Ocean Energy Institute and Energy Systems

The Ocean Energy Institute, founded in 2007 by Matthew R. Simmons, is a think-tank and venture capital fund addressing the challenges of U.S. offshore renewable energy. OEI approaches energy R&D and investment from a systems point of view; not just generation, but usage, storage and transmission all together as an interdependent set of opportunities and the next driving force of the international economy.

Grand Opening - Ocean Energy Institute Offices

Rockland, Maine (July 20) -- The Ocean Energy Institute will be hosting a VIP celebration today for the grand opening of its new office headquarters.

Energy as a Complete System

OEI's "GUST" model (generation, usage, storage and transmission) proposes how the offshore wind resource can be efficiently tapped into and used, and the electricity intelligently stored and transmitted.

This model addresses two of the biggest challenges to the reliability of wind power: seasonality (the wind blows strongest in the winter, when energy demand is historically lower) - and intermittency (the wind blows less strongly during the daytime, when energy demand is highest).

The System Solution

1. Use the energy in a way that the seasonal match is great (e.g., winter heating)
2. Use the energy for the 90% of the family energy budget that is NOT "electricity"
3. Use the energy in applications where energy storage is easy
4. Construct a North American Supergrid to balance out intermittency
5. Develop NH3 (ammonia) fuel as a way to seasonally shift energy generation vs. use
6. Exploit Smart Grids to dynamically balance generation and demand
7. Stop handcuffing ourselves to a 20 percent renewable "penetration" limit

The "Pickens Plan Plus" a.k.a the Simmons Plan

The Ocean Energy Institute has published an updated version of the original Pickens Plan. The Simmons Plan is outlined in a pdf presentation here.

"Better than Growth" released by Australian Conservation Foundation

Arguing for something beyond economic growth

Australian Conservation Foundation has published an outstandingly well produced paper on how we can redesign our ways of living based on something other than economic growth and all its attendant troubles.


"Most australians don’t agree that their only goal in life is to increase their financial wealth and consumption – but too often our economic policy treats us as if we do. in reality, our quality of life depends on having time for family and friends, a strong sense of community, and a healthy natural environment. our economy should help us achieve those goals.

We can do better than a narrow vision of economic growth, and this report shows us how. Better than Growth explores the best practical thinking from around the world about how to improve economic measurements and align our economies to long-term environmental and social wellbeing."

[via Transition Network]

Peak Oil and Resource Depletion

Anatoly Karlin is the author of the Sublime Oblivion Blog on the geopolitics of limits to growth has assembled many links to relevant articles on Peak Oil and Resource Depletion to provide a foundation for the those interested in exploring these very important concepts. It includes these top links on these issues:

Basic Summaries

• The Coming Oil Crisis (Lionel Badal)
• Hubbert’s Peak Mathematics (Luís de Sousa)

Core Books on Resource Depletion

• Limits to Growth: The 30 Year Update (Meadows et al)

Peak Oil Projections

• Analysis of Decline Rates (Sam Foucher)
• Insights Regarding Future World Oil Production (Rembrandt)

Energy & the Economy

• Oily Origins of the Economic Crisis (Anatoly Karlin)
• Accounting for Growth: The Role of Physical Work (Robert Ayres)

Renewables

• Renewable Energy Outlook 2030 (Energy Watch Group)
• Renewable Transition: Targets & Troubles & EROEI Uncertainty (Jeff Vail)
• Renewable Fuel Contenders, Pretenders and Niches (Robert Rapier)

In his new post AK collects Emerging Technologies: Limits to Growth vs. Moore’s Law.

The Best Peak Oil Investments Series by Tom Konrad

Tom Konrad is posting a new series of investment advise on the Alternative Energy Stocks blog which has also appeared on Seeking Alpha. Here is a collection of his Best Peak Oil Investment articles so far:

• Peak Oil Investments I'm Putting My Money On: Part I, Biofuels
• Peak Oil Investments I'm Putting My Money On: Part II, Hydrogen and Vehicle Electrification
• Peak Oil Investments I'm Putting My Money On: Part III, Natural Gas Vehicles
• Peak Oil Investments I'm Putting My Money On: Part IV, Converting Coal, Natural Gas to Liquids
• Peak Oil Investments I'm Putting My Money On: Part V, Algae
• Peak Oil Investments I'm Putting My Money On: Part VI, Barriers to Substitution
• Peak Oil Investments I'm Putting My Money On: Part VII, Peak Substitutes?
• Peak Oil Investments I'm Putting My Money On: Part VIII, Alternative Fuel Report Card
• Peak Oil Investments I'm Putting My Money On: Part IX, The Methadone Economy

Online World Simulation

This online Simgua World simulation predicts the macro-level development and change of the entire world. There are six main sectors in it: a food system, a population system, a pollution system, a nonrenewable resource system, and an industrial system.

You may experiment with several variables of the model including the initial level of nonrenewable resources, the start year for the implementation of a high-tech improvement policy, and the delay between technology development and its implementation.

