Related Posts for renewable energy
January 23, 2012
By Matthew L. Wald of The New York Times: Coda Automotive is supposed to start selling its electric sedan next month. On Friday, its parent company announced that it was also moving into a related line: stationary batteries for electricity storage.
Coda Holdings will make minor modifications to battery packs for its cars, which use Chinese-manufactured lithium iron phosphate cells, and sell them individually or grouped together — both for storing solar power when homeowners’ rooftop panels generate more than they use, and to help businesses reduce their peak loads. Business customers usually pay for electricity on the basis of their highest level of use.
Because the packs are designed for cars, they are already modular and thus easy to scale up or scale down. Coda plans to sell its sedan with a battery pack of 31 kilowatt-hours or 36 kilowatt-hours; both numbers are roughly what a suburban house uses per day. The stationary module will be 40 kilowatt-hours.
The batteries could also pay for themselves in places where peak-hour power costs more than off-peak power, the company says, although very few places have such “time of use” rates today.
Utilities could also use them as backup in areas where demand for electricity has grown and improvements in distribution lines would otherwise be needed. One reason for such growth is the need for juice for electric cars, which raises the idea that the batteries could be charged up in periods of low demand so that they could later be tapped into by car owners to charge similar batteries in the cars. Read more
June 6, 2011
Analysis by Tim Bradner for the Alaska Journal of Commerce: Despite its high costs, renewable energy is a good risk-management strategy for Southcentral Alaska electric utilities, which currently depend heavily on natural gas for power generation. The problem is natural gas reserves are running down, and the only near-term guaranteed fall-back is imported liquefied natural gas.<
It's not a good position to be in.
Renewable energy – wind, hydro and geothermal – can be expensive at the front-end but its key advantage, in the long run is that the fuel is free, Chris Rose, executive director of the Renewable Energy Alaska Project, an advocacy group, told the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce April 25.
"Bradley Lake hydro is now the cheapest power in the Railbelt grid but it didn't look that way 20 years ago when the dam was built. At the time it didn't seem to pencil. It was expensive to build and natural gas was still cheap," Rose said.The state and the Railbelt utilities partnered to build the Bradley Lake dam near Homer anyway. Natural gas prices have since doubled from what they were 20 years ago but the cost of Bradley Lake hydro power has been stable and low, Rose said.
It didn't come up in the discussion at the chamber, but Cook Inlet Region Inc.'s planned $160 million Fire Island wind project and CIRI's difficulties in securing power sales agreements with local utilities, was clearly on peoples' minds at the chamber lunch.
Rose said he didn't want to talk about individual projects, but that his message is that the Railbelt needs a diversified basket of renewables to offset its overreliance on fossil fuels. Read more
December 15, 2010
A new study by Pew Charitable Trusts shows that private investments in global clean energy projects could top $2.3 Trillion in 10 years. Most investment will be in Asia but policy plays a key role.
From RenewableEnergyWorld.com: Looking into the next decade for clean energy deployment gives perspective on where an industry is headed and if Pew Charitable Trusts’ recently released report on global clean power is correct, the clean energy industry is looking at incredible growth.
Three scenarios were used to determine how much private investment each technology would garner:
* Business-as-usual (BAU): no change from current policies;
* Copenhagen: policies to implement the pledges made at the 2009 international climate negotiations in Copenhagen and;
* Enhanced clean energy: maximized policies designed to stimulate increased investment and capacity additions.
The overall takeaway from the report is that in any case, the global clean power sector will grow, at a huge rate, in any case. Pew found that in the G-20, total attracted clean power project investment is projected to be:
* BAU: $1.7 trillion by 2020
* Copenhagen: $1.8 trillion by 2020
* Enhanced clean energy: $2.3 trillion by 2020
Asia became the top regional destination for clean power finance this year – with China and India leading the way due to strong clean energy policies, said Pew. By 2020, China, India, Japan and South Korea could account for approximately 40 percent of global clean power project investments.
“Strong and consistent policies in Asia have helped double private investment over the past two years. Asia is now the leading region for clean energy investment, and its lead is set to extend in the near future unless Europe and the U.S. make a step change in their support for the sector,” said Michael Liebreich, CEO of Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
Under all three scenarios, China maintains its global leadership position and has the potential to attract cumulative clean energy asset investments of $620 billion over the next decade. Due to its clean energy policies, India moves up to third place by 2020 under all scenarios after being ranked 10th in 2009. India could realize a 763 percent increase in investment under the enhanced scenario, the largest of all G-20 members.
Europe, an early leader in the global clean energy economy thanks to strong clean energy policies and targets could see investments in clean energy projects total $705 billion over the next decade under the Enhanced clean energy scenario. The United Kingdom and Germany, traditional clean energy powers in Europe, rank in the top five globally of attracted clean power project investments under all three scenarios.
