – each taller than the Gherkin – span more than 480 sq km in the North Sea.

Fifty-five miles off the coast of Grimsby, the project by Denmark’s Dong Energy is expected to deliver 1,800MW of low-CO2 electricity to 1.8m UK homes.

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New Low Solar Price Record Set In Chile — 2.91¢ Per kWh!

A couple of companies managed to secure a huge share in the latest electricity auction held in Chile, and auction where a new record-low solar bid was set (globally) and wind projects took 40% of the auctioned power contracts.

According to media reports, Mainstream Renewable Power Ltd. and Empresa Nacional de Electricidad/Chile SA won more than two-thirds of the electricity supply auction in Chile.

Meanwhile, SunEdison set a new record-low solar bid at 2.91¢/kWh ($29.1/MWh). That beats the 2.99¢/kWh bid a Masdar Consortium provided for an 800 MW solar power project in Dubai earlier this year.

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THE STORY OF CHINA’S SOLAR KING

Learn how one former oil industry engineer built the Silicon Valley of solar power in Dezhou, China.

Huang Ming, founder and CEO of Himin Solar Energy, is known as the “Solar King” of China. A former oil industry engineer, Huang made a life-changing decision to begin his company when his daughter was born: “I worried about there being no blue skies for her to see, so I changed my thinking from oil to solar power.”

When Huang started Himin Solar Energy, he had a dream of making it the Silicon Valley of solar energy. The company began to grow quickly – so quickly Huang didn’t realize its profits were doubling each year, helping China become the world’s largest consumer of solar energy.

Himin’s corporate headquarters are in Dezhou, a city that’s leading the way for renewable energy in China. Dezhou has 124 miles (200 kilometers) of roads with solar-powered streetlights and 90 percent of the buildings use solar water heaters. Himin Solar Energy is helping drive the creation of this solar-powered infrastructure in part by manufacturing 3 million solar water heaters a year, which Dezhou and other cities in China have purchased. These solar water heaters alone have prevented the burning of over 200 million tons of coal over the last 20 years. But it doesn’t stop there. About 800,000 of the city’s 5.5 million residents now have careers in the solar industry – and Huang Ming’s dream is beginning to come true.

Let’s face it: China is ahead of the game when it comes to solar. The nation produced 64 percent of the world’s solar energy in 2013 and currently invests more in solar than any other country. It’s time for the rest of the world to catch up so we can create the global clean energy economy we need to stop climate change and thrive into the future.

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California Breaks Solar Record By Generating 8,030 Megawatts Of Electricity For Six Million Homes

The state of California in the United States is often referred to as the ‘golden state’ as it is believed to be the richest of all the states due to the economic viability of the area. For the past few years, renewable energy has been produced to supply clean and affordable energy there. Now, California has broken all the solar generation records because of it.

According to California’s Independent Solar Operators Corporation (ISO), 8,030 megawatts of large-scale solar power was generated at 1:06 p.m. on July 12, nearly doubling the amount of solar energy produced in mid-2014, and nearly 2,000 megawatts higher than in May 2015.

This new record was set solely by large solar plants. It does not take into consideration 537,637 smaller solar panel arrays installed on private homes and business’ rooftops. According to San Francisco Gate, that’s enough energy to power more than 6 million households.

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The First U.S. Offshore Wind Farm Is Complete

The country’s first offshore wind farm is complete and set to start putting electricity on the grid by November, the developer announced last week.

The five-turbine, 30-megawatt Block Island Wind Farm — providing enough electricity to power roughly 18,000 homes for a year — is not going to overhaul the state’s electricity supply, but it is a powerful step forward for Rhode Island and for the country.

That’s because the electricity sector produces roughly a third of U.S. emissions. If the country wants to meet its emissions reduction goals as part of a global effort to curb climate change, transitioning from fossil fuel-powered electricity generation to clean resources such as wind is critical to that effort. In addition, the cost of wind energy has decreased dramatically, making it one of the most cost-effective means of electricity generation.