You may download the model to control many more variables. This world simulation is based on the World3 model developed by the Club of Rome. This model was used in the original Limits to Growth publication in 1972.

Simgua is a next-generation, no-nonsense modeling application that helps you develop powerful models and simulations.

Global Wind Power Boom Continues Despite Economic Woes

China doubles installed capacity for fifth year running – Global markets up 31%

Brussels, 3 February 2010. The Global Wind Energy Council today announced that the world’s wind power capacity grew by 31% in 2009, adding 37.5 GW to bring total installations up to 157.9 GW. A third of these additions were made in China, which experienced yet another year of over 100% growth.

“The continued rapid growth of wind power despite the financial crisis and economic downturn is testament to the inherent attractiveness of the technology, which is clean, reliable and quick to install. Wind power has become the power technology of choice a growing number of countries around the world,” said Steve Sawyer, GWEC’s Secretary General. “Copenhagen didn’t bring us any closer to a global price on carbon, but wind energy continued to grow due to national energy policy in our main markets and also because many governments in prioritised renewable energy development in their economic recovery plans,” he said.

Wind energy is now an important player in the world’s energy markets. The global wind market for turbine installations in 2009 was worth about 45 bn EUR or 63 bn US$. GWEC estimates that around half a million people are now employed by the wind industry around the world.

The main markets driving this significant growth continue to be Asia, North America and Europe, each of which installed more than 10 GW of new wind capacity in 2009.

China was the world’s largest market in 2009, nearly doubling its wind generation capacity from 12.1 GW in 2008 to 25.1 GW at the end of 2009 with new capacity additions of 13 GW.

“The Chinese government is taking very seriously its responsibility to limit CO2 emissions while providing energy for its growing economy. China is putting strong efforts into developing the country’s tremendous wind resource. Given the current growth rates, it can be expected that the even the unofficial target of 150 GW will be met well ahead of 2020,” said Li Junfeng, Secretary General of the Chinese Renewable Energy Industries Association.

Newly added capacity of 1,270 MW in India and some smaller additions in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan make Asia the biggest regional market for wind energy in 2009, with more than 14 GW of new capacity.

However, the US continues to have a comfortable lead in terms of total installed capacity. Against all expectations, the US wind energy market installed nearly 10 GW in 2009, increasing the country’s installed capacity by 39% and bringing the total installed, grid-connected capacity to 35 GW. In early 2009, some analysts had foreseen a drop in wind power development of as much as 50%, but the implementation of the US Recovery Act with its strong focus on wind energy development in the summer reversed this trend.

“The U.S. wind energy industry shattered all installation records in 2009, chalking up the Recovery Act as a historic success in creating jobs, avoiding carbon, and protecting consumers,” said AWEA CEO Denise Bode. “But U.S. wind turbine manufacturing is down compared to last year’s levels, and needs long-term policy certainty and market pull in order to grow.”

Europe, which has traditionally been the world’s largest market for wind energy development, continued to see strong growth, also exceeding expectations. In 2009, 10.5 GW were installed in Europe, led by Spain (2.5GW) and Germany (1.9 GW). Italy, France and the UK all added more than 1 GW of new wind capacity each.

“It is a remarkable result in a difficult year” said Christian Kjaer, CEO of the European Wind Energy Association. “The figures, once again, confirm that wind power, together with other renewable energy technologies and a shift from coal to gas, are delivering massive European carbon reductions, while creating much needed economic activity and new jobs for Europe’s citizens.”

“Wind energy is already making a significant contribution to saving CO2 emissions. The 158GW of global wind capacity in place at the end of 2009 will produce 340 TWh of clean electricity and save 204 million tons of CO2 every year,” concluded Sawyer. “As we see in Europe and the US, wind power is now often the most attractive option for new power generation, both in economic and environmental terms, and for improved supply security.”

Environmental and Energy Policy Challenges in the EU

The website of the President of the European Parliament has two key documents on some of the forward policy challenges and choices that are likely to face the European Union in the coming decade from 2009-2019.

The first document is a compendium of papers on policy challenges and choices. These papers provide a valuable overview of multiple issues which the EU in general is likely to confront over coming years, together with a series of useful pointers as to how the EU institutions might choose to respond.

The second document is much shorter, and is a synoptic 'EU Policy Challenges', which is a check-list of 69 possible areas for future policy work. These challenges include the following three areas related to the environment and energy.

Tackling climate change effectively

• The European Parliament will need to work towards reaching the 20-20-20 target (20% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions (possibly 30%), 20% improvement in energy efficiency and 20% renewables in the energy mix) by 2020. The following four steps of the climate energy package of December 2008 will be on the agenda:
  1) revision of the directive on EU emission Trading System;
  2) creation of a directive for pilot projects on carbon storage;
  3) creation of a directive on renewable energy in electricity, transportation and heating and cooling;
  4) setting binding national targets for CO2 reduction.
  
