Our Global Future in the 21st Century is based on "The Third Industrial Revolution" which finally connects our new ICT infrastructure with distributed energy sources that are both renewable and sustainable
Harvesting for Fuel -- Tennessee farmer Brad Black discusses how his 190 year old family farm became part of a sustainable renewable energy pipeline.
DuPont, in partnership with Danisco and Genera Energy are working with local farmers and farms in Tennessee to create ethanol and other biofuels out of switchgrass and other plants to ease dependence upon the finite resource of fossil fuels.
Featuring Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen, Genera Energy CEO Dr. Kelly Tiller and DuPont Biofuels Director Dr. William Provine.
The U.S.’s largest solar market had been the eastern region led by the juggernaut of California, but increasingly the eastern region has been growing and now even the central region of the U.S. is growing. That’s according to the Solar Electric Power Association’s “2011 Utility Solar Rankings” authors Becky Campbell, research manager, and Mike Taylor, director of research, both of SEPA.
The two discussed the results of the fifth annual SEPA survey and how the landscape for utility-integrated solar power is changing during a Webcast on June 21. While they found that in terms of newly added megawatts the western and eastern regions dominated. With utilities like California’s Pacific Gas & Electric integrating 287.7 megawatts of new solar and New Jersey’s Public Service Electric & Gas Co. integrating 181.3 new megawatts of solar, and more coming throughout both regions, they’re likely remain in the top 10. But for the first time, in terms of watts per customer, a central region utility, Fayetteville Public Utilities in Tennessee, made the list. It was ranked among the top 10 with 147.6 watts of solar per customer.
It’s a shift from what the report had shown in the past. “In 2008…the markets were mostly located in the western region of the country,” Campbell said. “Now you can see in 2011 that the eastern side of the country is really starting to pick up a significant share of the solar market. And the central region is showing some really great growth as well. We're looking forward to seeing how the share starts to change or continues to change over time.”
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Ontario, Canada attracted more foreign capital investment in 2011 than any North American state or province except Alberta, according to a report recently released by the Financial Times' fDi Intelligence think-tank.
The report, titled "The fDi report 2012 - Global greenfield investment trends", shows that last year, Ontario attracted 135 foreign direct investment projects worth an estimated US$7.1 billion, or 7 per cent of total FDI value in North America. It was an impressive show of strength for Canada's economic powerhouse and the seventh largest economy on the continent.
Renewable energy projects were a big win for Ontario, which landed 11 contracts in the sector – the most among all U.S. states and provinces. The report states that, "Ontario was the world's leading region for renewable energy projects in 2011." Energy was a major area of capital investment in North America, with renewable energy, coal, oil and natural gas accounting for 34 per cent of FDI dollars in 2011. The renewable sector energy alone saw US$12 billion in capital investment last year.
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The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) recently studied how renewable energy can respond to the electricity demands of the U.S. in the coming decades.
The report, titled Renewable Electricity Futures Study (RE Futures), looks at the effects of renewable electricity generation levels between 30% to 90%, envisioning 80% renewable electricity by 2050. It considers key factors such as physical geographies and output fluctuation, things that could disrupt certain renewable sources.
The report concluded that 80% renewable electricity by 2050 is a viable option with existing renewable technologies, mainly requiring advances in the electric system to meet standard electricity demand per hour.
The report outlined several suggestions for the more adaptable electric system necessary including grid storage, more responsive loads, modified conventional generation systems, and adaptations to power system operations.
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The construction of a 6 megawatt (MW) renewable energy-powered data centre has been announced by eBay, as the online marketplace steps up its green credentials.
The centre, based in Utah, will use 30 Bloom Energy servers, each of which generates 1.75m kilowatt hours of electricity a year. This will make it the “largest non-utility fuel cell installation” in the US.
“We believe the future of commerce can be greener”, said John Donahoe, eBay president and CEO.
“Technology-led innovation is changing retail and revolutionising how people shop and pay. We also want to revolutionise how shopping is powered.
“We are embracing disruptive energy technology and designing it into our core data centre energy architecture. Running our data centres primarily on reliable, renewable energy, we intend to shape a future for commerce that is more environmentally sustainable at its core.”
The announcement from eBay follows a similar theme to that of tech giant Apple, which in February revealed its intentions to install a 100 acre, 20MW solar array at its Californian data centre.
LSE Cities has released its Going Green report, a survey which was conducted in the run-up to the Rio+20 Conference. The report aims to provide an overview of the experiences of cities around the world in the transition to the green economy. Covering key aspects of the green economy, smart city technology, green policy assessment and urban governance, the report analyses a diverse set of 53 cities from North and South America, Europe, Asia and Africa.
