Swiss startup Energy Vault is stacking concrete blocks to store energy. Thanks to the modern electric grid, you have access to electricity whenever you want. But the grid only works when electricity is generated in the same amounts as it is consumed. Bigger than LNG? SA to get first "green hydrogen" plant.
The plant, to be one of the biggest of its kind in the world, will use energy from Eyre Peninsula renewable energy generators – both wind and solar – to create hydrogen, which will, in turn, be used to power a 10MW hydrogen-fired gas turbine and a 5MW hydrogen fuel cell which will both supply power to the grid.
As the same time, the $117.5 million plant will also produce ammonia as a byproduct, which can be sold to agricultural industries as fertiliser. Company Hydrogen Utility (H2U) has been given a $4.7 million State Government grant and $7.5 million loan from the State Government’s Renewable Technology Fund to get the project up and running. The company, which is working with German-based ammonia and hydrogen company thyssenkrupp, hopes the project will demonstrate the commercial and technical viability of the multi-faceted technology.
Hydrogen is an emerging green industry.
ECN: Floating train at 2000 km/h set to store 10% of Dutch electricity. ECN's Energy Train could revolutionise the world of energy storage The construction of a huge underground maglev-style floating railway will make it possible to store 10% of the Netherlands' daily energy needs in the form of kinetic energy.
This Energy Train can compensate for peaks and troughs in the supply and demand of wind and solar energy at one tenth of the usual costs.
Solar. Wind. Wave. CAES To Grow Dramatically Over The Next Decade. Clean Power Published on August 27th, 2013 | by Nicholas Brown According to Navigant Research, the compressed air energy storage industry is forecast to grow drastically during the next 10 years.
How your iPhone uses more energy than a refrigerator. Maybe you drive a hybrid car and recycle your plastic containers.
Perhaps you have bought carbon offsets, and even installed solar panels on your roof. But if you’re using an iPhone, you should know that a new study claims it uses more energy than a refrigerator. Peru Unveils Plan to Use Solar Panels to Provide Electricity to 2 Million People. LIMA – The National Photovoltaic Household Electrification Program will benefit more than 2 million people in Peru, Energy and Mining Minister Jorge Merino said.
The program will provide electricity to poor households using solar panels, Merino said. What is Nuclear? EPRI on Renewable Energy: Compressed Air Energy Storage. When it comes to energy storage...If you're talking big hours and big megawatts, if you're going to be moving a lot of low cost night time energy to daytime, if you're talking hundreds of megawatts...
Then you really only have two choices, Pumped Hydro or Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) according to EPRI, the Electric Power Research Institute. Lithium-ion might be good for cells phones and maybe EVs. Flywheels for short bursts of storage. New technologies like flow batteries are emerging but they're still a ways from utility-scale prime time cost requirements.
Projekt_0507_engl_internetx.pdf. Www.irena.org/DocumentDownloads/Publications/GA_Booklet_Web. River could light up the continent. The dream of harnessing the mighty Congo River with the world's largest set of dams has come closer, with the World Bank and other financial institutions expected to offer finance, and South Africa agreeing to buy half of the power that is generated.
In the past 60 years French, Belgian, Chinese, Brazilian and African engineers have all hoped to dam the river. But decades of civil war, corruption and the Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC's) reputation as a failed state have limited the hydropower developments at the country's Inga Falls to two relatively small dams, built in 1972 and 1982. These, known as Inga 1 and 2, have a theoretical capacity of 1400MW, but produce about half of that.
Researchers create super-efficient, long-lasting battery from wood. Batteries usually contain harsh chemicals that make them less than environmentally friendly, but a new research project out of the University of Maryland seeks to change that, at least on the small-scale.
A team led by professor Hongli Zhu has succeeded in creating a nanoscale rechargeable battery from the most environmentally friendly material there is — wood. This alternative to existing batteries would be benign when disposed of and very cheap to manufacture. The most common rechargeable batteries today are based on lithium-ion technology. In these cells, lithium ions carry the current by moving from the negative to positive electrode.
That discharges the stored power and your cell phone or Tesla Roadster gets the necessary juice. We were wrong about peak oil, but disaster looms anyway. The facts have changed, now we must change too.
For the past 10 years an unlikely coalition of geologists, oil drillers, bankers, military strategists and environmentalists has been warning that peak oil – the decline of global supplies – is just around the corner. We had some strong reasons for doing so: production had slowed, the price had risen sharply, depletion was widespread and appeared to be escalating. Tom Zeller Jr.: Ozzie Zehner's 'Green Illusions' Ruffles Feathers.