• A future financial framework will need to be created so that EU budget lines can be adapted in line with the requirements of climate policy. The European Parliament can no longer redistribute existing resources but could propose the creation of new resources to finance the cross-sectoral nature of the fight against climate change.
• The Parliament could consider using 'green diplomacy', by regularly raising the issue of the EU climate targets, and defending those targets, in its contacts with parliamentarians from other countries. In addition, it could prompt the Commission and the Member States to construct a foreign policy on climate change and repeatedly draw attention to the EU climate targets in the EU's and the Member States' diplomatic missions.
• International cooperation is crucial. Building an effective global carbon market will help achieve sustainable globalization. Also, the Parliament could push for placing climate change at the core of the development policy. The EU will need to give assistance to developing countries to draw up targets, to adopt new technologies and to stop deforestation.
• Mitigation and adaptation policies will lead to a new model of sustainable development, where the social character could be promoted in order to secure the necessary social consensus. Thus the European Parliament could fully involve citizens in the process of combating climate change.
  

Shaking up EU biodiversity policy

• The European Parliament could push for the development of a more coherent European integrated approach for halting the biodiversity loss. A clear post 2010 target could be set by the Member States and new funding opportunities could be established under the Common Agriculture Policy, the Common Fisheries Policy, and the Cohesion and Structural Funds.
• The Parliament could take the global initiative of proposing the creation, based on the model of IPCC, of an Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity Loss, which would be responsible for the coordination of the activities of the Member States and for the monitoring of the progress made in this area.
  

Transforming the EU into a sustainable and efficient energy system

• The European Parliament can encourage Member States to devise a forward-looking common energy policy both within the EU and in external relations, so as to ensure a high level of security of energy supply. The proposal of the Parliament to form solar energy partnerships with third countries in the Mediterranean region could be taken forward.
• The Parliament will need to promote further research and pilot projects in this field, as well as the development of the grid so as to allow for the optimal integration of renewable energy resources.
• The transformation of the energy system will require the adjustment of the fiscal and market instrument. The Parliament could call on the Member States and the other institutions to introduce reduced rates of VAT for renewable energy and for energy-saving goods and services and to create incentives to modernisation by means of VAT reductions.
• The growing energy dependence on fossil fuels will have to be limited and managed through diversification. The Parliament could stimulate investments in renewables and upgraded energy infrastructure, whilst developing a common approach towards Russia's influence on the gas market.
• It could be important that the Parliament supports the restructuring of the industrial system (buildings, transport and manufacturing) with reinforced innovation. This includes strengthening existing measures, continuing public intervention and the increasing of financial resources for eco-innovation.

(Fly Around) The World Without Fossil Fuels

Bertrand Piccard circumnavigated the Earth in a hot-air balloon. Now he wants to circle it in an airplane powered only by solar energy.

For the dawn of a new decade, adventurer Bertrand Piccard in this TED Talk offers us a challenge: Find motivation in what seems impossible. He shares his own plans to do what many say can't be done -- to fly around the world, day and night, in a solar-powered aircraft.



Bertrand Piccard was born in a family of firsts. His father, Jacques, together with Dan Walsh of the US, was the first man to reach the deepest point of the world's oceans, the Mariana Trench, in 1960. Almost 30 years earlier, his grandfather, Auguste, first ballooned into the stratosphere. While they went up and down, Bertrand went horizontal and in 1999, together with Brian Jones of Britain, completed the first-ever nonstop balloon circumnavigation of the globe, flying more than 45,000 km in 20 days.

Now, in a hangar near Zurich, a team of scientists and engineers around Piccard and co-pilot André Borschberg is building Solar Impulse, an unconventional aircraft designed to circumnavigate the Earth powered by solar energy, flying day and night (yes, when the Sun is "off"). The just-unveiled prototype has the weight of a car but the wingspan of an Airbus. Piccard hopes for test flights in the first half of 2010, and possibly a long flight in 2011, before attempting to fly around the Earth.

In a world depending on fossil energies, the Solar Impulse project is a paradox, almost a provocation: it aims to have an airplane take off and fly autonomously, day and night, propelled uniquely by solar energy, right round the world without fuel or pollution. An unachievable goal without pushing back the current technological limits in all fields...

Energy Literacy: Power to Choose

EnergyLiteracy.com is a new website to accompany a new book “Power to Choose” by the two bloggers here, Saul Griffith, and Jim McBride, of www.otherlab.com.
You hear about climate change.
You hear about energy independence.
You might have thought about your carbon footprint.
Even used an on-line tool like www.wattzon.com to measure it.
You hear about people’s “Energy Plans.”

But how do you fit in? How does the rest of the world fit in? You should have questions like: “how do we solve the climate problem and the energy challenge at the same time?”
“Are the proposed solutions I’m hearing about good enough and ambitious enough to avoid the worst aspects of climate change?”

In order to think about these questions for yourself it’s useful to have a framework for thinking about climate, carbon, energy, and their complex and fascinating relationships.

We have found that the framework we built here to understand the problem for ourselves is useful to people because it allows us to see ourselves, the individuals, in the larger global perspective. Hopefully this will give you a logical approach to make the right personal choices, and to lobby for the right energy and climate plans from your government and the corporations you patronize.

