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News & Views From the Front Line

Wednesday, 13 January 2010

Smart Grids for Idiots

This morning I was reading the usual batch of letters to my local paper on how terrible renewable energy is, how global warming is a myth, blah blah blah - the usual reheated zombie arguments. And this morning the old myth that renewables need 100% backup from fossil fuels reared its ugly head once again.

After reading The Solar Economy during the summer, I've become fascinated with how a solar powered economy would work in practice. I got an hint of how this works when I visited EAE Ltd this summer. They use power from their wind turbine directly by day and then at night use it to charge their electric forklift truck. This is a very simple form of energy management that spreads the peak of consumption across 24 hours - using the forklift battery to capture renewable energy when it is available for use during the day.

A smart grid would do this on a much larger scale. The grid would link lots of generators, large and small, using a range of generation technology - microhydro, solar PV, wind, biomass CHP etc - with lots of users - commercial, residential and electric vehicle owners. Some of those users would also have storage facilities - most notably electric vehicle owners. The smart bit of the grid would control the balance between generation, storage and use and manage the flow of money between them. When supply exceeded demand, the price per unit would drop and the storage facilities would charge up. When demand exceeded supply, those owners of storage facilities could opt to sell energy back to the grid at a premium. This optimisation of supply and demand would lower peak demand, so any backup required would only have to cover a much lower essential demand.

There are interesting proposals for how this could work in practice. You could be driving your electric car and the energy management system would advise you to charge up in the next hour at a certain charging point (identified by GPS) as prices were low. Later you could be sat at your desk at work and receive a text from your car outside advising you to sell some of its stored energy while prices were high, leaving enough charge to get home. Some estimate that, by selling such services to the grid, electric vehicles could become a source of income rather than a drain on your resources.

Smart!

Labels: electric vehicles, renewable energy, smart grids

# posted by Gareth Kane : 08:17 0 Comments

Wednesday, 29 July 2009

Glen Bennett, EAE Ltd

Yesterday I interviewed Glen Bennett, founder and MD of EAE Ltd, a Scottish leaflet marketing business. This video, made by young people as part of a wider project, shows some of the achievements he has made on his objective of making the company zero carbon.

What the video doesn't show is the trials and tribulations Glen went through. The wind turbine took them 2½ years to get installed - they had to work with 22 different organisations to do it. Many were clearly not up to the job - one planner asked what ‘kWh’ stood for, another tried to kill the project at the last minute for (unnecessary) noise testing.

Then, as soon as it was installed, EAE were hit with a business rate increase as the turbine counted as a business improvement! That levy has now been removed, but only after Glen ran a media campaign to point out the stupidity of the situation. Excess electricity from the turbine is simply dumped onto the grid for free as the current set up for charging would cost more than it would generate.

Why is this not easier? Why should pioneers like Glen have to go through the modern day equivalent of the 12 tasks of Hercules to cut his company's carbon footprint? The recent Government strategies will lower some of these bureaucratic barriers, but Glen's story shows that it ain't always easy being green.

Labels: carbon footprint, eae ltd, glen bennett, renewable energy, wind turbines

# posted by Gareth Kane : 07:00 0 Comments

Monday, 27 July 2009

Engineering the Future

I'm a member of the Institute of Engineering & Technology - back when I was appointed a member it was the Institute of Electrical Engineers (IEE). These engineering institutes have been around for a long time and they're very prestigious - you can't just turn up and pay your fees, you have to demonstrate a wide range of competencies gained through structured training, fulfil professional criteria and undergo a tough interview.

I joined as a student/graduate member during my sandwich course and later became an associate member. When I was deciding whether to apply for full membership, I had just completed 3 years in the environment/sustainability field and I was wondering if it was really for me. Just at that time, the IEE created the "Engineering for a Sustainable Future" network, so I thought "Yes! This is my spiritual home". But what a furore erupted in the letters page of the monthly news! The term "political correctness" featured heavily - "it is not the role of the engineer to get involved in a political agenda, harumph, grumble etc". One letter even blamed climate change on wind turbines slowing the prevailing winds, I kid you not.