“Our new report, co-published with ICLEI, just launched at Rio+20 – it shows that despite the global recession, 95% of cities believe green policies will benefit the economy”
The report’s findings are presented across 9 key areas in 3 sections:
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The recently hosted inaugural ICT Indaba event, held at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, provided an opportunity for discussion among various stakeholders within the ICT industry, including ministers, telecoms and IT companies as well as NGO’s from across the African continent.
Some of the key issues discussed included the rollout of the correct policies and regulations to take place in order to increase infrastructure development, the creation of innovative business models in order to mitigate Africa’s challenges and the necessity of skilled personnel to sustain ICT growth in Africa. Also highlighted were the learnings from the experience of developed countries, and how creating a new development strategy for the African continent would be critical to addressing the continent’s environment and specific challenges.
“It is essential that Africa put the correct business models in place in order to effectively improve ICT infrastructure development within the country”, said Head of ICT Africa, Chantel Lindeman, at global consulting firm Frost & Sullivan. “These business models will effectively aid Africa in mitigating its current challenges such as poverty, education, and health and service delivery”.
Members of the U.S. Partnership for Renewable Energy Finance (PREF) recently convened at the American Council on Renewable Energy's (ACORE) Renewable Energy Finance Forum - Wall Street to discuss strategies for keeping renewable energy as a crucial part of the nation's overall energy mix.
In 2011, the U.S. invested $48.1 billion in clean energy. A year later, private sector investors believe renewable energy is a strong and viable part of the energy portfolio.
"We are working with the renewable energy, power and technology industry leaders to pursue continued development of the U.S. renewable energy sector," Jeff Holzschuh, Vice Chairman at Morgan Stanley, said. "This is an important opportunity to underscore U.S. leadership as we seek technologies to power future global growth and redefine our national energy strategy."
Along with investors and industry thought leaders, state and federal policies are working to drive large-scale deployment and innovation. While federal incentives such as the Production and Investment Tax Credits bolster the supply of renewable energy, support for renewable energy demand has been augmented by state Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) mandating utilities to procure minimum amounts of electricity from renewable sources.
There is a looming renewable energy crisis, but it's probably not the one you think. While national headlines over the past few months have focused on controversial federal loan guarantees, or the approaching expiration of key tax credits, the threat to renewable energy is much deeper than just these two areas.
Through Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS), 29 states and the District of Columbia require electric utilities that supply power to their residents to obtain a specified percentage of their electricity from renewable energy sources by a specified date. For the last decade, RPS has been a resounding bipartisan success story, popular in both "red" and "blue" states alike. Today, they are the linchpin of our country's investment in renewables, setting the requirement that a host of other public subsidies, including tax credits, are intended to support.
A recent analysis by Booz Allen Hamilton has shown that RPS will drive over $400 billion in investment in renewable energy by the time they are fully implemented. For perspective, that's more investment than was generated by building the interstate highway system from 1956 to 1992 (adjusted for today's dollars).
But RPS and the investment in renewables they generate face a perfect storm across multiple fronts: the emergence of inexpensive and plentiful natural gas, foreign dominance of wind and solar manufacturing, rising pressures on state budgets, and cost reductions in electricity distribution stemming from grid investments.
The internet has become much more than a communication system. Today, it is the backbone of modern society, a platform for businesses, governments and citizens to exchange news and views, as well as to provide services, whether essential or trivial. EU policies aim to extend access to high-speed broadband internet and increase investment in fibre-optic infrastructure, while its support for research efforts ensure that the EU will have the technology available to meet the strain of constantly rising demands.
If you think of the internet as billions of pipes that carry bits of information around the world, it stands to reason that the more data we try to pump through them, the higher the chances of backlogs or (data) traffic jams forming. And as the internet expands from a simple network of documents to an 'exchange' joining billions of tiny computers, sensors and objects - the so-called 'future internet' of things - we are going to need bigger pipes to handle all this flow.
Broadband internet is the 'information and communications technologies' (ICT) equivalent of these big pipes. In order to tap the full potential of the web, Europe is investing in digital technology to connect people - transcending boundaries and bringing communities together for a range of mutual benefits.
The Digital Agenda for Europe seeks to have broadband of at least 30 megabits per second (Mbps) for everyone by 2013, with half of European households accessing connections of 100Mbps or higher by 2020.
EdX is a not-for-profit joint venture between Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to offer online versions of their classes and those of other universities.