EnergyLiteracy.com has interesting posts on our energy future such as:

• Land Use and Renewable Energy
• US Energy Flowchart 2008
• Energy 101 - the Basics
• Fossil Fuels
• Books and Book Reviews

WattzOn: Climate Change, Recalculated

On January 16, 2009, Saul Griffith of gave a talk at the Long Now Foundation . It was a long discussion that placed our personal lifestyles in the context of climate change and global energy production. A lot of people have requested the slides, here are the latest.



Saul examines his personal impact on climate change based on his energy use. He tells us how he changed his to low energy lifestyle from 17 kW in 2007 to less than 2300 Watts in 2010.

What's on?

WattzOn is a free online tool to quantify, track, compare and understand the total amount of energy needed to support all of the facets of your lifestyle with the goal of helping you find ways to reduce your personal power consumption.

It is becoming clear that our lifestyles have become unsustainable and that fossil fuel scarcity and global climate change are threatening to cause great economic and environmental damage to the world. Any solution to this problem will need to include a collective effort by all of us to reduce the amount of energy we are using in our lives.

With WattzOn's profile builder, you can easily get started in answering these questions. By examining a few key areas of energy use, the profile builder lets you know the baseline power (in watts) that your lifestyle currently requires. If you choose to sign up, you can then save this information, see how your impact compares to others', run visualizations showing the magnitude of your energy needs, and to join our community discussions. Through Wikipedia-like data editing, WattzOn is looking to people to enter data from their own experiences to help us all understand how we use energy in our lives.

Why watts?

A watt is a unit of power that indicates the rate at which you are using energy. For WattzOn, we normalize all of your profile answers (say, flights per year or miles driven per week) down to the second, so that you can see the average power that you are using in every moment of your life.

We chose watts because we want to change the conversation on personal accountability in climate change away from the common "carbon footprint" and towards collective energy reduction. Measuring in power rather than carbon emissions recognizes that it will not be possible to support our current lifestyles with any energy technology that we could implement in the near future - our needs are not sustainable. While there certainly needs to be a reduction of fossil fuel reliance by increasing alternative energy infrastructure, energy reduction will need to be part of any solution to this global challenge.

Learn more about the philosophy behind WattzOn (or check out this shorter version from the O'Reilly 2008 Web 2.0 Summit), and in this video presentation.

Physical Limits to Large Scale Global Biomass Generation for Replacing Fossil Fuels

This is an extract of an interesting analysis from 2006 by Helmut Burkhardt, Professor of Physics Emeritus at the Ryerson University, Toronto.

In a coarse grain global analysis the average total power used by humans is given, and compared with total solar insolation on land. The theoretically possible, and the actual overall efficiency of the conversion of solar energy by technical and biological means is determined. The resulting limitations of biomass energy for replacing fossil fuels are considered. Other problems of energy farming are analyzed. Conclusions are drawn, and future energy policies are recommended.

Introduction

There is a world wide trend to switch from fossil fuels to biomass energy. While it may be useful to use biomass waste and energy farming in some locations, the large scale use of biomass to replace of fossil fuels is problematic and needs careful analysis. The first question is to see what the energy needs of humankind are.

Average Total Power Consumption

Humankind’s total primary energy consumption is some 470 EJ/a, which translates into an average total power of some 15 TW. With a world population of 6.5 billion people, we get for the average total power use is at present 2.3 kW per person.

The power consumption by sector is approximately 33% of total power for each, industry and commerce, households, and transportation; in per capita terms, the average world citizen consumes 800 W for each sector: transport, production/trade, and transportation.

Electricity is practical in many applications, and hence an essential part of total power in each sector. The average electric power used is according to the US Energy Information Administration: global average 300 W/person, in Canada 2000 W/person, and in Niger 2 W/person.

The composition of the world’s primary energy in approximate (somewhat outdated) numbers:

• Oil 36% 5.4 TW 830 W/person
• Coal 23% 3.9 TW 630 W/person
• Natural gas 20% 3.0 TW 460 W/person
• Nuclear 7% 1.1TW 160 W/person
• Hydro 2% 0.3 TW 46 W/person
• Biomass and wastes 11% 1.7 TW 254 W/person
• Solar wind geothermal 1% 0.1 TW 15 W/person

Fossil fuels supply at present the bulk of world energy; as their availability is limited, and as their use contributes to global warming, they need to be replaced. Nuclear energy has problems of its own, and should also be replaced by more benign technology based on solar energy.

Conclusions

The replacement of fossil fuels and nuclear energy in the present world energy system by direct technical conversion of solar energy requires some 30 m2/person of solar collectors, and is technically feasible. Due to the lower efficiency of biological collection of solar energy the land area needed for bulk replacement of fossil and nuclear energy is 4000 m2/person; this is not feasible due to several reasons. There is a global shortage of biologically productive land, water, and fertilizer; furthermore, energy farming is in direct competition with food production, and contributes to further reduction of biodiversity in the Earth’s ecosystem.