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New Tesla Model S Now the Quickest Production Car in the World (I think the starting price is 137,000.00 US)

The Model S P100D with Ludicrous mode is the third fastest accelerating production car ever produced, with a 0-60 mph time of 2.5* seconds. However, both the LaFerrari and the Porsche 918 Spyder were limited run, million dollar vehicles and cannot be bought new. While those cars are small two seaters with very little luggage space, the pure electric, all-wheel drive Model S P100D has four doors, seats up to 5 adults plus 2 children and has exceptional cargo capacity.

315 miles on one charge – I am tempted

World's first large-scale tidal energy farm launches in Scotland

MeyGen tidal stream project leads the way in tackling climate change and providing jobs, says Nicola Sturgeon

The launch of the world’s first large-scale tidal energy farm in Scotland has been hailed as a significant moment for the renewable energy sector.

A turbine for the MeyGen tidal stream project in the Pentland Firth was unveiled outside Inverness in the Scottish Highlands.

After the ceremony, attended by Nicola Sturgeon, the turbine, measuring about 15 metres tall (49ft), with blades 16 metres in diameter, and weighing in at almost 200 tonnes, will begin its journey to the project’s site in the waters off the north coast of Scotland between Caithness and Orkney.

The turbine will be the first of four to be installed underwater, each with a capacity of 1.5 megawatts (MW), in the initial phase of the project.

But the Edinburgh-based developer Atlantis Resources hopes the project which has received £23m in Scottish government funding will eventually have 269 turbines, bringing its capacity to 398MW, which is enough electricity to power 175,000 homes.

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Solar just hit its lowest price ever

Oil-rich Abu Dhabi is planning a massive solar project.

Transitioning to clean energy is the single most important thing we can do to avoid the catastrophic effects of climate change.

Luckily for us, clean energy keeps getting cheaper.

This week saw the lowest-ever bid for electricity from a proposed solar plant, worldwide. A proposed development in Abu Dhabi will sell its electricity for 2.42 cents a kilowatt-hour (kWh).

The bid answered a request for proposals from the state electric company for a 350-megawatt (MW) solar plant.

For context, the average price per kWh for residential electricity in the United States — from all sources — is 12.73 cents. Wholesale prices for electricity can vary dramatically, but a set of record-low bids last summer for solar in Austin were around 4 cents per kWh. A 350 MW plant provides enough electricity to power about 57,000 average U.S. homes.

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Out of China’s Dusty Northwest Corner, a Solar Behemoth Arises - 2 GW Solar Project In China Will Be World’s Largest

As China adds record amounts of renewable energy, a solar farm under construction in the Ningxia region of the country’s northwest takes efforts to a new level.

The project, being developed in phases by the clean energy unit of China’s biggest private investment group, will cover 4,607 hectares, or slightly more than 7,000 U.S. east coast city blocks. It will boast capacity of 2 gigawatts when complete, surpassing the scale of photovoltaics in place in Thailand at the end of 2015. The 15.6 billion-yuan ($2.34 billion) plant will need about 6 million panels and will be the biggest the world has ever seen.

All this from a company that didn’t exist two years ago.

“The opportunities are huge” for solar development in China, said Wang Jian, executive vice president of China Minsheng New Energy Investment Co., the company responsible for the Ningxia solar project.

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Siemens presents thermal storage solution for wind energy

Siemens is developing economic storage technology: alongside Technical University Hamburg Harburg (TUHH) and urban utility company Hamburg Energie, Siemens is researching a storage solution in the Northern German city that will set a future standard in efficiency. After having been converted to heat in rock fill, excess wind energy is stored and protected with an insulated cover. When there is a need for additional electricity, a steam turbine converts the heat energy back to electricity. The simple principle of this store promises an extremely low-cost set-up. The project has therefore received research funding from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy.

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Power shingles

The small field of solar shingle manufacturers is beginning to expand, cutting installation costs, improving roof and solar integration, incorporating new materials.