At the same time, edX will support Harvard and MIT faculty in conducting research on teaching and learning on campus through tools that enrich classroom and laboratory experiences. The goal of this initiative is to create a global community of online learners while improving education for everyone.
An almost 20-megawatt solar installation at the Dos Rios Water Recycling Center has catapulted San Antonio, Texas to the no.1 spot in the state for solar. The city is ahead of the rest of Texaswith a total of 34.2 megawatts of installed solar, said CPS Energy spokesman John Moreno.
But the utility isn’t stopping there. Moreno said CPS has a goal of reaching 1,500 megawatts of renewable energy by 2020. That’s a bold goal, but one CPS is looking to meet early. Moreno said CPS will probably announce the completion for another 10-megawatt solar installation within the next week or two. That’s in addition to 1,059 megawatts of wind generation.
The utility is also in negotiations with SunEdison to install another 400 megawatts of solar. That will land CPS at its goal. Moreno said the 400 megawatts on the drawing board will not all go in one space, but will be spread out across multiple locations.
The reasons for the strong push toward renewable energy sources are many. “We want to maintain a diversified portfolio,” Moreno said. “It’s a cliché, but we just don’t want to put all of our eggs in one basket. This is a hedge against changing EPA regulations and fines.”
CPS has shifted its focus from wind energy generation to solar photovoltaics because they are becoming more reasonable and because they add to the diversity of the utility’s portfolio.
A study from the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has found that today’s renewable energy technologies could supply up to 80 percent of US electricity by the year 2050.
The NREL’s study explored various scenarios, concluding that onshore wind power will have the most significant impact while offshore wind power continues to grow. Solar power and biomass were also projected to play an important role, with geothermal and hydropower contributing significantly less due to resource and cost limitations.
Reaching the projected 80 percent would obviously require significant amounts of funding and political will. The bright side is that the DOE claims most of the other barriers could be resolved, saying “no insurmountable long-term constraints to renewable electricity technology manufacturing capacity, materials supply, or labor availability were identified.” Also, the study fails to take into account the potential environmental effects of these technologies.
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The U.S. Department of Agriculture will invest $4.3 million to ReEnergy and SUNY College of Environemtnal Science and Forestry to encourage growth of shrub willow as a renewable energy fuel, according to a news release.
The funds — made available by USDA Biomass Crop Assistance Program — will support the growth of willow on farmland across Central New York and the North Country, including farms in Oneida and Oswego counties.
ReEnergy will then use the products to create a willow biomass production system on a commercial scale. In turn the energy will be used to power up the North Country grid while creating a wood biomass cultivation model for the rest of the country.
“This partnership between SUNY ESF and ReEnergy of our North Country is a true win-win that’s good for farmers, the clean energy revolution and jobs in upstate,” U.S. Senator Charles Schumer said.
Women play a central role in advancing sustainable development. Everyday women take decisions that impact sustainable development—be it the use of land, water, energy, or forests or through their contributions to their families and the economy. If they have equal access to resources and opportunities and are part of the decision-making processes, women can become drivers of sustainable development.
Prepared for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, or Rio+20, in June 2012, this infographic highlights the importance of sustainable energy in achieving gender equality.
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The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has issued a final rule that promotes the more efficient operation of the transmission system amid increasing integration of variable energy resources and benefits electric consumers by ensuring that services are provided at just and reasonable rates.
The rule adopts two reforms from a November 2010 notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR) by requiring transmission providers to offer customers the option of scheduling transmission service at 15-minute intervals and by requiring generators using variable energy resources to provide transmission owners with certain data to support power production forecasting. Although the rule does not require the standard approach to generator regulation service proposed in the NOPR, it gives guidance on how FERC will evaluate proposed charges for that service.
"Variable energy resources make up an increasing share of new capacity coming online," says Jon Wellinghoff, chairman of FERC. "This final rule eliminates undue burdens on these resources and will help transmission providers and their customers effectively manage the costs of integration."
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At Rio+20, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon highlighted Sustainable Energy for All as one of the key successes presented at the conference. Since its launch less than one year ago, Sustainable Energy for All's track record to date includes:
--More than 50 Governments from Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Small Islands Developing States have engaged with the initiative and are developing energy plans and programmes. The majority are from developing countries that have initiated or completed energy sector assessments and gap analyses, thus laying the groundwork to scale up action in priority areas, undertake strategic reforms where needed, and attract new investments and financial support.
Researchers at KUL, for example, are coordinating the recently launched Enlightenment (1) project that promises to greatly improve our understanding of how the brain functions, potentially laying the foundations for a range of neuro-inspired technologies.