Energy Revolution - A Sustainable Global Energy Outlook

The energy [r]evolution is an independently produced report that provides a practical blueprint for how to half global CO2 emissions, while allowing for an increase in energy consumption by 2050. By dividing the world into 10 regions, with a global summary, it explains how existing energy technologies can be applied in more efficient ways. It demonstrates how a ‘business as usual’ scenario, based on IEA’s World Energy Outlook projections, is not an option for environmental, economic and security of supply reasons.

The timing of this report is crucial. Within the coming years, decisions will be made to replace the generating capacity of the existing old power infrastructure in the OECD countries. Developing countries such as China, India and Brazil are rapidly constructing their energy infrastructure to service their economic growth.

Because renewable energy has no fuel costs, the total fuel cost savings in the Energy [R]evolution Scenario reach a total of $18.7 trillion, or $ 750 billion per year. A comparison between the extra fuel costs associated with the Reference Scenario and the extra investment costs of the Energy [R]evolution version shows that the average annual additional fuel costs are about five times higher than the additional investment requirements of the alternative scenario. In fact, the additional costs for coal fuel from today until the year 2030 are as high as $ 15.9 trillion: this would cover the entire investment in renewable and cogeneration capacity required to implement the Energy [R]evolution Scenario. These renewable energy sources will produce electricity without any further fuel costs beyond 2030, while the costs for coal and gas will continue to be a burden on national economies.

To make the energy [r]evolution real and to avoid dangerous climate change, Greenpeace and EREC demand for the energy sector that the following policies and actions are implemented:

1. Phase out all subsidies for fossil fuels and nuclear energy.
2. Internalise the external (social and environmental) costs of energy production through “cap and trade” emissions trading.
3. Mandate strict efficiency standards for all energy consuming appliances, buildings and vehicles.
4. Establish legally binding targets for renewable energy and combined heat and power generation.
5. Reform the electricity markets by guaranteeing priority access to the grid for renewable power generators.
6. Provide defined and stable returns for investors, for example by feed-in tariff programmes.
7. Implement better labelling and disclosure mechanisms to provide more environmental product information.
8. Increase research and development budgets for renewable energy and energy efficiency.

Book: Sustainable Energy - Without The Hot Air

David MacKay, the future government energy adviser and professor at Cambridge University's department of physics, warns us in his new book Sustainable Energy - Without the Hot Air that plans for energy production in the future will not come fast and will not come cheap.

We have an addiction to fossil fuels, and it’s not sustainable. The developed world gets 80% of its energy from fossil fuels; Britain, 90%. And this is unsustainable for three reasons. First, easily-accessible fossil fuels will at some point run out, so we’ll eventually have to get our energy from someplace else. Second, burning fossil fuels is having a measurable and very-probably dangerous effect on the climate. Avoiding dangerous climate change motivates an immediate change from our current use of fossil fuels. Third, even if we don’t care about climate change, a drastic reduction in Britain’s fossil fuel consumption would seem a wise move if we care about security of supply: continued rapid use of the oil and gas reserves will otherwise soon force fossil-addicted Britain to depend on imports from untrustworthy foreigners.

We need a plan that adds up. The good news is that such plans can be made. The bad news is that implementing them will not be easy.

Part I – Numbers, not adjectives

The first half of this book discusses whether a country like the United Kingdom, famously well endowed with wind, wave, and tidal resources, could live on its own renewables. We often hear that Britain’s renewables are “huge.” But it’s not sufficient to know that a source of energy is “huge.” We need to know how it compares with another “huge,” namely our huge consumption. To make such comparisons, we need numbers, not
adjectives.

Where numbers are used, their meaning is often obfuscated by enormousness. Numbers are chosen to impress, to score points in arguments, rather than to inform. In contrast, my aim here is to present honest, factual numbers in such a way that the numbers are comprehensible, comparable, and memorable. The numbers are made accessible by expressing them all in everyday personal units. Energies are expressed as quantities per person in kilowatt-hours (kWh), the same units that appear on household energy bills; and powers are expressed in kilowatt-hours per day(kWh/d), per person.

Part I of Sustainable Energy – without the hot air builds up an illustrative red consumption stack, enumerating the energy cost of a range of energy-consuming activities; and a complete green stack, adding up all the potential renewable resources available in Britain.

The first half gives two clear conclusions. First, for any renewable facility to make an appreciable contribution – a contribution at all comparable to our current consumption – it has to be country-sized.

Second, if economic constraints and public objections are set aside, it would be possible for the average European energy consumption of 125 kWh/d per person to be provided from these country-sized renewable sources. The two hugest contributors would be photovoltaic panels, which, covering 5% or 10% of the country, would provide 50 kWh/d per person; and offshore wind farms, which, filling a sea-area twice the size of Wales, would provide another 50 kWh/d per person on average.

Such an immense panelling of the countryside and filling of British seas with wind machines (having a capacity five times greater than all the wind turbines in the world today) may be possible according to the laws of physics, but would the public accept and pay for such extreme arrangements? If we answer no, we are forced to conclude that current consumption will never be met by British renewables. We require either a radical reduction in consumption, or signficant additional sources of energy – or, of course, both.