The report found that the United States is among those countries with the most to gain from passing strong clean energy policies. For example, the U.S. has the potential to attract $342 billion in clean power project investments over the next 10 years under the Enhanced clean energy scenario, an increase of $97 billion over the BAU scenario. Read more
December 15, 2010
From the U.S. Department of Energy EERE newsletter: The Philadelphia Eagles recently announced plans to power Lincoln Financial Field with a combination of onsite wind, solar and dual-fuel generated electricity, making it the world’s first major sports stadium to convert to self-generated renewable energy, according to the Eagles.
The franchise has contracted with SolarBlue, a renewable energy and energy conservation company to install the system. The planned design includes approximately eighty 20-foot spiral-shaped wind turbines on the top rim of the stadium; 2,500 solar panels on the stadium’s facade; a 7.6-megawatt (MW) onsite dual-fuel cogeneration plant; and a monitoring and switching technology to operate the system. The completion goal is September 2011.
SolarBlue will invest more than $30 million to build out the project, and will maintain and operate the stadium’s power system for the next 20 years at a fixed percent annual price increase in electricity. The football franchise will save an estimated $60 million in energy costs. The partners also project that Lincoln Financial Field will provide 1.039 billion kilowatt hours of electricity, enabling an estimated four megawatts of excess energy off-peak to be sold back to the local electric grid.
The energy to be generated by on-site renewable sources is comparable to the annual electricity usage of 26,000 homes. Solar Blue estimates that converting the stadium to renewable energy will eliminate CO2 emissions equivalent to that produced by the consumption of 500,000 barrels of oil. That equates to the removal of carbon emissions of 41,000 cars each year. See the SolarBlue press release.
October 7, 2010
From RenewableEnergyWorld.Com: Washington, D.C. — According to the most recent issue of the “Monthly Energy Review” by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), renewable energy sources (i.e., biofuels, biomass, geothermal, hydroelectric, solar, wind) provided 11.14% of domestic U.S. energy production during the first six months of 2010 – the latest time-frame for which data has been published. This continues the steady growth trend for renewable energy. Renewables accounted for 10.71% of domestic energy production during the first six months of 2009 and 10.35% during the first six months of 2008. Read more
September 13, 2010
An editorial by CLEM TILLION in the Anchorage Daily News: We Alaskans are a spirited bunch, independent, capable, with plenty of backbone when confronting difficulties. It’s time to show some of that fortitude. We’re facing a fundamental dilemma. Alaska, like the rest of the nation, needs energy. But the fossil fuels we rely on so heavily are becoming scarce, cost too much, and when carbon dioxide emissions get absorbed by the ocean, our fisheries are threatened. Logic dictates earnest investment in Alaska’s renewable resources.
There is a wealth of energy waiting to be tapped by hydroelectric dams, wind farms, tidal generators and solar panels, plus atomic if needed. Not far from Anchorage lies yet another source of unlimited energy — the geothermal potential beneath Mount Spurr. Read more
December 15, 2009
From the Website of the Environmental Data Interactive Exchange: Ireland’s Energy minister, Eamon Ryan, has welcomed the news which was revealed in the Energy in Ireland 1990-2008 report yesterday (December 14). Ireland’s use of renewable energy grow by 21% in 2008 according to the report. Mr Ryan said: “Having exceeded 12% electricity from renewable sources, we are well on our way to reaching our interim targets next year. Read more
December 15, 2009
Washington, DC – U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced today that the Department of Energy will provide up to $30 billion in loan guarantees, depending on the applications and market conditions, for renewable energy projects. Another $750 million will support several billion dollars more in loan guarantees for projects that increase the reliability, efficiency and security of the nation’s transmission system. The two new loan guarantee solicitations announced today are being funded partly through the Recovery Act and partly through 2009 appropriations.
“These investments will be used to create jobs, spur the development of innovative clean energy technologies, and help ensure a smart, strong and secure grid that will deliver renewable power more effectively and reliably,” said Secretary Chu. “This administration has set a goal of doubling renewable electricity generation over the next three years. To achieve that goal, we need to accelerate renewable project development by ensuring access to capital for advanced technology projects. We also need a grid that can move clean energy from the places it can be produced to the places where it can be used and that can integrate variable sources of power, like wind and solar.” Read more
December 4, 2009
This was part of a Christian Science Monitor editorial today about the upcoming climate conference in Copenhagen, and the burgeoning business of clean energy.
“In Germany, jobs in the renewable-energy sector are approaching the number in auto manufacturing. Japan has a near monopoly on batteries for hybrid cars. Denmark has the largest wind turbine company. Within a few years, China is expected to dominate the global solar industry. And it is investing $88 billion in its electrical transmission grid to
bring solar and wind power to its cities.” Read more
October 4, 2009
A column from a retired Vice Admiral on why Alaska is uniquely poised to be a national leader on renewable energy: One hardly need tell Alaskans about global warming and climate change. Alaska is, in many ways, ground zero for obvious climate change impacts — reduced pack ice in the Arctic Ocean, loss of permafrost, major shifts in bird and wildlife behavior and plant disease vectors related to climate change. The great efforts going on right now to relocate the village of Newtok are indicative of the challenges to come in a future of global warming. Read more
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