Energy

Floating solar farms

Floating solar farms, also known as "floatovoltaics," are an efficient way to collect solar energy. They have a number of advantages over land-based systems:

  1. They don't occupy land that could be used for other things, like crop farming.
  2. They're up to 16% more efficient because the water keeps them cool.
  3. They reduce evaporation on hydroelectric dams, saving more water for hydropower.

But they also come with an environmental cost: the panels sit on plastic floats. So far, floatovoltaic developers have relied on virgin (new) plastic to keep the panels afloat. As we know, plastic is one of the biggest contributors to pollution, uses fossil fuels to manufacture, and is deadly for sea creatures. But a new floatovoltaic farm in Alqueva, Portugal, is under development by the EDP corporation, an energy company committed to sustainability. 

Save energy with new windows

In 1991, researchers at Berkeley Lab invented a triple-glazed window they hoped would revolutionise the building industry. Though windows with three panes had existed for years, what distinguished Berkley’s design from precursors was the presence of a centralised, thin layer of glass. This made the window lighter, as less material could be used to make the external panes. It also made the window more energy efficient, as compartments either side of the central layer could be filled with insulating gas. On paper, the window had the potential to cut annual heating bills by 39 percent and reduce air conditioning costs by 28 percent. The only problem was that it was prohibitively expensive to manufacture.

Coal energy challenges in Japan

According to The Japan Times, the tragic events of March 11, 2011, when a massive earthquake and tsunami triggered meltdowns at three nuclear reactors in Fukushima, forced Japan to reconsider nuclear energy. Today, 24 of Japan’s 33 reactors remain offline.

After the disaster, the government increased its push toward renewable energy, but it also invested heavily in coal projects. The dirty fuel was seen as the fastest, cheapest and most reliable way to keep the lights on.

A return to coal has left Japan with only modest long-term climate goals. Electricity generation is now responsible for almost 40 percent of the country’s emissions, and Japan aims to cut total emissions 26 percent by 2030 from 2013 levels.

Fukushima recovery

Workers at the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant have begun removing fuel rods from a storage pool near one of the three reactors that suffered meltdowns eight years ago. The measure marks a milestone in efforts to decommission the plant, although the more critical removal of melted fuel from inside three damaged reactors will prove far more difficult.

The operation to remove the fuel rods will take two years. Workers are remotely operating a crane to raise the fuel from a storage rack in the pool and place it into a protective cask. The whole process occurs underwater to prevent radiation leaks. The entire decommissioning work is expected to take at least 40 years.

Okuma, one of two towns that host the nuclear plant, has partially lifted its evacuation order. But as of mid-April, only 367 people, or 3.5% of Okuma’s pre-disaster population of 10,341, have registered as residents.

Small modular nuclear reactors

Until now, generating nuclear power has required massive facilities surrounded by acres of buildings and infrastructure. The nuclear industry is trying to change that picture—by going small. Efforts to build the nation’s first "advanced small modular reactor" (SMR) in Idaho, U.S.A., are on track for it to become operational by the mid-2020s.

Proponents of these advanced SMR say they will be easier to build and more flexible in terms of where they can be located than the larger kind. The word "modular" refers to how they will be built in factory-like settings, ready for hauling either fully assembled or in easily connected parts by truck, rail or sea.

Renewable energy rising

Renewable energy is set to be generating 50% of global electricity by 2050.

The New Energy Outlook (NEO) 2018 says that the continuing fall in the cost of batteries will massively increase the ability to store off-peak electricity and sell it when demand is high, which will enable renewable technologies--particularly wind and solar projects--to take an increasing share of the electricity market. 

Europe’s electricity market will be 87% renewable in Europe by 2050, while India’s will be 75% renewable, China’s 62% and 55% in the U.S., the report says.

However, U.S. President Trump’s battle to save the coal industry looks doomed, with coal-powered generation set to make up just 11% of global electricity generation by the middle of the century, down from 38% today, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

Saving energy with liquid air

A pioneering project by Highview Power will turn air into liquid for energy storage to help electricity grids cope with a growing amount of wind and solar power.  

The world’s first full-scale “liquid air” plant, located in northwest England, is based on a technology that advocates say is cheaper and able to provide power for longer periods than lithium-ion batteries. The energy plant uses excess or off-peak electricity to chill air to -196C, transforming it to a liquid state to be stored inside large metal tanks. Pumping and heating is used later to turn it back to a gas, which is released to turn a turbine, generating electricity at times of need—but without burning the gas and releasing emissions.  

While relatively small at 5 megawatts (MW), compared to 50MW lithium-ion battery facilities, Highview Power said the technology could be scaled up to hundreds of megawatts.  

Japan is moving back to coal

Japan, in a move that few could have foreseen, has opened at least eight brand new coal-burning power plants in the last two years and has plans for at least 36 more in the next ten years.

[Critics] say that the government is being weak on renewables and that the return to coal guarantees a major rise in air pollution, standing in direct conflict with Japan’s pledges to cut its greenhouse gas emissions. As it stands now, the country is responsible for a whopping 4 percent of global emissions, and that’s before the impending construction of 36 coal plants over the next decade.

Japan is also looking for other ways to greenify coal, including looking into the fossil fuel as a possible source of energy for hydrogen-powered cars.

Life after Oil

What happens when the oil runs out?

We cannot go on using oil forever. We can do so for a few more decades - perhaps until 2070, then it will run out - or at least, there will be hardly any left.

At present, there is still plenty of oil under the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Engineers keep finding new sources of oil, but there are some unavoidable issues with fossil fuels which cannot be ignored.

Scientists are making new forms of oil, using plants, and most of the oil that we eat comes from plants. It is sometimes possible to make petrol from this oil, like some types of diesel-fuel. But even this form of energy presents certain problems.

Alternative energy is still relatively new and cannot meet our needs yet.

Oil is still vital, but the world is nearing a critical point.

Solar cheaper than fossil fuels

The renewable energy future will arrive when installing new solar panels is cheaper than a comparable investment in coal, natural gas or other options. If you ask the World Economic Forum (WEF), the day has arrived.

Solar and wind is now the same price or cheaper than new fossil fuel capacity in more than 30 countries, the WEF reported in December. As prices for solar and wind power continue their precipitous fall, two-thirds of all nations will reach the point known as “grid parity” within a few years, even without subsidies. “Renewable energy has reached a tipping point,” Michael Drexler, who leads infrastructure and development investing at the WEF, said in a statement. “It is not only a commercially viable option, but an outright compelling investment opportunity with long term, stable, inflation-protected returns.”