What a difference eight years makes! The IET's journal now features a clutch of sustainability news stories and articles every issue and every third or fourth issue seems to be a special on some aspect of the field - the last but one being on "fuels for the future". And of course they should. Look at the issues - renewable energy systems, energy storage, grid connections, energy efficiency, industrial control systems, replacing goods with data, future fuels, intelligent grids, monitoring systems (including smart meters), building design, vehicle design, lightweight materials - the list is endless. Engineers are at the core of sustainability and they now see it as an exciting, fast moving and cutting edge ride to get on.

So well done to the IEE/IET for facing down the old duffers - onwards and upwards!

Labels: energy efficiency, engineering, renewable energy, sustainability

# posted by Gareth Kane : 07:00 0 Comments

Friday, 17 July 2009

Green Wednesday?

And lo! It came to pass that the UK did publish a huge raft of low carbon strategies on one day in July. And as promised, here is my quick guide.

1. Carbon Transition Plan

This is the over-arching document of the set. The overall emissions savings will come from:

54% - power and heavy industry - through the EU Emissions Trading Scheme
19% - transport
13% - homes and communities
9% - "workplaces and jobs"
4% - farming, land and waste

Much of what is in the plan is already known - the four Carbon Capture & Storage demos, more energy efficient housing, smart meters in all homes, but it is supplemented with help for "the vulnerable" - particularly elderly people so they don't bear the costs. One surprise, given the amount of debate on the topic, is that the Government is predicting the amount of nuclear energy in the mix will fall to 8% from its current 13%. Given that the overall pie is set to reduce, this is a significant drop indeed. The inclusion of farming is one aspect which is often ignored.

What is missing? The grid is apparently going to get bigger and smarter, but not regionalised. There is nothing about Energy Service Companies (ESCOs) or Combined Heat & Power (CHP). Offshored emissions from our consumption don't get a look in either - as usual there is a tight line drawn around the UK labelled "our responsibility: their responsibility". This issue will cause debate with developing nations in Copenhagen later this year as they bear much of the carbon burden of our lifestyles.

2. Renewable Energy Strategy

The Government is proposing that by 2020, renewables will represent:

30% of electricity generation
12% of heat
10% of transport

In terms of electricity, there will be a big investment in offshore wind, wave and tidal and sustainable bioenergy.

Feed-In Tariffs were the first thing I looked for and, hurrah, they're there. Except they've been re-named "renewable energy cash backs". While I can see that this might create a bit more public interest than the rather technocratic accepted term, especially the word 'cash', I don't like the term "cash-back". If you are selling renewable energy to the grid, then you're selling renewable energy to the grid, not receiving some sort of rebate. The name might discourage, say community interest companies or social enterprises who want to make some money. But whatever the name FITs will appear by next April and should stimulate the kind of boom in small scale regeneration seen in Germany.

There is a lot of discussion in the document of the Renewable Heat Initiative, but this appears to be a work in progress.

3. Low Carbon Transport Strategy

This one is rather woolly - the two main aspects are:

low carbon technologies - more efficient vehicles, cleaner fuels, electric vehicle infrastructure and sustainable biofuels.
better choices - low carbon public transport, more transport nodes, cycle racks at railway stations and 18 more cycle demonstration towns.

Aviation is one topic the green groups have been keeping a beady eye on and the strategy is rather vague here. The Government has said they don't want to see foreign holidays go back to the preserve of the middle classes, but they're being somewhat disingenuous as the big increase in air traffic has been the middle classes peppering their year with a series of city breaks. I always liked the idea floated by the Tories a few years ago that everyone would get one tax-free flight a year (the average Brit takes less than one flight in a year) and then there would be hefty taxes on further flights. This seemed a fair way forward, but it was hastily withdrawn under a barrage from the right-wing press (I suspect the measure would have hit journalists more than most).

Only a small part of the strategy involves 'no travel' options with a weasely statement that home working doesn't always have carbon benefits - it does according to the DfT's own research I read! Home working cuts out aircon, commuting and it encourages the use of local services.

In addition, I would like to have seen more statutory requirements to provide road space or alternatives to cyclists. What about making all footpaths in non 20/30mph zones dual use?