Part II – Energy plans that add up

The second part of Sustainable Energy – without the hot air explores six strategies for eliminating the gap between consumption and renewable production identified in the first part, then sketches several energy plans for Britain, each of which adds up.

The first three strategies for eliminating the gap reduce energy demand:

• population reduction;
• lifestyle change;
• changing to more efficient technology.

The other strategies for eliminating the gap increase energy supply:

• “Sustainable fossil fuels” and “clean coal” are names given to carrying on burning coal, but in a different way, with carbon capture and storage. What power could we get from coal, “sustainably”?
• Nuclear power is another controversial option; is it just a stop-gap?
• A third way to get extra carbon-free power would be to live on renewable energy from other countries – in particular, countries blessed with plentiful sunshine, large areas, and low population densities. What is the realistic potential of the Sahara desert?

Part III and Part IV

The third part of the book drills down to the physical foundations of energy consumption and energy production. Eight appendices show from first principles where the numbers in the first two parts come from.

The final sixteen pages of the book contain further reference data and conversion factors, useful for applying the book’s ideas to other countries, and for translating to and from units used by other organizations.

This is a free book. David MacKay didn't write this book to make money. He wrote it because sustainable energy is important. If you would like to have the book for free for your own use, please help yourself to any of the electronic versions on this website.

Heat Storage at Drake Landing Solar Community

The Drake Landing Solar Community (DLSC) is a master planned neighbourhood in Canada that has successfully integrated energy efficient technologies with a renewable, unlimited energy source - the sun.

The first of its kind in North America, DLSC is heated by a district system designed to store abundant solar energy underground during the summer months and distribute the energy to each home for space heating needs during winter months.

The system is unprecedented in the World, fulfilling most of each home’s space heating requirements from solar energy and resulting in less dependency on fossil fuels.

A typical Canadian home's energy requirement can be broken down into 60% for space heating, 20% for domestic hot water heating and 20% for appliances, lights, and other. Estimates for homes in the Drake Landing Solar Community indicate that, in a typical year, over 90% of the energy used for space heating will come from solar energy. Even in an unusually cold winter and spring, 80% of the required heat is expected to come from the sun.

Seasonal Heat Storage

The Drake Landing Solar Community use a borehole thermal energy storage (BTES) system for storing large quantities of solar heat collected in summer for use later in winter. It is basically a large, underground heat exchanger.

A BTES consists of an array of boreholes resembling standard drilled wells. After drilling, a plastic pipe with a “U” bend at the bottom is inserted down the borehole. To provide good thermal contact with the surrounding soil, the borehole is then filled with a high thermal conductivity grouting material.

The BTES in the Drake Landing Solar Community (DLSC) consists of 144 boreholes, each stretching to a depth of 37 meters and planned in a grid with 2.25 meters between them. The BTES field covers 35 metres in diameter. At the surface, the U-pipes are joined together in groups of six that radiate from the center to the outer edge, and then connect back to the Energy Centre building. The entire BTES field is then covered in a layer of insulation and then soil – with a landscaped park built on top.

When solar heated water is available to be stored, it is pumped into the centre of the BTES field and through the U-pipe series. Heat is transferred to the surrounding soil and rock, and the water gradually cools as it reaches the outer edge and returns to the Energy Centre.

Conversely, when the homes require heat, cooler water is pumped into the edges of the BTES field and as the water flows to the centre it picks up heat. The heated water passes to the short-term storage tank in the Energy Centre and is then circulated to the homes through the district heating loop. All pumps and control valves are housed in the neighbouring Energy Centre building.

Even with sunny Alberta weather, it will take approximately three years to fully charge the BTES field. In the first years of operation, the field will operate at relatively low temperatures, and the recoverable energy will be largely depleted before the end of the heating season. However, after a few years of operation, the core temperature of the BTES field will approach 80°C by the end of summer, with sufficient heat for almost an entire heating season.

Heat Storage Technologies: Markets, Actors, Potentials

The objective of the project on policy reinforcement concerning heat storage technologies (PREHEAT) is to provide the industry and decision makers in the EU with a reference framework to maximize the environmental, commercial and economic benefits of the main heat storage technologies for renewables and to increase the attention and funding possibilities for heat storage technologies implementation. On the long term, PREHEAT aims at a coherent European promotion program with a collective approach by the industry, R&D institutions and other market actors. This will lead to a substantially increased utilization of renewable energy, and an increase in rational use of energy.

The scope of PREHEAT is mainly heat storage technologies for small-scale renewable energy technologies in Europe. The main applications considered in PREHEAT are solar thermal systems, biomass stand-alone boilers and biomass driven heating networks.

The Heat storage technologies: markets, actors, potentials report describes and identifies the present and future national and EU market segments for heat storage technologies, and gives an indication of the most promising heat storage technologies from the market point of view, focusing on small scale RES.

EU Energy and Environment Report 2008

The European Environment Agency (EEA) is an agency of the European Union. Its task is to provide sound, independent information on the environment. The EEA is a major information source for those involved in developing, adopting, implementing and evaluating environmental policy, and also the general public.

