[The Vector] Follow up to The World Future Energy Summit
As reported by The Vector on January 17th, the World Future Energy Summit recently drew together world policy makers, international business leaders, energy providers, and educators into a fast-paced conference in Abu Dhabi.
The Zayed Future Energy Prize for innovation and leadership in green technology awards — a $1.5M total prize — was awarded to wind turbine maker Vestas. Surprisingly, Vestas gave half of the earnings to three of the six finalists: India’s Barefoot College; the group Seventh Generation Advisors; and the thin-film solar manufacturer First Solar. Bravo to Vestas.
There were more than 391 submissions for the prize, with a shortlist of 40 entries from 13 countries. The award was created in 2008 to honor the legacy of the late ruler of Abu Dhabi, to inspire and help move forward innovators in renewable energy.
Winner Vestas took the other half of its winnings and announced placement into its new WindMade mark. WindMade is a label designating products that are manufactured with wind power, and Vestas announced their goal is to have 1,000 companies signed up for the program by next year.
The U.N. Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon opened the conference with his message was that energy advancements are not reaching the developing world. Energy consumption will rise as much as 40% in the next two decades, he said, but 1.6 billion people have no electricity. It must be a goal to rectify this. He urged a “clean energy revolution.“
In an interesting talk that caught attention, Arnaud Chaperon from the French company Total made two declarations: that solar power costs would approach 10 cents (US) per kWh by the end of this decade, and that the potential of genetically engineered yeast for biofuels would make great strides.
General Electric (GE) announced it will be an anchor partner at Masdar City, planned to be the world’s first carbon-neutral city powered entirely by renewable energy. The Vector readers are familar with Masdar City. Masdar and GE outlined plans to set up one of the EcoImagination Centers at Masdar City, which will focus on sustainable business solutions and R&D. The EcoImagination Center will be about 4,000 square meters, and will sit near to the Masdar Institute. It will highlight GE technologies that include solar, wind, energy-efficient appliance and water purification systems.
One of the most popular activities for the conference delegates, it was said, was the tour of Masdar City.
In it’s talk, Deutsche Bank spoke about plan for not only renewable energy but natural gas in the U.S. The Deutsche Bank (DB) Climate Change Advisors spoke of changes in the U.S. with the Republican controlled House of Representatives and an expanding focus on the use of natural gas as well as more openness to renewable energy. They highlighted the point that President Obama has identified natural gas as one of the areas of bipartisan agreement, and key to America’s current energy needs. DB said a key point for the U.S. is to aggressively reduce coal-generated electricity to natural gas, which is cleaner. The switch is possible due to the numerous unconventional shale gas plays in the U.S., it said.
BP Solar highlighted its involvement in the solar industry, and revealed some new work in the area: they found that cutting a solar cell in half generated more energy with no extra cost. The “half-cell“ is one of the new breakthroughs for solar, said BP Solar. The design came about after the discovery that much of the energy in standard cells is lost in heat because the electrical circuits generally produce more electricity than the circuits can handle. The half-cell improves efficiency. BP Solar has more than 115 MW of installed projects around the world, and shipped its 10 millionth solar module in 2009.
The inventor of the water production wind turbine, French company Eole Water, used the summit to present its new product, called the WMS1001 Wind Turbine. After more than 10 years of research and development, Eole Water has launched the technology, which is apparently the only technology able to produce 1,000 litres of drinking water per day and up to 30 KW of electricity – from humidity in the air. Access to potable drinking water has become a major challenge for economic development policies worldwide and Eole plans to make an impact.
Finally, the University of Toledo, also known to The Vector readers, had a presence at the World Future Energy Summit. In fact, students from the Emirates are regulars at the Toledo campus, and Toledo students are building ties in the Emirates and at Masdar.