4. Low Carbon Industrial Strategy

This is probably the most dense of the four documents with a whole raft of bodies, quangos and existing schemes being utilised to encourage the low carbon supply chain. I've never been convinced the Government's approach has been correct on this one as it, as usual, revolves around competition for funding (previous R&D/Innovation funds have a 1/8 success rate which means the other 7/8 putting a huge amount of work into the application for no joy) and business advice which tends to follow a one-size fits all approach. I found it difficult to trace through all the finance options in this strategy and I guess most entrepreneurs would as well.

IMHO public sector business advice is almost an oxymoron. Yes, you can get the right people in to deliver it (and I do some), but they usually get caught up in red tape, rigid structures, byzantine rules and target chasing.

Basically green markets will follow demand. Governments can stimulate demand by public procurement, tax breaks for low carbon technologies and penalties for high carbon technologies. This will allow good ideas to penetrate the market (as opposed to those who some committee of quangocrats decides are most viable). Private sector investment will follow the market opportunities and the ideas to exploit them. There is some of all of this in the strategy, but again I found the options dense and difficult to evaluate for effectiveness, which tells its own story.

So, while there's nothing wrong with the intentions of this strategy, it should be sleeker, leaner and clearer and less dependent on public sector intervention.

Conclusions

I could be cynical and say there is very little new in these proposals - and I'd be right - most simply soup up current Government schemes to be bolder and faster in their delivery, or introduce well tried elements that the Government has been foot-dragging on for a very long time, like feed-in tariffs. But what is remarkable is the boldness, scope, ambition and coherence of the plan. Someone has been working very hard to bring all this together and they don't seem to have the caveats and wriggle room which have characterised such strategies for the last 10 years. So why the sudden boldness? Is this a Government on its way out saying "Well we're trailing so far behind in the polls we might as well go for it?" Or is climate change secretary Ed Miliband really a bold visionary, striding out across the low carbon landscape? Who knows?

The plans have generally gone down well with stakeholders, with the only dissent being the difference between the CBI ("more nuclear!") and the green groups ("no nuclear!"). The more reactionary press is trying to spin a "energy bill hike/green stealth tax" line on the fact that domestic energy bills may start rising in 2015 (before that, extra costs should be offset by energy efficiency savings), indulging in some cherry-picking/worse case scenario tactics, but after the shock-horror headlines, the strategies get fairly even-handed coverage.

So, overall, I would give these proposals an 'B+', not perfect, but a big leap forward from the 'C-' I would have given the Government before. To get an 'A' we would need to see more distributed energy, consideration of the UK's indirect carbon footprint overseas, clearer financial incentives and, just to make me happy, compulsory standards for cycle provision on highways.

Labels: feed-in tariff, government strategy, low carbon economy, renewable energy, transport

# posted by Gareth Kane : 06:45 1 Comments

Wednesday, 15 July 2009

Low carbon strategies - but are they too little, too late?

The UK Government is launching a raft of strategies today: Low Carbon Transition Plan, a Renewable Energy Strategy and the Low Carbon Industrial Strategy. I'll be reviewing them and posting a summary later in the week.

In the meantime, wind turbine manufacturer Vesta is closing its UK plant to concentrate production in China, Denmark and Germany (the latter two having feed-in legislation for renewable energy). The Government claims that the UK will have a booming low carbon sector look a bit flimsy if they're going to let this happen. Yesterday I interviewed Roy Stanley, Chairman of the Tanfield Group which owns the world's oldest electric vehicle manufacturer, Smith's (first model 1935, would you believe?). What struck me about our conversation was how a relatively modest increase in orders would drive down the supply chain costs very quickly and make the vehicles much more competitive on capital costs (they are cheaper on through life costs already). Tax breaks and public sector procurement could make this happen very quickly and create a snowball effect.

So, I'd like to see a bit less strategy and quite a lot more action. Tax breaks, public procurement and feed-in legislation would go a long way to creating sustainable markets for the low carbon industry and then we'd see a boom. We shall wait and see...

Labels: electric vehicles, feed-in tariff, low carbon economy, renewable energy

# posted by Gareth Kane : 05:56 0 Comments

Monday, 13 July 2009

Book Review: The Solar Economy by Hermann Scheer

German MP and Solar Champion Hermann Scheer wrote this book about 10 years ago and it has been available in English for about 7 years, but apart from a few historical references, there is little out of date about this book. Scheer was responsible for introducing feed-in legislation in Germany which has been responsible for a huge boost in the uptake of renewables and the supporting renewables industry.