The Energy and Environment Report assesses the key drivers, environmental pressures and some impacts from the production and consumption of energy, taking into account the main objectives of the European policy on energy and environment including: security of supply, competitiveness, increased energy efficiency and renewable energy, and environmental sustainability. The report addresses the following six main policy questions and presents trends existing within the EU compared to other countries.

• What is the impact of energy production and use on the environment?
• What are the trends concerning the energy mix in Europe and what are its related environmental consequences?
• How rapidly are renewable technologies being implemented?
• Is the European energy production system becoming more efficient?
• Are environmental costs reflected adequately in the energy price?
• What are the energy consumption trends in households, and what policies exist to improve energy efficiency?

The full report is available on Europe's Energy Portal.

Energy Efficiency in Europe

Reducing energy consumption and eliminating energy wastage are among the main goals of the European Union (EU). EU support for improving energy efficiency will prove decisive for competitiveness, security of supply and for meeting the commitments on climate change made under the Kyoto Protocol. There is significant potential for reducing consumption, especially in energy-intensive sectors such as buildings, manufacturing, energy conversion and transport. At the end of 2006, the EU pledged to cut its annual consumption of primary energy by 20% by 2020. To achieve this goal, it is working to mobilise public opinion, decision-makers and market operators and to set minimum energy efficiency standards and rules on labelling for products, services and infrastructure.

The EU has set new energy efficiency requirements that lamps produced for the EU market need to fulfill as from 1 September 2009. Traditional incandescent and halogen bulbs will be gradually phased out from the market by the end of 2012. However, particular care was taken to ensure that consumers will find lamp alternatives either offering the same light quality or higher energy savings.

Oil - The Long Goodbye

The Foreign Policy has published a special report on Oil - The Long Goodbye.

It's Still the One (by Daniel Yergin)

Oil's very future is being seriously questioned, debated, and challenged. The author of an acclaimed history explains why, just as we need more oil than ever, it is changing faster than we can keep up with.

Subpriming the Pump (by Mahmoud A. El-Gamal and Amy Myers Jaffe)

Oil wealth used to hurt only those who had it. Now, it’s hurting everyone.

Don't Be Crude (by Prince Turki al-Faisal)

Why Barack Obama's energy-independence talk is just demagoguery.

Scenes from the Violent Twilight of Oil (by Peter Maass)

It succors and drowns human life. And for the last eight years, oil—and the people and places that make it—was my obsession.

The Great Pipeline Opera (by Daniel Freifeld)

Inside the European pipeline fantasy that became a real-life gas war with Russia.

Seven Myths About Alternative Energy (by Michael Grunwald)

As the world looks around anxiously for an alternative to oil, energy sources such as biofuels, solar, and nuclear seem like they could be the magic ticket. They're not.

Is a Green World a Safer World? (by David J. Rothkopf)

A guide to the coming green geopolitical crises.

The Devil's Excrement (by Moisés Naím)

Can oil-rich countries avoid the resource curse?

World Energy Use by Fuel

New Scientist has a topic guide on Energy and Fuels. Their nice infographics shows World Energy use by fuel type (oil, coal, gas, biomass, nuclear, hidro) and usage (transport, electricity, industry and residential/other).


The Energy and Fuels instant expert article discusses the coming energy crisis, and the new technologies that could save us from it, in New Scientist's beginner's guide.

Temporary Recession or the End of Growth?

This is a guest post on The Oil Drum by Richard Heinberg. Richard is a Senior Fellow of the Post Carbon Institute and author of five books on resource depletion and societal responses to the energy problem. He can be found on the web at www.richardheinberg.com and www.postcarbon.org. Here is a short overview of his new post:

Everyone agrees: our economy is sick. The inescapable symptoms include declines in consumer spending and consumer confidence, together with a contraction of international trade and available credit. Add a collapse in real estate values and carnage in the automotive and airline industries and the picture looks grim indeed.

But why are both the U.S. economy and the larger global economy ailing? Among the mainstream media, world leaders there is near-unanimity of opinion: these recent troubles are primarily due to a combination of bad real estate loans and poor regulation of financial derivatives.

This is the Conventional Diagnosis. But what if this diagnosis is fundamentally flawed? The metaphor needs no belaboring: we all know that tragedy can result from a doctor’s misreading of symptoms, mistaking one disease for another.

In short, I am suggesting an Alternative Diagnosis. This explanation for the economic crisis is not for the faint of heart because, if correct, it implies that the patient is far sicker than even the most pessimistic economists are telling us. But if it is correct, then by ignoring it we risk even greater peril.

Economic Growth, The Financial Crisis, and Peak Oil

For several years, a swelling subculture of commentators has been forecasting a financial crash, basing this prognosis on the assessment that global oil production was about to peak.

Continual increases in population and consumption cannot continue forever on a finite planet. The unfairly maligned Limits to Growth studies, published first in 1972 with periodic updates since, have attempted to answer the question with analysis of resource availability and depletion, and multiple scenarios for future population growth and consumption rates.

