A team at the University of Sheffield this week have said they believe that the region’s famous steel plants could hold the key to a greener future for the South Yorkshire city. The experts at the University say that harnessing the waste energy created by the steel plants outside the city centre would produce an additional 20 MW of thermal energy.
Whilst this might not sound like much on paper, if this amount was produced consistently, over 2,000 homes and businesses could be heated using this method per year, having huge knock-on consequences for commercial energy in the city centre.
Professor Jim Swithenbank explained that ”It actually costs the steel plants to reduce the temperature of the flue gas and to cool the water used during steel manufacture. Recovering this heat and transferring it to the district heating network reduces the cost of heat production, improves energy efficiency and is beneficial to the environment, making a ‘win, win’ situation for the steelworks and the city,”
Swithenbank is something of an old hand in the heating and commercial energy system in Yorkshire, having helped develop the Sheffield district heating system during the 1970′s.
The original phase of the district heating system generates around 21 MW of electricity, which powers some 22,000 homes and businesses, with an additional 60 MW of thermal energy pumped around a 44km network of subterranean pipes; heating and providing hot water to 140 public buildings and 3,000 homes – reducing Sheffield’s CO2 emissions by around 21,000 tonnes per year.
If the engineers from the University’s SUWIC Research Centre’s plans come to fruition, the suggested expansion could knock a further 80,000 tonnes from that total.
Studies like the one in Sheffield could provide the tools for similar expansions across the UK; the researchers involved used a cutting-edge digital mapping software (GIS) to identify areas of high energy demand against potential new energy sources, assessing where an expansion would have the most gain.
Their findings, published in the Journal of Energy Conversion and Management, could see other cities with existing district heating systems using the same software to harness waste fuel in their region to provide more efficient commercial energy and heating to homes.
With the heating of buildings responsible for around half of the total energy used in the UK, a system that uses waste heat instead of traditional fossil fuel would be a huge boon for the UK’s pledges to decarbonise it’s fuel supply.
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The Unlikely Alliance Behind Clean Energy for Europe.
Of all the places you’d expect to find revolutionary renewable energy innovation, a country being kept afloat by bailouts on a continent plagued by an extended recession is probably amongst the least likely. But an improbable partnership has developed that could re-invent what we thought was possible from transcontinental energy has emerged, and it could signal a change in the way both commercial and residential energy is provided in the future.
Whilst Greece’s fragile economy might have left their relationship with the rest of the European Union strained in Brussels, a solar energy project being pioneered by Greece and Germany could prove to be an exciting new model for clean energy, that could have a knock-on effect for the rest of Europe.
Dubbed Helios – after the sun god of the Ancient Greek mythology – the project would aim to see thousands of solar panels installed along the famously-sunny Mediterranean coastline, which would then be transported by transmission lines to power homes and commercial property in Germany.
Given their recent pledge to ‘virtually eliminate greenhouse emissions by 2050′, the European Commission (the executive arm division of the European Union) have already put their full support behind Helios, thanks to it’s inherently clean and safe nature, as well as a lack of physical importation – unlike natural gas from Russia, for example.
As well as a more sustainable source of commercial energy, the EU also projects that installations like Helios will help them with a number of goals that have been laid out; such projects create a healthy number of new jobs, and will help the renewable energy sector grow in line with pledges made by the 27 EU member states.
Germany, currently the biggest EU economy, is having to rapidly change it’s stance as an exporter of energy to an importer following shutting down seven of it’s nuclear reactors. Whilst these reactors were scheduled to be closed over the coming years, the decision was made to shut them down almost immediately following the Fukushima disaster in Japan.
Whilst the goal of a nuclear-free, renewable energy economy is something of an ideal, the cost of this transition – for Germany in particular – has been strenuous, and could set a benchmark for the cost of energy importation that some countries may find hard to swallow; the European Climate Foundation has estimated that the transmission capacity of project Helios will have to double by 2030, at a cost of €68bn between 2020 and 2030 in order to keep it viable, a total that does not include the hundreds of billions needed for new generation projects.
Q. Does the thought of investing in such vast clean energy projects during times of recession make your wallet wince?
Q. Or do you think a continent-wide energy overhaul will be worth it in the long run?
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New figures from the Department of Energy & Climate Change suggest that the recent axing of subsidies for Solar Panel installation could threaten to put the renewable energy source in the shade. The latest information from the Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC) have shown a 90% fall in the amount of solar panel installations since 1st April, leaving question marks over the progressive nature of the solar industry in the UK.
Stemming from a 50% decrease in the available subsidies for homes and commercial properties who decide to install solar panels, the decision from the Coalition government has drawn much controversy – including a high court case – but the latest DCC figures could be the biggest talking point yet.
Previously, anyone installing solar panels would receive 43p/kWh of energy generated, but since the cuts have come into effect on 1st April, that has plummeted to 21p/kWh.
In the three weeks since the change in subsidy, an average of 2.4MW of solar photovoltaic capacity has been added each week – a huge 87% down from the weekly average for the previous year of 18MW.