The book can be a bit difficult to read, partly due to a slightly clunky style and partly due to Scheer's tendency to go off on a rant about something he feels strongly about in the middle of a well argued point. But his main arguments are:

1. There is a prevailing myth that non-renewable sources of energy will support us for ever and that renewable sources cannot. The earth receives 15,000 times as much solar energy as man uses in any year, so it is up to our ingenuity to capture and use as much of this as we need.

2. International agreements such as the Kyoto agreement are a dangerous distraction as they encourage individual nations to delay action, and the compromises inherent in such an agreement leads to the lowest common denominator being adopted rather than a race to see who can do best.

3. The current energy infrastructure is designed to take a number of highly concentrated forms of energy and distributing them to a diffuse number of users. Renewable energy is diffuse and the most efficient way of using it is directly at source (eg a house using the electricity generated on its roof). This requires a completely different distribution system and localised storage systems.

4. As a result of this mismatch, energy statistics are flawed as they omit existing autonomous renewable energy systems (eg domestic solar hot water systems, wood burning stoves, solar powered calculators, solar powered road signs etc) and passive renewable energy use, such as passive solar gain of housing and natural daylighting.

5. The fossil (and nuclear) fuel industries are over-subsidised and are given near monopoly control over some markets. These vested interests must be confronted and routed out before solar can thrive. Existing energy companies should bear the societal costs of their industry.

6. Solar resources (biomaterials, biofuels) can and should replace their oil-based equivalents without disrupting food supplies. Given the recent outcry over food prices and the effect on them of biofuel production, this is one of the few places in the book where it showed its age.

So, instead of the big centralised distribution systems (which are becoming global in many cases), Scheer proposes a localised system of distribution grids, owned by local and regional authorities (Scheer believes that privatisation should only occur where competition is possible). Feed-In Legislation would guarantee grid access for small scale generators, breaking up the dominance of big energy companies. He also proposes the grid operators could also provide other solar resources including biofuels and biochemicals, but I felt that this might be where his politics overstepped his logic - there is no practical reason why there shouldn't be competition in the supply and distribution of vehicle fuel and solid fuels.

It was very appropriate to be reading this book on various train trips in Belgium where I could see the really positive effect of a feed-in tariff. As I said before it can be a bit clunky and a bit ranty in places, but this is still a very stimulating and thought provoking read from one of the true champions of renewable energy.

Labels: books, hermann scheer, renewable energy, solar photovoltaic

# posted by Gareth Kane : 05:13 0 Comments

Monday, 8 June 2009

Green Energy Investment Overtakes Fossil Fuels

In 2008 wind, solar and other clean technologies attracted $140bn (£85bn) compared with $110bn for gas and coal for electrical power generation (source: Guardian). There was a slight drop in investment at the start of 2009, but this is apparently recovering.

Given this background, it makes the decision by many 'big oil' companies to pull out of renewables an odd one. I'm sticking with my prediction that they will become the vacuum tube manufacturers of the 21st Century - the fossilised energy industry.

Labels: investment, oil industry, renewable energy

# posted by Gareth Kane : 09:26 0 Comments

Monday, 6 April 2009

What planet is the energy industry on?

I've written a couple of posts recently about the retail and automotive industries seeing green as the way out of the recession, but the rather exceptional exception to this movement is the energy industry with BP, Shell and Centrica all divesting themselves of renewables interests in recent months.

What on earth are they thinking?

Obama has made major green energy pledges, the UK Government has a huge raft of low carbon legislation coming on board and the climate change negotiations in Copenhagen this year make the Kyoto protocol conferences look like a vicar's tea party. Even though the G20 meeting in London largely steered clear of climate change, it did get some of the less enthusiastic nations to agree to take part in Copenhagen.

Low carbon pledges mean investment in, and incentives for, low carbon technology. So why on earth is Big Oil going back to, erm, oil?

It has been said that when the transistor came along it was ignored by the then dominant vacuum tube (valve) industry and, as a result, none of those companies is still in business. Big Oil should take note - they could end up as the fossilised fuel industry.