Energy is the ultimate enabler of growth. Industrialism has been inextricably tied to the availability and consumption of cheap energy from coal and oil (and more recently, natural gas).

About 85 percent of our current energy is derived from three primary sources—oil, natural gas, and coal—that are non-renewable, whose price is likely to trend sharply higher over the next years and decades leading to severe shortages, and whose environmental impacts are unacceptable. While these sources historically have had very high economic value, we cannot rely on them in the future; indeed, the longer the transition to alternative energy sources is delayed, the more difficult that transition will be unless some practical mix of alternative energy systems can be identified that will have superior economic and environmental characteristics.

My conclusion from a careful survey of energy alternatives, then, is that there is little likelihood that either conventional fossil fuels or alternative energy sources can be counted on to provide the amount and quality of energy that will be needed to sustain economic growth—or even current levels of economic activity—during the remainder of this century.

In essence, humanity faces an entirely predictable peril: our population has been growing dramatically for the past 200 years (expanding from under one billion to nearly seven billion), while our per-capita consumption of resources has also grown. And yet all of this has taken place in the context of a finite planet with fixed stores of non-renewable resources (fossil fuels and minerals), a limited ability to regenerate renewable resources (forests, fish, fresh water, and topsoil), and a limited ability to absorb industrial wastes (including carbon dioxide). If we step back and look at the industrial period from a broad historical perspective that is informed by an appreciation of ecological limits, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that we are today living at the end of a relatively brief pulse—a 200-year rapid expansionary phase enabled by a temporary energy subsidy (in the form of cheap fossil fuels) that will inevitably be followed by an even more rapid and dramatic contraction as those fuels deplete.

If humanity has indeed embarked upon the contraction phase of the industrial pulse, we should assume that ahead of us lie much lower average income levels (for nearly everyone in the wealthy nations, and for high wage earners in poorer nations); different employment opportunities (fewer jobs in sales, marketing, and finance; more in basic production); and more costly energy, transport, and food. Further, we should assume that key aspects of our economic system that are inextricably tied to the need for future growth will cease to work in this new context.

Is it too late to begin a managed transition to a post-fossil fuel society? Perhaps. But we will not know unless we try. And if we are to make that effort, we must begin by acknowledging one simple, stark reality: growth as we have known it can no longer be our goal.

Resources

Richard Heinberg is the author of the following books about the energy crash and resource depletion:

• Blackout
• Peak Everything: Waking Up to the Century of Declines
• Powerdown: Options and Actions for a Post-Carbon World

Wind Energy Grows by 25%

Wind power is the conversion of wind energy into a useful form of energy, such as electricity, using wind turbines. At the end of 2008, worldwide nameplate capacity of wind-powered generators was 121.2 gigawatts (GW). In 2008, wind power produced about 1.5% of worldwide electricity usage; and is growing rapidly, having doubled in the three years between 2005 and 2008.

World Wind Energy Association forecasts a total installed capacity of 152,000 MW worldwide by the end of 2009, which will mean a new record of over 30,000 MW newly installed capacity within one year. This represents a market growth of 25% compared with last year. Several countries have achieved relatively high levels of wind power penetration. As of May 2009, eighty countries around the world are using wind power on a commercial basis.

United States

As of April 30, 2009, wind power in the United States had reached 28,635 megawatts (MW) of installed capacity, and in 2008 the U.S. surpassed Germany as the country with the largest amount of installed wind power capacity. The American Wind Energy Association has reported that wind projects installed through the end of 2008 were expected to generate 52 million megawatt-hours/year (MWh/yr), representing 1.26% of the nation’s electricity in 2008.

Germany

Wind power in Germany produces about six percent of its total electrical power and it is said that no other country has more technological know-how in this area. Wind power in Germany provides over 70,000 people with jobs and German wind energy systems are also exported. Repowering, the replacement of first-generation wind turbines with modern multi-megawatt machines, is occurring in Germany. Modern turbines make better use of available wind energy and so more wind power can come from the same area of land.

Spain

Spain is the world's third biggest producer of wind power, after the United States and Germany, with an installed capacity of 16,740 megawatts (MW) at the end of 2008, a rise of 1,609 MW for the year. On particular windy days, wind power generation has surpassed all other electricity sources in Spain, including nuclear. On April 18, 2008 the all time peak for wind generation was seen (10,879 MW, 32% of Spain's power requirement), and on November 24, 2008 wind energy produced 43% of demand.

China

At the end of 2008, wind power in China accounted for 12.2 gigawatts (GW) of electricity generating capacity and China has identified wind power as a key growth component of the country's economy. China is the fourth largest producer of wind power, after the United States, Germany, and Spain. By the end of 2008, at least 15 Chinese companies were commercially producing wind turbines and several dozen more were producing components.

Denmark

Wind power in Denmark provided 19.7 percent of electricity production in 2007, a significantly higher proportion than in any other country. Denmark was a pioneer in developing commercial wind power during the 1970s, and today almost half of the wind turbines around the world are produced by Danish manufacturers such as Vestas.