This vast drop in the amount of panels installed per week is likely to be met with outcry from many of the changes’ opposition, who feared that the ‘too far, too fast’ change could cost could endanger thousands of jobs in the solar and clean commercial and domestic energy industries.
Greg Barker, the Conservative minister responsible for the solar subsidy scheme, said the problem isn’t with their cuts to subsidy, but instead with a ‘broken’ commercial electricity suppliers system put in place by the Labour government that preceded them.
Barker also said the more stable structure would ultimately put an end to “solar booms” and busts, and “bring in a much greater degree of certainty and predictability.” He has set an ambition to have 22GW of solar capacity installed in the UK by 2020.
Caroline Flint, the shadow energy and climate change secretary, claimed on Tuesday that this target would take 169 years to reach at the current rate. “For months Labour has been warning that the government’s cuts to solar power would destroy thousands of jobs, cut off a green hi-tech British industry and stop families controlling soaring energy bills.” adding that the DECC statistics were “Shocking” and commenting that it will new take “a staggering 169 years for us to reach our targets for solar power.”
Solar Trade Association chief Paul Barwell, said: “We’ve seen drops in installation with every policy adjustment, but we expect this one will take a bit more time to pick up.” He said the reason take-up would take longer this time is the new requirement that homes must be reasonably energy-efficient before being entitled to solar panel subsidies – a requirement met by about half of homes.
“Many householders are aware that government has slashed subsidies,” Barwell added. “The challenge for us is to make householders aware that’s partly because industry has slashed costs, and partly because solar is so popular. There is no doubt that financially solar remains a great prospect for UK homeowners so there is no good reason why the UK market should stagnate.”
Interestingly all sides agree that the change in subsidy structure had to happen, as installations and maintenance of solar energy solutions have become considerably cheaper – the disagreement comes with the scale and speed of the cuts.
With so much to consider, would you rather we took the risk on another ‘solar bust’ to try and keep the amount of installations high?
Or do you think bringing the number of solar panels installed down to a more consistent rate now that installations are cheaper was the right thing to do.
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Our monthly analysis of the UK gas and power markets is now available on line for the month of May 2012. The service is intended to keep you up to date with all the major news in Europe’s gas and power markets. It is also designed to keep power executives focused on market activity in an easy to digest format.
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Wind power has many amazing applications. These include offsetting carbon emissions, providing wind turbine jobs, appearing in adverts for energy companies to show how eco-friendly they are, and giving angry people something to complain about in local newspapers. You might not think that the uses of wind power go much further than that. After all, while wind farms might be a great idea, obviously there are a limited number of things you can stick a windmill on top of, right?
Well, you might think that, but you’d be tragically wrong. The wind is being used to power all sorts of weird things, such as:
Phone Chargers
In this day and age if you’re away from your Facebook page for than an hour or more you start hyperventilating and getting heart palpitations. Google has just released special glasses so that even as you’re walking around you’re getting the Internet rammed right into your eyes. Even people who are willing to give up sleeping in a real bed, under an actual ceiling, with proper toilets for some reason can’t cope with the idea of being unable to tweet about it.
Fortunately the solution is here, courtesy of the unfortunately named “Gotwind”. The device, commissioned by Orange, is basically a windmill you can stick on the top of your tent. Using a standard horizontal axis wind turbine, weighing only 150 grams, the device neeeds only 12 hours of charge time in a 12 mph wind to store up enough energy to fully charge your phone, camera and ipod in only a couple of hours.
Breaking Speed Records
We tend to think of wind powered vehicles as all that hi-tech, since we tend not to think of any technology that was used by Vikings as hi-tech. However, while sailboats are undeniably awesome, there are a couple of things they can’t do.
1, they can’t travel on land. 2, they can’t travel at 126 mph. The Greenbird, a “land yacht” driven by British engineer Richard Jenkins has done both of those things. Looking like something out of one of the lesser Star Wars movies, the craft is a testament to mankind’s dream of going really, really fast just, you know, because.
Giant Death Robots
Theo Jansen is basically a super villain. Just because he tells people he’s a “kinetic sculptor” and is doing “art” a lot of people haven’t realised it yet, but what he’s doing is building giant robots constructed from hundreds of plastic yellow tubes and unleashing them on the wild. He’s been doing this since 1990, taking the best designs and “breeding” them together. Yes, that’s right. They evolve.
As an example, take a look at this creature, wandering down a beach. Powered by the wind its many legs march like some sort of giant centipede or Roman legion. It’s terrifying. For those of you who always thought wind power could only be used for good, this is the perfect counter-argument.
A Magical Spinning Skyscraper
This self-sustaining skyscraper, designed by Dr. David Fisher of Dynamic Architecture, is 420 meters high, and has 80 floors, each rotating independently powered by a total of 48 wind turbines between each floor. The design looks sort of like a weird glass tentacle thing.
The construction of the skyscraper will be done in parallell stages, instead of building it from the ground up. There will be a solid concrete core to the building, and then the segments of each floor will be prefabricated at a nearby factory, making this about as close to real-life Lego as you can get.