Labels: barack obama, bp, copenhagen, energy, renewable energy, Shell

# posted by Gareth Kane : 14:11 0 Comments

Monday, 17 November 2008

Weekly Tip #34: Blowing in the wind

This is the latest of a series of tips extracted from the forthcoming Green Business Bible e-book:

Wind is currently the most cost effective source of renewable energy, but you should tackle planning permission and community concerns on wind before investment. The small microturbines are useless in urban environments.

Labels: renewable energy, tips, wind turbines

# posted by Gareth Kane : 07:16 0 Comments

Friday, 29 February 2008

Clean Energy Investment Booms

New Energy Finance is reporting that "Clean" energy investment almost hit $150bn last year - up 60% on the year before.

Their press release states:

Among the key factors pushing this numbers sharply upwards in 2007 were government policies around the world to promote renewable power and cleaner fuels, oil prices approaching $100-a barrel and rising corporate and investor awareness of the opportunities in clean energy.

One of the themes of 2007 was geographic diversification. Western Europe and North America continued to enjoy sharp increases... but the momentum spread out to include other developed economic regions such as Eastern Europe and Australia.

Even more significant was the pick-up in activity in emerging economies, with China moving strongly ahead with projects in wind, biomass and energy efficiency, Brazil seeing huge investment interest in its sugar based ethanol sector, and Africa starting to see renewable energy and efficiency as partial answers to its power shortages.

Interesting stuff. Obviously the Low Carbon Economy is still in its infancy, but if investment continues to rise at this scale, markets will stabilise and the uptake of renewables and energy efficient technologies will start to become the norm, rather than the exception.

Labels: energy efficiency, investment, low carbon economy, renewable energy

# posted by Gareth Kane : 08:36 0 Comments

Wednesday, 6 February 2008

EU's climate action & renewable energy package

I've been meaning for some time to comment on the European Commission's Climate action and renewable energy package. The EU has committed to reducing its overall emissions to at least 20% below 1990 levels by 2020, which would be scaled up to 30% under a new global climate change agreement if other industrialised countries make comparable efforts. It has also set itself the target of increasing the share of renewables in energy use to 20% by 2020.

The proposed measures include:

an improved emissions trading system (ETS) covering more emissions and allowing firms in one EU country to buy allowances in any other;
an emission reduction target for industries not covered by the ETS (e.g. buildings, transport, waste) so that everyone is contributing;
legally enforceable targets for increasing the share of renewables in the energy mix – the targets will reflect each country's individual needs and its potential;
new rules on carbon capture and storage and on environmental subsidies.

Powerful stuff: hopefully this will give the renewables industry in the UK a shot in the arm, but there are also plenty of sticks to push industry towards a low carbon future.

Labels: carbon emissions, eu, renewable energy

# posted by Gareth Kane : 10:30 0 Comments

Tuesday, 4 December 2007

Blears: "Merton Rule Not Under Threat", but...

I'm at the Local Government Association Climate Change conference today and the Government's Communities Secretary Hazel Blears stated quite categorically that the Merton Rule was not under threat despite rumours she'd been backtracking on it under pressure from developers.

The Merton Rule, developed by the titular London Borough, requires all new developments over a certain size to source a certain amount of their energy on site, say 10%. This has the double whammy of driving down energy consumption first so the 10% renewable figure becomes technically viable.

However, Blears added a couple of vague caveats about 'one size fits all' and ducked a request from an audience member to clarify whether the rule would be applied site by site or not. We will have to wait and see how it comes out in the wash...

Labels: eco-building, energy efficiency, merton rule, renewable energy

# posted by Gareth Kane : 17:05 0 Comments

Wednesday, 28 November 2007

Google Searches for Cheaper Solar Power

Google's reputation as a corporate goodguy (motto: Don't be evil) took a big hit recently with charges of complicity in political censorship by the Chinese Government. So the cynical may think that their massive investment in solar photovoltaic technologies is a desperate attempt by the search engine giant to claw its way back to the moral high ground. But I'm not so sure this is a cynical ploy - the company's founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin drive modest hybrid Toyota Priuses (Prii?) despite being worth gazillions, and earlier this year they announced $11m donation to further develop hybrid technologies.

According to Page, "Our goal is to produce one gigawatt of renewable energy capacity that is cheaper than coal. We are optimistic this can be done in years, not decades." I think this is the first time I have heard someone set such an ambitious target, and, even if this proves impossible, they've certainly got the cash to have a damn good try to get close.