If his goal was to capture attention by tweaking the nose of clean-energy enthusiasts everywhere, Ozzie Zehner might well have succeeded.
His new book, published last month and provocatively titled "Green Illusions: The Dirty Secrets of Clean Energy and the Future of Environmentalism," takes on what Zehner considers the sacred cows of the green movement: solar power, wind power and electric vehicles, among others. Of course, the book is much more than just this, and Zehner, a visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley's Science, Technology & Society Center, describes himself as being neither for nor against any particular energy source. Top 7 alternative energies listed - environment - 14 January 2009. The US could replace all its cars and trucks with electric cars powered by wind turbines taking up less than 3 square kilometres - in theory, at least. That's the conclusion of a detailed study ranking 11 types of non-fossil fuels according to their total ecological footprint and their benefit to human health.
The study, carried out by Mark Jacobson of the atmosphere and energy programme at Stanford University, found wind power to be by far the most desirable source of energy. Big banks turn away small green-energy projects. DEVELOPERS of smaller renewable energy projects will struggle to get financial backing from major commercial banks, according to Rajen Ranchhoojee of Eversheds South Africa. This will force these developers to resort to their balance sheets and private equity investors.
Mr Ranchhoojee said commercial banks were turning away smaller projects. "Unless you have a bigger project — say 40MW — it will be difficult to raise money. This is because of the human resources banks have to dedicate to the projects that they back. "So it is better for the banks to focus on the larger projects which have a greater chance of being selected (as a preferred bidder)," Mr Ranchhoojee said.
Nuclear's Once Bright and Shiny Future Blinks Out. Don't look now, but one of the biggest and most famous industries in the world, nuclear power, once seen as the lynchpin of the future, is reeling yet again after huge political setbacks in Japan and France. Last year's disaster at Fukushima is having an even bigger effect than the Chernobyl disaster of the '80s. The latter could be blamed on the backward old Soviet Union. NPC uneasy with cost of nuclear power. The plan, handed to President Jacob Zuma in Parliament on Wednesday, advocates investigating shale and coalbed methane reserves as a cheaper alternative.
"If gas reserves are proven, and environmental concerns alleviated, then development of these resources and gas-to-power projects should be fast-tracked," it states. "Even if economically recoverable resources are much lower than currently estimated, shale gas as a transitional fuel has the potential to contribute a very large proportion of South Africa's electricity needs. " The commission also calls for building the necessary infrastructure to import liquefied natural gas, and for an increase in hydro-power imports from the region. The update of the original plan released in November, largely confirms its original predictions of the energy targets the country needs to meet by 2030. This includes acquiring at least 20,000 megawatts of renewable energy, and decommissioning 11,000 megawatts of ageing coal-fired power stations. UK Report Finds Benefits of Thorium Fission “Overstated” Study: Natural gas is much better than coal.
Natural gas may be the most painless way to transition into low-carbon energy, according to a press release from Cornell University. Professor Lawrence M. Fracking plans 'flawed': lobby group. Fracking will save us: Cabinet drops moratorium. Gas could satisfy most of South Africa's power needs. Safe Nuclear Power Plant For Use in Space Designed by Teenager. Do nuclear power plants need a redesign? Critics of nuclear energy seem to think so, and so does nuclear energy advocate, Taylor Wilson. A physics wunderkind, Wilson became the youngest person to ever create fusion at age 14. Cheaper green energy storage solution invented by Calgary profs - Technology & Science. Breakthrough in hydrogen fuel production could revolutionize alternative energy market.
BLACKSBURG, Va., April 4, 2013 – A team of Virginia Tech researchers has discovered a way to extract large quantities of hydrogen from any plant, a breakthrough that has the potential to bring a low-cost, environmentally friendly fuel source to the world. Electric car battery breakthrough. Phinergy's Recyclable Aluminum-Air Battery Could Power Electric Vehicles for Thousands of Miles. Range anxiety is a much-discussed concern among drivers—and potential drivers—of electric vehicles, and in attempt to thwart it, automakers are trying to install more EV charging stations, offering free gas-powered rentals for longer trips and, of course, developing batteries with a substantially longer range.
New Car Engine Sends Shock Waves Through Auto Industry. State moves on R47bn green power plan for SA. Eskom in power at all costs. Waste water harnessed to make electricity and plastics - tech - 03 September 2012. Feces-Derived Biogas That Is. The sweet smell of clean energy: New toilet turns your waste into fuel to power your home. Special Report - E-volt Waste-to-electricity. Home. Holy Grail.