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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

PhotobucketTomorrow morning, I need to rush home from dropping my daughter off at school to be on a live radio broadcast, in which I’ll be speaking on the imperative to move to clean energy. Also featured on the program is a representative of the National Resources Defense Council. I interviewed someone from the NRDC for my book on renewables, so I’m fairly familiar with the cut of their jib. You have to like people who stand up and do the right thing under incredible pressure to yield.

In preparing for this live discussion, I’d like to try to concentrate on the basics of clean energy; I’d like to make this is simple and as black and white as possible. But that’s not easy. The more I learn about this the more complicated I understand it to be. There is a lot to discuss about the subject of global warming alone, for instance. But discussions on the subject are usually 10 parts politics for every one part honest, objective science. I could prove that 2 and 2 are 5, using logic that I find in a lot of places.

The fact is that almost everything you read was written for a reason – and that reason is very seldom to inform you of the complete unvarnished truth. We’ve all come across the idea that global warming is a hoax. There is a paper being circulated now that takes this a step further, alleging that the hoax is aimed at creating enough fear in people that they will accept increased infringements in their liberties and ultimately a unified and tyrannical world government.

Personally, I’m a bit skeptical. I have to ask — in my mind, who has more credibility: thousands of research scientists – many of whom I’ve met and come to know as trusted friends — or a guy writing a paper with outrageous ideas and essentially no supporting evidence? Hmmm.

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Hydrokinetics

Continued from yesterday…..

Another drawback of tidal energy is the dependence on location for a successful project. As with most of other water based methods of energy generation, the location plays an essential role in harnessing the potential power source; site procurement costs gets high increasing the cost of the entire project.

Currently there are very few tidal power stations in the world. The largest and oldest is located in northern France at the La France river mouth estuary. The other sites suitable for the utilization of tidal power exist in many places around the world majorly in France, the United Kingdom, Former Soviet Union (now Russia), Canada, and the United States. Before setting up the plant, it is important to have a proper feasibility study.
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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Hydrokinetics

Water covers about 70 percent of our planet, majorly composed of the oceans with endless waves and perpetual tides. Water is a source that lays the foundation for many forms of renewable energies like Hydro energy, Ocean energy, Tidal energy and Wave energy. With the advent of newer renewable energy sources, water is heavily counted upon as the source of green energy. The major advantage of water based energy sources is that water can be harnessed to create energy with almost zero carbon emission.
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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

PhotobucketA couple of readers have criticized me for not being specific in my rants on nuclear energy. It’s true that I do not perform independent research — and I suppose I can be taken to task for that.  But I do read a fair amount of others’ writing, and I try to be as specific as possible in supporting my beliefs. E.g., take my post on the Florida utility group FPL, in which I wrote the following. That was fairly specific, wasn’t it?

The actual cost of building these plants is almost never anywhere near the projected budget. Readers may want to Google “nuclear plant cost overrun,” and read a few of the 54,700 articles they’ll find on the subject. Here’s one that refers to a certain nuclear project as “satanic,” based on the actual amount of the overrun ($6.66 billion). The Florida utility, FPL Group, now estimates the cost of building a new nuclear power plant at over $9 billion, nearly double their previous estimate.

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

The Great Lakes of the United States and Canada, particularly Lake Superior, Lake Huron, and Lake Michigan, provide excellent opportunity for adequate and reliable green energy for the population near those lakes, as well, in a more limited form, of energy in the wider region. Lake Superior is the largest of the Great Lakes, and the deepest. And most of the water it receives comes from the North. This makes it a large reservoir of cold water. Thus, Lake Superior, of all the Great Lakes, has the greatest potential for the generation of green electricity. Northern Lake Michigan and Lake Huron also have potential, but I will concentrate on Lake Superior in this essay.
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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Energy Storage

It’s fast becoming apparent that large clean energy storage is needed for variable renewable energy integration into the grid, not only to stabilize that resource but to avoid inevitable curtailment due to transmission constraints. The resulting VERS (variable energy resources) losses incurred reduce the value of clean energy, particularly wind, in some cases by 50%. Detailed information of this nexus is spelled out in a subcontracted study by NREL released October 2009. (NREL/SR-550-46716)
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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

In your act of reading this, I can make certain assumptions. You have an interest in what might be broadly characterized as ‘not business as usual’. While possible, it is unlikely that your eyeballs got here through a Bing or Google mishap. Most such ‘mishaps’ involve the legal tender. You likely know Craig, or are ‘in circle’ (first three layers) in the six degrees of separation sense made popular by Facebook, et al. Your interest goes beyond the casual, else you would more likely be engaging in such profundities at your favorite watering hole (or equivalent) rather than the blogosphere.
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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

I made another video using Windows Movie Maker just now, to promote our relationship with SustainableBusiness.com.   I take a certain joy in making this videos. I know I’m not Steven Spielberg in film-making, nor James Earl Jones in voice-overs — but it really is fun trying to get this done with reasonably good delivery and no major screw-ups.

I’ve enjoyed getting to know Rona Fried and working with her to co-promote sustainable living products and services. She’s extremely bright, as that Ph.D. after her name suggests, but she’s also very dedicated to the cause. Her website has been a beacon of commitment to environmentalism for 14 years. Impressive stuff.