The skyscraper will be built in Dubai, international home of crazy building designs, where there are 4,000 hours of wind a year. The designers believe they’ll be able to power the skyscraper with just four of its wind turbines, while using the other 44 to support the city’s power grid.
Guest Blog is from – Chris Farnell who is a freelancer writer interested in green energy and recruitment, including solar and wind turbine jobs throughout the UK.
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UK and US to Fund Development of Floating Wind Turbines.
Britain’s energy secretary Ed Davey and his American counterpart Steven Chu are set to announce a joint venture between Britain and the US to accelerate the development of new floating wind turbines technology.
Floating offshore wind turbines should provide the cost effectiveness the “Wind Industry” needs to gain recognition amongst investors and establish itself as a leading renewable energy resource for Britain and other countries around the world.
Traditional offshore wind farms must be located in waters less than 200 feet deep. Studies revealed that wind speeds are consistently stronger above deeper waters.
Floating wind turbines will enable the possibility to tap into winds that are located in deeper waters. Not to mention that once the technology is fully deployed such turbines should cost a lot less than their conventional siblings.
Speaking on the matter, Ed Davey said: “Turbines will be able to locate in ever deeper waters where the wind is stronger but without the expense of foundation down to the seabed or having to undertake major repairs out at sea,”
The technology is not far off since there are reports that Portugal is working on a floating turbine for the Atlantic while Norway seems to be ahead of the pack with a prototype already floating on the North Sea.
Despite not having deployed this new technology yet, Britain is a reference for the worldwide wind industry since it has more wind turbines installed around its shores than any other country in the world and our market is rated year after year as the most attractive market among investors.
To top things up, Britain has roughly one-third of the potential sites for offshore wind farms in Europe, which is more than any other nation.
This new agreement between Britain and the US to accelerate the development of floating wind turbines is part of the American-British Memorandum of Understanding on ‘Collaboration in Energy Related Fields’ covering many different forms of power generation but including low carbon technologies to combat climate change, energy transmission and distribution and energy efficiency.
As usual we would like to hear your thoughts about “Shale Gas”, Hydraulic Fracking and the UK Energy Mix. Share your thoughts on the comments bellow or head to our social media outlets and let the world know your opinion.
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The DECC commissioned a study from a panel of independent Geologists to investigate whether the seismic events experienced in the Blackpool area last year during shale gas extraction could be related to “fracking”. They concluded that hydraulic fracturing is “safe” as long as certain basic precautions are put in place.
This new report sparked up once again the shale gas debate. While critics say it will impede us from meeting our greenhouse gas reduction targets. Those in favour advocate that it could provide the energy security Britain has been dreaming of for years.
After last year’s seismic events in Press Hall, Blackpool area, the Cuadrilla Resources Ltd provided the DECC with a technical report to explain the two earthquakes of magnitude 2.3 and 1.5 that were linked to hydraulic fracture treatments.
This report has now been analysed by a group of independent experts in the fields of seismology, induced seismicity and hydraulic fracturing: Dr Brian Baptie, head of seismology at the British Geological Survey; Professor Peter Styles of Keele University, and Dr Christopher A. Green, GFRAC.
They concluded that there is only a “very small” risk of damage from earthquakes caused by hydraulic fracturing, posing no greater danger than that from conventional coal mining, which can cause seismic events of around magnitude three.
During an interview to BBC Radio 4, Dr Baptie said that “as long as the four main recommendations of the report were adhered to then there would be minimal risk, adding that there was “no evidence of structural damage from these kinds of earthquakes”.
The Experts’ Recommendations
the hydraulic fracturing procedure should include a smaller pre-injection and monitoring stage
an effective monitoring system to provide near real-time locations and magnitudes of any seismic events should be part of any operations
future fracking operations should be subject to a “traffic light” control regime, similar to that recommended by Cuadrilla’s consultants
unusual seismic activity, even at lower levels than the magnitude 1.7 proposed by Cuadrilla, should be carefully assessed before operations proceed.
For any future operations elsewhere in the UK the review recommends suitable actions to assess the seismic risk before any operations take place, including:
establishing the background seismicity in the area of interest
characterisation of any possible active faults in the region modelling to assess the potential impact of any induced earthquakes.
What the Critics said
Tony Jupiter former director of Friends of the Earth and chairman of Action for Renewables (A4R) said that the “environmental impact of fracking is comparable to coal and possibly worse, partly due to so-called “fugitive emissions” of methane from drilling sites”.
He also said that shale gas won’t have any impact on UK gas prices because of high extraction costs.
Joss Garman, Greenpeace’s senior energy campaigner, agreed that “there’s absolutely no indication that fracking for shale gas will reduce soaring household energy bills, while scientific studies suggest that this kind of gas could be as polluting as coal. This would also be a major blow for the British renewable energy industry, which would see investment hijacked by a new dash for gas.”
The report also received positive reviews. Rhian Kelly, CBI Director for Business Environment policy argued that “shale gas could unlock significant new infrastructure investments, help meet our carbon reduction goals and create many new jobs around the UK.”
But Garman counter argued that such investments could affect “our home-grown renewable energy companies”.
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May 2012
Waste Heat Revolution:
