Posted by RobAshwell on June 25th, 2008
It seems that researchers in the Pacific Northwest may have just cracked one of the problems about Hydrogen, how to store it.
It’s all very well having an internal combustion engine that emits only water but if you struggle to store it then it’s not that practical.
The work by Heldebrant, Karkamkar, Linehan and Autrey of the US based Pacific Northwest National Laboratory focuses on a powder, ammonia borane (AB), as a means to easily store hydrogen. The full research was published in the Royal Society of Chemistry last month.
Going back to rather basic A-level exam chemistry AB is a white powder which, when heated, gives off hydrogen. AB also stores more hydrogen by volume than even liquid H2. Using AB would also mean that swathes of electricity would not be needed to produce the hydrogen from water.
According to the paper, producing high yields has proved difficult, however, new techniques may make it applicable to the fuel cell market.
According to Autrey, the paper’s lead author, “we envision that this simpler procedure can be scaled up and the solvents can be recycled.”
Posted by jumperhead on June 25th, 2008
If you think about it (and Greenbang regularly does) so many of the world’s greatest and most unanswerable questions start with the the word when.
‘When was the universe created’, for example, or ‘when’s tea ready?’ or ‘when will there be a harvest for the world?’ or ‘when do the binmen come?’ So many questions, so few answers.
Still, at least one of those head-scratchingly tricky brain teasers - when will solar achieve cost parity with traditional electricity sources? - has been solved by industry analysts iSuppli.
If 40 percent cost reductions in photovoltaic cells come off as expected,well, then parity could come in under five years.
Says iSuppli:
many regions throughout the world will soon reach grid parity—a point at which PV electricity costs the same or less than power derived from the electrical grid. PV grid parity is expected beginning 2012 in nations where sunshine is plentiful and constant, and 2018 in areas of the world with adequate or medium sun exposure.
And there’s more:
Global production of PV cells is expected to rise to as much as 12 Gigawatts (GW) by 2010, up from 3.5GW in 2007. By 2010, as many as 400 production lines in the world that can produce at least 1 Megawatt (MW) of PV cells per year will be in place, representing a four-fold increase from about 90 to 100 production lines in 2007. Factories capable of 1GW of annual PV production also will be established in the future to ensure continued strong delivery of PV cells to the market.
“The market for PV cells is estimated to grow by 40 percent annually until 2010, and 20 percent beyond,” said Dr. Henning Wicht, senior director and principal analyst, MEMS and photovoltaics, for iSuppli. “Nearly all market participants plan to increase their sales by a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 40 to 50 percent during the next few years.” Wicht noted that heavy investments will be required to finance the expansion of PV cell production. Each PV factory will require an investment of $500 million and more, will employ as many as 1,000 workers per site, and will generate annual revenue of $1 billion per year or more, putting them into the size, cost and employment range of semiconductor fabs.
Posted by RobAshwell on June 25th, 2008
Just how much is there to make from the green devices? Well, if you’re General Electric (GE) or Siemens then rather a lot.
The two firms recently announced revenues from environmentally friendly products and, between the two, they’ve earned an staggering $40.3 billion - say that again, forty billion dollars.
And it’s set to rise even further within the next two to three years. According to the FT, ‘the German conglomerate said it had revenues of €17bn ($26.3bn) last year from such products against $14bn at GE. Siemens is aiming to earn €25bn by 2011 against a GE target of $25bn in 2010.’
It does appear that Siemens and GE have defined their own figures, so may need to be taken with a pinch of salt. For example, GE believes nuclear power reactors and jet engines are both environmentally friendly. Whereas Siemens has included gas turbines. Siemens has stated that the auditing firm Price Waterhouse Coopers approved its criteria.
Speaking to the FT, Charlie Kronick, senior climate adviser at Greenpeace, commented that. “It’s true that [gas turbines] are greener than coal, but for us the real issue is not whether one fossil fuel technology is better than another, but what kind of track is the power sector being placed on to achieve decarbonisation.”
This technology story is brought to you in association with Kyocera
Posted by jumperhead on June 25th, 2008
Imagine, if you will, that you’re a Tibetan villager, and a hungry one at that, and you want to rustle up a tasty meal.
On the one hand you’ve got a yak boo burning stove that could give you lung disease, on the other hand, you’ve got a solar stove - bonus points on the lack of lung disease front - but it’s so heavy it needs four people to shift it. Aside from being about as fun to move as a gorilla with a toothache, the solar cooker also doesn’t always turn out a decently cooked meal to boot.
So what do you do?
Greenbang suggests if you have a problem, if no one else can help - and if you can find them - maybe you can hire the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Someone in Tibet obviously did find them (Massachusetts was probably a good starting point) and, together with a team from Qinghai Normal University in Tibet’s Amdo region, the MIT folk developed a whole new lightweight stove.