Transforming an asphalt roof shingle into a solar generator hasn’t been easy. But the nascent field of U.S. solar shingle manufacturers is beginning to expand from its small base in building-integrated PV (BIPV), leveraging their systemic reductions in installation costs, their improved roof and solar integration, and their continuing march-out of newer materials. Dow and CertainTeed lead the U.S. residential solar shingle business thus far, but U.S. challengers like GAF and Corning, along with competitors from China, may help drive down costs further. And new technological twists, including flexible glass, thin film and hybrid solar/thermal solutions may tip the pan to favorably balance the cost of solar shingles over panels.

^fascinating indeed,

^
According to who?

Those who advocate building dams for hydro power are completely misguided for dams do not produce clean energy.

For a start dams are usually built in forested areas and destroy large areas of forest which act as carbon sinks and produce oxygen which we all need. You may have heard that green areas are the lungs of a city well forests are the lungs of a country.

Secondly large dams produce huge amounts of methane from rotting vegetation.

Dams Cause Climate Change, They Are Not Clean Energy - EcoWatch

Canada is probably 2 or 3 times as big as Europe with a pop of 35 million, the few dams in Canada have very little effect on the climate. Yes much the rest of the world is very different, yes its good to test and try out new technologies but do not rely on instant success.

Germany has given up on nuclear because of what happened in japan. What happened in japan was they built a nuclear reactor near a fault zone, and on the ocean side with their back up generators easily flooded. Guess what there are no nasty fault zones in Germany and there are also no tsunami, so what are the germans worried about?? Everything the Japanese did wrong doesn't exist in Germany.

In Canada windmills often generate 0 power in winter even when the wind blows, why? Do you know how much power it takes to stop them from freezing up? Do you know the cost to heat them when the winds not blowing? Do you know the cost of repairing windmills in the winter bye helicopter? Its astronomical. Windpower is a disaster in the winter in cold countries.

Canada is studying tidal power in the bay of fundy between maine and nova scotia, we have hopes, but its just in the testing stage.

My wifes family in japan have had solar power on their house for the last 30 years. Well guess what if you have a house in a city in japan it means your probably rich or next thing to it. Its a fad for the rich in much of the west. Yes I do see European/Asian cities forced to go solar wherever they can put it, there is little choice but power prices in asia are high and will go higher. Don't rely on it getting cheap anytime soon. The greens always make huge promises which are impossible to fulfill, but they count on you trusting them and making huge financial structural commitments to it that cant easily be abandoned, then they have you locked in.

MIT nuclear fusion record marks latest step towards unlimited clean energy

Scientists create the highest plasma pressure ever recorded with the Alcator C-Mod reactor in a breakthrough for clean energy technology

A nuclear fusion world record has been set in the US, marking another step on the long road towards the unlocking of limitless clean energy.

A team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) created the highest plasma pressure ever recorded, using its Alcator C-Mod tokamak reactor. High pressures and extreme temperatures are vital in forcing atoms together to release huge amounts of energy.

Nuclear fusion powers the sun and has long been touted as the ultimate solution to powering the world while halting climate change. But, as fusion sceptics often say, the reality has stubbornly remained a decade or two away for many years.

Prof Dennis Whyte, director of MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center, said small, non-tokamak approaches, though less familiar, could be promising: “Compact, high-field tokamaks provide an exciting opportunity for accelerating fusion energy development, so that it’s available soon enough to make a difference to problems like climate change and the future of clean energy, goals I think we all share.”

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Renewables just passed coal as the largest source of new electricity worldwide

Renewable energy sources have passed coal as the largest new source of electricity in the world, according data released Tuesday by the International Energy Agency (IEA).

The transition of the world’s energy sources is critical for avoiding a 2°C rise in global temperatures. Coal, for instance, represented about a quarter of U.S. CO2 emissions in 2012.

Solar and wind account for almost two-thirds of the growth in renewables, which is coming from industrialized and developing nations alike.

The agency also announced it has revised its forecast for renewable energy, “significantly increasing” the amount of green energy it expects to come online in the next five years. In addition to pro-renewable policies (such as the Paris climate agreement), a significant price decline is driving growth.

Over the next five years, IEA expects costs for solar to drop by a quarter; for onshore wind, costs will fall another 15 percent.