Tree hugging greens have long quoted Nobel prize winner George Porter's statement "If sunbeams were weapons of war, we would have had solar energy centuries ago." to reflect the difference in investment between the defence industry and sustainability. Well maybe philanthropists like Page & Brin can succeed where Governments have failed...

Labels: google, prius, renewable energy

# posted by Gareth Kane : 09:39 0 Comments

Monday, 13 August 2007

UK's renewables commitment looks doomed

The Guardian has a big splash on the UK's renewables target today - and how it is likely to be missed by a mile. We're heading for 5% renewables by 2020, compared to the 20% European target that Tony Blair signed up to this spring.

This is not a surprise as the Government has repeatedly signed up for headline grabbing commitments without a tangible plan to deliver them. And what has been brought forward has lacked oomph, for example:

1. The Low Carbon Buildings Programme (which provides subsidies for micro renewables) has been afflicted with all sorts of procedural problems and starved of cash. When I bought my solar hot water system, I didn't bother with the scheme as my preferred installer wasn't registered and at that time the grants were running out on the first day of every month.

2. The Government was also decidedly lukewarm about backing the Merton Rule, developed by the titular London Borough, which requires new developments over a certain size to source a certain amount of their energy on site.

3. The Renewables Obligation on large generators has helped expand wind power in particular, but hasn't had the effect that the much simpler German system has. It is also the reason why your 'green electricity tariff' isn't actually very green.

And that's about it.

Meanwhile, countries from Ireland to Latvia are tearing past us on their generation of renewable electricity, the latter almost hitting 50% in 2005 compared with our measly 4.3%.

If it can be done and must be done, why aren't we doing it?

Labels: low carbon building programme, merton rule, renewable energy

# posted by Gareth Kane : 07:27 0 Comments

Wednesday, 18 July 2007

Global Wind Turbine Shortage

According to the Guardian, there is a world shortage of wind turbines, which the paper is "blaming" on George Bush giving tax credits to stimulate the US wind industry. You will rarely hear me defend the current US Pres, but this must be one of those times. The shortage is pushing up prices (and threatening the viability of projects in the UK), but this can only be a good thing in the medium-long term as demand will increase supply - although there are worries that the tax credit scheme might not last for long.

Wind is currently the most cost effective form of renewable electricity generation, but will always be controversial due to the visual impact of turbines. There has been much debate over the years about their output and the length of time they take to generate more power than they consumed during their construction. Estimates for the latter range from 3 months to never. For a comparison a modern gas fired power station will take 7 years make up for their embedded energy. The problem for the wind industry is that output is highly dependent on location and weather, which doesn't affect fossil fuel plants.

The energy market is so political that it is hard to determine who is telling the truth on these figures - you tend to find that research tends to back the interests of those who commissioned it.

Labels: renewable energy, wind turbines

# posted by Gareth Kane : 12:18 1 Comments

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Smart Grids for Idiots

Glen Bennett, EAE Ltd

Engineering the Future

Green Wednesday?

Low carbon strategies - but are they too little, too late?

Book Review: The Solar Economy by Hermann Scheer

Green Energy Investment Overtakes Fossil Fuels

What planet is the energy industry on?

Weekly Tip #34: Blowing in the wind

Clean Energy Investment Booms

EU's climate action & renewable energy package

Blears: "Merton Rule Not Under Threat", but...

Google Searches for Cheaper Solar Power

UK's renewables commitment looks doomed

Global Wind Turbine Shortage

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Recent Posts

Archives

News & Views From the Front Line

Smart Grids for Idiots

Glen Bennett, EAE Ltd

Engineering the Future

Green Wednesday?

Low carbon strategies - but are they too little, too late?

Book Review: The Solar Economy by Hermann Scheer

Green Energy Investment Overtakes Fossil Fuels

What planet is the energy industry on?

Weekly Tip #34: Blowing in the wind

Clean Energy Investment Booms

EU's climate action & renewable energy package

Blears: "Merton Rule Not Under Threat", but...

Google Searches for Cheaper Solar Power

UK's renewables commitment looks doomed

Global Wind Turbine Shortage