From MIT
The lightweight dish they produced, inspired by Tibetan nomadic tents, is made of yak-wool canvas panels, supported by bamboo ribs, and faced with reflective mylar. Easily disassembled and transported by one person, the cooker can then be quickly reassembled in the field and staked down solidly on the ground to resist the wind. In the fall, the students will begin testing their prototype in several villages, and make the design available to local factories for manufacture.
All that, and it costs less than $20. How good is that? Add on an attachment (taking the cost up to a princely $26) and you get a device that can heat homes too. Greenbang is very impressed.
Manufacturing could start as soon as next year.
Posted by jumperhead on June 25th, 2008
To Greenbang’s mind, Carbon offsets are bit like saying you’re on a diet and then going to McDonalds and ordering a Big Mac, extra large fries, an ice cream and a diet coke: sure, you’re making a minor improvement, but you could be doing a lot more.
The Carbon Trust, a government organisation that helps businesses cut their energy use and carbon emissions, has taken the wraps off a new scheme that will give the enterprise equivalent of a Brownie badge for good green behaviour.
offsetters need not apply - the Carbon Trust Standard certificate only goes to companies that can prove they have actually cut their emissions themselves, rather than turning to offsetting.
According to the Carbon Trust, companies will have to measure, manage and reduce its carbon footprint and actually make real reductions year-on-year” to get the Standard certificate.
Here’s already got theirs:
• Abbey Corrugated
• B&Q
• Crown Prosecution Service
• Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
• Department for International Development
• DSM Nutritional Products – Dalry production site Scotland
• King’s College London
• London Fire Brigade
• Morrisons
• Thames Water
• Trinity Mirror
• University of Central Lancashire
Posted by jumperhead on June 25th, 2008
Things the US did before the UK:
Ate Krispy Kreme donuts
Put a man on the moon
Played American football
Things the UK did before the US:
Played proper football
Put up offshore wind farms
Yep, while the UK coastline may have a handful of wind farms already up and running (that’s assuming you have very tiny hands), the US looks like it’s set to get its very first offshore turbine, thanks to a new deal between Bluewater Wind and utility Delmarva Power.
Under the agreement, Bluewater will supply Delmarva Power with up to 200 MW of wind power for the next 25 years, using an offshore wind farm to built 11.5 miles off the coast of Rehoboth Beach in Delaware.
More details for you:
Delmarva Power has agreed to purchase 200-megawatts of the power produced by the wind farm that is expected to have an output of up to 600 megawatts. Bluewater Wind will determine the final size of the wind farm within two years, during which time the company will seek additional buyers of power. In addition to its contract with Delmarva Power, Bluewater Wind has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Delaware Electric Municipal Corporation for the sale of approximately 100,000 to 150,000 megawatt hours of power and 17 megawatts of capacity to its nine municipal members. [...]
Bluewater Wind will begin the initial planning stages for the wind farm that will include avian studies, installation of a meteorological tower and onsite wave buoys, commencement of more site borings, designation of the final wind farm layout, and work on staging, operation and maintenance ports.
Posted by jumperhead on June 25th, 2008
Greenbang knows Londoners are lazy. As a capital dweller, she doesn’t like to think about the amount of episodes of Keeping Up Appearances or Last of the Summer Wine she’s watched because the TV remote control was 1cm out of arm’s reach.
But good news for all of us living inside the M25 - without making much effort or coming up with some crazy new space age clean tech, we can save 44 millions tonnes of carbon and not even have to raid our piggybanks that much.
That’s the findings of a new report from consultants McKinsey, commissioned by Siemens. Using all the tech we have to hand, we could still cut 44 percent of our carbon emissions by 2025.
And better yet, 70 percent of the technologies we’d use would pay for themselves.
For the sceptical London residents out there thinking ‘when you say, without making much effort - how little effort are you talking?’
This little effort in fact:
Energy-efficient lighting in London households is the single most
cost-efficient measure and would cut CO2 emissions by 400,000 metric tonnes, saving €270 per tonne abated. The greatest reduction – a total of 4.5 Mt – could be achieved through improved insulation.
Posted by RobAshwell on June 25th, 2008
It’s an election year in the US, just in case someone’s been under a rock. And as such the Republican candidate, John McCain is making pledges to help him into the White House. And he’s come up with a good one - $300 million (£152m) for a battery 30 per cent more efficient than current hybrid or electric vehicles can muster.
This is the latest of the energy related announcements made by McCain and his rival, Barack Obama, in the run up to the election. As reported by Andrew Ward in the FT, Sunday saw ‘Mr Obama vow to strengthen government oversight of energy traders to clamp down on the speculation that he said was contributing to record oil prices. He promised to close a loophole that has let some energy traders operate outside federal regulations since rules were loosened in 2000, allegedly at the behest of lobbyists for Enron, the bankrupt energy company.’
Greenbang is still deciding which will make the strongest president. She possibly is a little bit skeptical about both candidates but at least it won’t be Bush. Or Huckabee who stated: “My plan to secure the borders? Two words. Chuck Norris.”
This technology story is brought to you in association with Kyocera
Posted by RobAshwell on June 24th, 2008
What do you do when you finally grow out of burning ants with a magnifying glass? If you’re a team of Massachusetts students, apparently you build a much bigger one to melt metal. Shouldn’t they be drinking and stealing traffic cones?
Last week a team, led by MIT, successfully completed testing on a dish which is claimed to be the world’s most cost efficient solar power system. According to the research group:
The system consists of a 12-foot-wide mirrored dish that team members have spent the last several weeks assembling. The dish, made from a lightweight frame of thin, inexpensive aluminum tubing and strips of mirror, concentrates sunlight by a factor of 1,000-creating heat so intense it could melt a bar of steel.
Greenbang isn’t quite sure of the exact type of steel used but the approximate 1400 degree melting point means she will be keeping her fingers away from the dish’s focal point.
In true student style, having created a system that could “revolutionise global energy production” it has already been used to burn wood. A video of the team leader, Spence Ahrens, holding aloft the plank is available here.
More from the press release:
Someday soon, Ahrens hopes, the company he and his teammates have founded, called RawSolar, will produce such dishes by the thousands. They could be set up in huge arrays to provide steam for industrial processing, or for heating or cooling buildings, as well as to hook up to steam turbines and generate electricity. Once in mass production, such arrays should pay for themselves within a couple of years with the energy they produce.
“This is actually the most efficient solar collector in existence, and it was just completed,” says Doug Wood, an inventor based in Washington state who patented key parts of the dish’s design–the rights to which he has signed over to the student team.
Wood credits the students who built this dish, as an independent project that started in January, with making significant improvements to his original design to make it a practical and competitive energy producer. “They really have simplified this and made it user-friendly, so anybody can build it,” he says.
One of the keys to making an inexpensive design was something Wood discovered by accident as he built a variety of solar dishes over the years: Smaller really is better. Unlike many technologies where economies of scale dictate large sizes, a smaller dish requires so much less support structure that it ends up costing only a third as much, for a given collecting area.
MIT Sloan School of Management lecturer David Pelly, in whose class this project first took shape last fall, says that, “I’ve looked for years at a variety of solar approaches, and this is the cheapest I’ve seen. And the key thing in scaling it globally is that all of the materials are inexpensive and accessible anywhere in the world.”
Pelly adds that “I’ve looked all over for solar technology that could scale without subsidies. Almost nothing I’ve looked at has that potential. This does.”
The team, led by Ahrens, also includes Micah Sze (Sloan MBA ‘08), UC Berkeley graduate and Broad Institute engineer Eva Markiewicz, Olin College student Matt Ritter and MIT materials science student Anna Bershteyn. Various other students also helped out over the course of the semester.
Posted by Greenbang on June 24th, 2008
Here’s an interesting one from CIO turned blogger Steve O’Donnell.
Now Steve’s blog is pretty new, but he knows for certain that some of the most influential CIOs in the world are reading it because they are his friends and peers.
Greenbang thinks it’s cool that he’s blogging because unlike most of the people who write about IT (me included), he actually works in the industry, living and breathing tech and data centre air.
Because he looks after First Data’s IT (First Data processes global credit card transactions), that makes this post of his even more important.
And that is that Rackspace Hosting now have equipment which “they claim will be powered by renewable energy sources”.
Here’s what Steve says: “The data center is located in Slough close to a Scottish and Southern Energy combined heat and power (CHP) plant with potential generating capacity of 101MW. The CHP plant is the UK’s largest dedicated biomass energy facility and its main sources of fuel are wood chips, biomass and waste paper. The site has its own fibre fuel processing plant, which takes delivery of waste paper products and converts these into useable fuel.
“The plant is connected to the National Grid so Rackspace’s claim is probably more marketing spin than reality. Are Rackspace buying the ROCs (and increasing the already expensive cost of data center power) or just claiming that they use the power as they are a local consumer?”
He then asks Rackspace to comment on his blog. Question is, are they reading? They should be… Greenbang would also love to hear from Rackspace. We can send Steve a message if you like - or how about we get Steve to interview Rackspace? Now that could make great telly…
It’s work meets fun meets social media mashup gone cuurrazy.
This technology story is brought to you in association with Kyocera