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DONG Energy Surpasses 1,000 Wind Turbines Installed At Sea

DONG Energy is the first company worldwide to have installed 1,000 offshore wind turbines, and its offshore wind power venture will continue unabated: From 2016 to 2020, DONG Energy is set to build more offshore wind capacity than it built altogether in the preceding 25 years. Today, every single one of the biggest wind turbines delivers almost twice as much energy as the first offshore wind farm.

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Dong Energy considers sale of oil and gas assets to focus on windfarms

The biggest windfarm operator in the UK is considering selling its oil and gas business, four decades after it was set up to manage Denmark’s North Sea oilfields.

Dong Energy, which is majority owned by the Danish government, said it had appointed JP Morgan to perform a strategy review that could result in the sale of the oil and gas business.

Offloading oil assets would result in the company, whose initials stand for Danish Oil and Natural Gas, focus on wind power instead, completing its transformation from fossil fuels to renewables.

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Yingli Europe, Solar Aid introduce most affordable solar light in the world

In order to provide a tough, durable solar light for use in rural Africa and make electrical light more accessible to the 598 million people in the continent who lack access to electricity, SolarAid has partnered with Yingli Green Energy Europe GmbH (Yingli Europe), a wholly owned subsidiary of one of the world’s leading solar panel manufacturers, Yingli Green Energy Holding Company Limited.

The partnership has launched the world’s most affordable quality solar light, the SM100. The new solar light was designed and developed by Yingli Europe, with the support of a UK industrial design agency, to meet critical price and performance specifications of SolarAid.

The SM100 meets Lighting Africa standards and currently retails for US$5 in Africa.

Yingli has also committed to support SolarAid in their important mission to eradicate the kerosene lamp. “The SM100 will provide safe light to millions more families who live currently on less than US$1.25 per day. Not only will the lamp save lives but also support children’s’ education at home in the dark evenings and saving families money by avoiding the purchase of air polluting kerosene,” said Darren Thompson, Managing Director of Yingli Europe.

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Cape Verde Aims For 100% Renewable Power By 2020

The island nation of Cape Verde is located 250 miles west of Senegal in the southern Atlantic ocean. It has few natural resources — except wind and sunshine. Virtually everything the nation’s 550,000 people consume has to be imported at great expense by air or sea. That includes the fossil fuels it uses to generate its electricity.

At the beginning of the decade, Cape Verde authorities set a goal of getting 25% of its power from renewables by 2011 and 50% by 2020. To accomplish that goal, it established Project Cabeólica, the first public–private partnership to deliver commercial-scale wind power in sub-Saharan Africa.

Ana Monteiro, the project’s head of environment, social, and administration, said the country is already supplying 25% of the electricity consumed in Cape Verde from 30 wind turbines spread across its 4 largest islands. Combined with its solar installations, it gets more than a third of its energy from renewables. Now, Cape Verde wants to push the fast-forward button on renewables so it can stop using fossil fuels altogether. It has moved its target of 100% renewable power up to 2020.

Solar roof tiles. A new product by Solar City/Tesla



They can be layed out as a replacement of normal roof tiles. No need to build a normal roof first and then add solar panels. They are expected to start installing solar roofs summer next year. They can be heated to get rid of snow. They are stronger than existing roof tiles and provide better insulation too.

I have long been thinking that putting solar panels on top of existing roofs is a waste. The solar panels should be the roof. These ones look good as well.

I saw an article some months back where they had solar panals that could be used like glass. I haven't heard anything since.

Originally Posted by MrG

I saw an article some months back where they had solar panals that could be used like glass. I haven't heard anything since.

There is an endless stream of proposals and ideas. Some might be feasible, many are not. Unfortunately some feasible ideas don't find funding.

This is a product announcement by a big company, by Elon Musk. He delivers, what he promises, though sometimes late.

Originally Posted by Takeovers

Solar roof tiles. A new product by Solar City/Tesla



They can be layed out as a replacement of normal roof tiles. No need to build a normal roof first and then add solar panels. They are expected to start installing solar roofs summer next year. They can be heated to get rid of snow. They are stronger than existing roof tiles and provide better insulation too.