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Photovoltaics

Continuing my discussion of solar energy from yesterday ….

The intermittent nature of solar energy also raises questions on its feasibility in certain geographies. The Mojave Desert may get a lot of sun, but the same is not true for other parts of the country. Besides, most solar panels convert only 22 percent of the radiations they capture into electric energy. This means that a typical solar farm has to cover a big area to produce electricity in meaningful amounts, such as the one proposed by BrightSource Energy Inc. in Mojave.

The 600,000 acre solar farm never materialized as environmentalists opposed the idea of generating energy inside a national monument.
Even after much research, solar energy cannot solve energy problems singlehandedly. It is necessary to have continuous power supply which in turn means having to store excess energy. Many advances in solar thermal energy technologies are still unable to provide the required supply of strength.

Notwithstanding these issues, supporters claim that the issues aren’t with the technology but the implementation of the solar policies. Lack of a unified national policy is one of them. US has a piecemeal approach for the solar panel installations including different, local incentives on state level. An aggressive stance taken by the Spanish government last year caused a glut in the market. Companies lined up to take advantage of the generous government subsidies in Spain adding 2 GW of electric capacity in just 12 months. However, when the government announced to reduce the subsidies in September 2008, the move caused massive job losses and an eventual bust.

Quite opposite, US hasn’t implemented a unified, central policy. Experts claim that the lack of such a policy isn’t desirable. Instead, a cautious national approach such as the one taken by Germany is the best way to go about the solar equation. The German law requires utility companies to buy energy from solar plants at higher rates and to feed the energy into their grids, ensuring buying guarantees for solar plants. In US, California is one of the states with such a law. The state approved a feed-in tariff policy in October but the need for such a policy at national level is certainly felt in expert circles.

Absence of a national policy has also resulted in solar companies taking advantage of the taxpayer’s money by availing different subsidies from governments for same project. The state of Oregon had to enact new rules last month to make it difficult for companies to qualify for multiple tax credits.

Lately, the performance of solar companies has improved after the financial turmoil. Most of the solar companies have reported improved quarterly financials beating sales and earnings expectations. Although different formats of solar panels are emerging, both crystalline silicon and relatively new thin-film technologies are expected to flourish, crystalline silicon technology is expected to have an upper hand as far as installation on urban rooftops is considered due to higher energy efficiency.

ADRs of the China-based Trina Solar Limited, a monocrystalline PV module manufacturer have run up 46 percent in November. On the other hand, thin-film players might spring a surprise as the technology is blessed with lower cost of production.

In the long run, the emphasis on renewable sources including solar is likely to increase but in the medium term, the popularity of solar energy and other renewable sources is likely to remain a function of the availability of cheaper or easier alternatives.

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Photovoltaics

With the increasing usage of renewable sources for energy generation, solar energy is touted as one of the most readily available renewable sources of energy. It will not be incorrect to say that green energy is in vogue these days as a result of government subsidies. Solar industry has come a long way from being a niche and expensive industry to the one witnessing institutional and retail involvement alike.

Solar energy comes in the form of radiations which are used to produce electricity in addition to heating applications. Silicone based panels are used to collect the radiation. Solar energy is environment friendly because it has virtually zero greenhouse emissions. Primarily, this is the reason that the energy form has been promoted by the government. Barring the initial capital cost, solar energy is maintenance free and doesn’t require any subsequent investment.

The government is encouraging the use of solar energy by giving federal aids to the equipment manufacturers and giving rebates to the end consumers through electric utilities. While the stimulus funds by government drives down the price of the solar panels on the manufacturing side, consumer rebates drive the retail market. In addition, solar photo-voltaic (PV) manufacturers are successfully tapping the capital markets to raise money. Two thin film solar technology companies raised more than US$400 million last week.

Electric utilities in the US have been giving rebates to the customers for installing rooftop solar energy systems. Even with a growing market, increasing consumer interest and rebates, the use of solar energy continues to be small compared to other forms of energy. Solar power generates only about 0.02 percent of the world’s energy supply.

A part of the problem lies with the cost. Traditional economics tells that mass production of a commodity leads to lower costs, but the companies involved in solar panel production have not been able to do so. Although, the production cost of solar panels has been decreasing over years, the industry has faced a new setback in the form of economic slump last year. It has become more expensive for a utility or company to raise capital to build solar projects this year than in the previous years. High cost of financing in this high capital investment industry is the proverbial straw which breaks the camel’s back.

Pressure on the margins has compelled the companies to look for the ways to cut corners. As happened with Evergreen Solar, the company started a facility in Devens, Boston (Massachusetts) this summer with much fanfare and promise to create green jobs. The state helped the facility to the tune of US$58 million only to see around 400 of the newly created jobs being shifted to China. While the company can be accused of backstabbing the government aid in light of having tripled its sales last year, the truth remains that the company lost as much as three times last year due to higher cost.

Quite similar was the fate of a planned facility in Auburn (Massachusetts) by Boston Power Inc. The company was seeking federal aid of US$100 million to build a factory creating 600 jobs. Boston Power, which makes advanced batteries to store energy generated by the solar panels, decided not to invest its own money after it failed to garner support from the government.

More on this tomorrow.

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