Combining neuroscience, neuro-engineering and computational methods, the team, which also includes researchers from Canada, France and the Netherlands, are building a technological platform for directly interacting with cell assemblies in the brain. In a series of behavioural experiments, they hope to establish a two-way dialogue between a brain and a computer to investigate whether manipulations of cell assembly activities can delete or create memories.
Better 'brain-computer interfaces' (BCIs) and computers that mimic brain activity are just some of the potential outcomes of an initiative that, as the researchers say, could have 'consequences we can only begin to imagine.'
Japan, the world’s third largest economy, has firmly shifted its future energy profile towards renewable energy technologies with a decision Monday to implement a feed-in-tariff for wind power and other renewables.
Reuters reported that the new incentives for renewable energies could unleash billions of Euros in revenue from renewable generation and related equipement while helping the nation move away from its reliance on nuclear power following last year’s earthquake and tsunami which resulted in the Fukushima reactor disaster.
The news agency said the scheme, which goes into effect 1 July, requires Japanese utilities to buy electricity from renewable sources such as wind, solar, and geothermal at pre-set premiums for up to 20 years.
“The push for renewables is aimed at cutting reliance on not only nuclear, but pricey oil and liquefied natural gas for energy needs,” Reuters said, adding the government support has spurred explosive growth in renewable energy in countries such as Germany, which has nearly tripled its output in less than a decade.
It also noted that the government estimates capacity from renewable energy would increase to 22,000 megawatts by the end of March 2013, up from 19,500 MW now.
EBay said it plans to build a data center powered by startup Bloom Energy's renewable energy fuel cells, a more environmentally friendly alternative to drawing power from the mostly coal-based electric grid.
The U.S. online auction sales group will use 30 Bloom Energy servers that use biogas derived from renewable organic waste and will only use the grid as a back-up source of power.
Last month, Apple said it was buying equipment from SunPower and Bloom Energy to build two solar array installations to power its main U.S. data center.
Digital information comes in myriad forms and formats, so how can we make sure that today's data is not lost forever in inaccessible legacy forms? An EU-funded project has developed a framework that ensures we will always be able to use data, however and wherever it is saved and stored.
Do you hate it when you try to open a computer file and up pops a box which says 'Invalid file format'? Or when vendors of software and operating systems announce they will no longer support and update legacy systems?
Data formats, ICT hardware, software and protocols are constantly evolving. But even as we gather and manipulate so much data, could it be lost just because its format is old or hardware has changed? The prosperity of future generations relies on their access to the information of the past. Are our descendants at risk of knowing nothing because everything we know today is locked in computer systems and codes that one day may be impossible to crack?
Siemens and British Gas have stepped up their presence in the fast-expanding European smart grid market, after this week joining a €12m funding round for Germany-based Power Plus Communications (PPC) AG.
The two companies joined the funding round alongside existing investor Climate Change Capital Private Equity, which previously invested €10m in the company in November 2008.
Precise details of the funding round were not disclosed, but BusinessGreen understands that British Gas and Siemens Financial Services' Venture Capital unit each stumped up around €4.5m with the balance provided by Climate Change Capital.
The investment strengthens both companies position in the smart grid market at a time when governments across Europe are enacting plans to roll out smart meters and upgrade grid infrastructure to better utilise energy use information.
Right now, renewable energy sources like solar and wind still provide just a small fraction of the world’s electricity. But they’re growing fast. Very fast.
Three new pieces of evidence suggest that many policymakers may be drastically underestimating just how quickly wind and solar are expanding.
Alaska passed a law that will make it easier to achieve its goal of 50% renewable energy by 2025, by making low interest loans available to projects.
The Alaska Sustainable Strategy for Energy Transmission and Supply bill (SB 25), signed this week by Gov. Sean Parnell, creates a $125 million state-administered fund to finance energy projects.
The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority will administer the fund, and will be able to either directly give loans or participate in loans made through banks or credit unions.
The law requires legislative approval for loan guaranteess over $20 million and also mandates participation of other investors besides the government to bring in outside capital to the state.
Effective September 10, the bill includes a provision specifically for renewable energy development that keeps interest rates low.
On the other side of the equation, Shell won the right to drill in the Arctic's Beaufort and Chukchi Seas last month in an appeals court ruling against environmental and indigenous groups.
Environmental groups delivered over a million signatures to the White House imploring President Obama to halt Shell permits to drill there.
In a startling break from decades of US policy to stay clear of the fragile Arctic, President Obama personally helped Shell get authorization to drill off the coast of Alaska, says the NY Times, by creating an interagency group to clear Shell's path. It's part of his 5-year offshore oil and gas plan announced last year.
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