I have long been thinking that putting solar panels on top of existing roofs is a waste. The solar panels should be the roof. These ones look good as well.

starts at 7'25" into video

I will watch the whole video tomorrow. Noted that Elon Musk says beautiful is a necessary part of it. Just functional alone is not enough.

Somehow he manages to do the same even for his spaceship. It is the most functional spaceship ever designed by a long stretch. Yet it looks beautiful as if designed by an italian designer for the next big space opera.

^
Thanks for this. I'll keep an eye open for the see through panels I saw a report about.

A Michigan State University research team has finally created a truly transparent solar panel — a breakthrough that could soon usher in a world where windows, panes of glass, and even entire buildings could be used to generate solar energy. Until now, solar cells of this kind have been only partially transparent and usually a bit tinted, but these new ones are so clear that they’re practically indistinguishable from a normal pane of glass.

Previous claims toward transparent solar panels have been misleading, since the very nature of transparent materials means that light must pass through them. Transparent photovoltaic cells are virtually impossible, in fact, because solar panels generate energy by converting absorbed photons into electrons. For a material to be fully transparent, light would have to travel uninhibited to the eye which means those photons would have to pass through the material completely (without being absorbed to generate solar power).

Related: Here’s how many solar panels we’d need to provide power for the entire planet

So, to achieve a truly transparent solar cell, the Michigan State team created this thing called a transparent luminescent solar concentrator (TLSC), which employs organic salts to absorb wavelengths of light that are already invisible to the human eye. Steering clear of the fundamental challenges of creating a transparent photovoltaic cell allowed the researchers to harness the power of infrared and ultraviolet light.


The TLSC projects a luminescent glow that contains a converted wavelength of infrared light which is also invisible to the human eye. More traditional (non-transparent) photovoltaic solar cells frame the panel of the main material, and it is these solar cells that transform the concentrated infrared light into electricity.

Related: Ingenious SunPort plug lets you use solar energy even if you don’t have solar panels

Versions of previous semi-transparent solar cells that cast light in colored shadows can usually achieve efficiency of around seven percent, but Michigan State’s TLSC is expected to reach a top efficiency of five percent with further testing (currently, the prototype’s efficiency reaches a mere one percent). While numbers like seven and five percent efficiency seem low, houses featuring fully solar windows or buildings created from the organic material could compound that electricity and bring it to a more useful level.

Researchers on the Michigan State team believe their TLSC technology could span from industrial applications to more manageable uses like consumer devices and handheld gadgets. Their main priorities in continuing to develop the technology appear to be power efficiency and maintaining a scalable level of affordability, so that solar power can continue to grow as a major player in the field of renewable energy.

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Turning Human Waste into Oil

WASHINGTON —
Each person on this planet produces enough organic waste to create between 7 and 11 liters of biofuel a year.

A long time ago, Mother Nature figured out how to turn any organic matter into crude oil... but the process is so slow, it takes millions of years.

Now scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory say they managed to speed it up, and turn the sludge into biofuels and natural gas.

It is estimated that every day, Americans produce 128 billion liters of raw sewage, which is mostly organic material, including fats. With the new method, that could potentially be turned into millions of barrels of biocrude oil.

The process works like this: once it is mechanically separated from wastewater, raw sludge is placed into a sort of a pressure cooker. Heated to 349 degrees Celsius and pressurized to 204 atmospheres, it quickly breaks down into a form of petroleum which could be refined further into gasoline, diesel or jet fuel. Leftovers can be used in fertilizer manufacturing.

Utah-based Genifuel corporation plans to build a large $6 million plant in Vancouver, Canada, that is scheduled to start turning human waste into biofuel in 2018.

Turning Human Waste into Oil

^ I read that a couple of days ago and I thought to post it here too.
Then it occurred to me that this is still putting carbon into the atmosphere, albeit arguably just recycling atmospheric carbon.

Originally Posted by Maanaam

Then it occurred to me that this is still putting carbon into the atmosphere, albeit arguably just recycling atmospheric carbon.

Recycling atmospheric carbon is ok. It is what plants do as well.