EFFICIENT ENERGY SOURCES ARE PARAMOUNT TO REDUCING CARBON EMISSIONS

Exciting new trends are emerging

The energy we consume in our daily lives and the way we use it has critical implications for global warming. Fossil fuels such as coal and oil are really bad news, so the more alternatives we can harness, especially renewable fuels, the better!

Around the world governments, organisations, companies and individuals are seriously looking at their carbon footprints and are choosing to adopt new technologies.

According to the Worldwatch Institute, the challenge is to create new energy systems that will not only protect the global climate, but will be economically superior. This may sound like a pipe dream but burgeoning markets for energy efficient technologies - such as solar panels, photovoltaics (PV), wind turbines, hydrogen fuel cells and bio-fuels - show what can happen when strong national policies are enacted.

Between 2000 and 2006, worldwide production of biofuels from crops more than doubled, global wind energy generation increased fourfold, and global production of solar electricity from photovoltaic cells rose by a factor of six. In two of these industries—ethanol and wind power—America is now the world leader, adding capacity faster than any other country for the first time in more than a decade.

Biofuels can significantly reduce global dependence on oil. In 2006, world biofuel production surpassed 670,000 barrels per day, the equivalent of about 1% of the global transport fuel market.

Although oil still accounts for more than 96% of transport fuel use, biofuel production is poised for even stronger growth as the industry responds to higher fuel prices and supportive government policies.

Indeed, biofuels could provide 37% of US transport fuel within the next 25 years, and up to 75% if automobile fuel economy doubles. And biofuels could replace 20-30% of the oil used in European Union countries during the same period.

HIGH ENERGY HYDROGEN

Hydrogen is a high-energy fuel that produces virtually no pollution so its environmental impact, though not widely known, is remarkable. It can help solve major impending ecological issues of global warming and pollution, amongst others.

A vehicle running on hydrogen power has nil emissions, the only “pollutant” being water. With no sulphur or carbon compounds to degrade the engine oil, an engine lasts longer and does not succumb to temperature variations.

Surprisingly, despite its advantages hydrogen has not yet been widely utilized. It has to be extracted from other elements such as oxygen and carbon, since it is not found in a standalone form. Hence, for hydrogen to become a long lasting and renewable alternative to fossil fuels, it would need to be produced with a clean and low-cost source of electricity.

Several countries are making a bid to substitute fossil fuels with hydrogen, especially in transport. A number of them have set up research foundations and collaborating with automobile manufacturers and energy providers.

Iceland, for instance, has been a pioneer in developing hydrogen power over decades and the country could completely cease using fossil fuels by 2030-40.

The European Commission (EU) is the driving force behind a 'Hydrogen Economy' and launched the Clean Urban Transport for Europe (CUTE) project. The intention is to gauge the feasibility of hydrogen fuel cell use in day-to-day operations. The project involves testing fuel cell buses in heavy traffic and under fluctuating climatic conditions in nine European cities.

There’s also a pronounced trend among the automobile giants across the world. General Motors (GM), Toyota, Suzuki are a few linking up with major oil companies such as Shell, BP and others in a bid to develop fuel cell technologies. GM and the US Department of Energy have signed an $88-million agreement for a period of five years to construct a 40-vehicle fuel cell fleet.

In Japan, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry is directing the Japan Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Demonstration Project (JHFC) to work with major motor manufacturers and energy suppliers to conduct extensive research into fuel cell technology and build a 'hydrogen economy'.

Meanwhile, the HydroGen3 initiative in Germany is a part of the Clean Energy Partnership (CEP), a project supported by the government that has also set-up a public service station for hydrogen refueling. The initiation of this project has resulted in 16 hydrogen-powered passenger cars on Germany's public roads.

In the UK, the London Hydrogen Partnership (LHP) is working to make hydrogen fuel cell technology a reality. The purpose is to improve air quality, reduce pollution, improve energy security and support the UK's ecological economy. And London’s Mayor has announced that he aims to introduce 70 hydrogen vehicles to the city by 2010.

So with most nations across the world striving to build a 'hydrogen economy', the day isn't far off when hydrogen-powered vehicles may become commonplace.

HYBRID SOLUTIONS

Hybrid systems work under the premise that incorporating heat, power and highly efficient devices like fuel cells, advanced materials, cooling systems, and so on, can increase overall efficiency and conserve energy. Higher reliability along with improved quality and availability of power can be achieved with redundant technologies and energy storage.

Also, the use of renewables can be maximized, resulting in a system with lower emission levels than the conventional fossil-fueled technologies.

A typical hybrid energy system combines two or more energy conversion devices, or two or more fuels for the same device, which when integrated can overcome the limitations inherent in either.

Hybrid vehicles are the future with improvised design of the internal combustion engine and the use of renewable fuels such as hydrogen, natural gas and so on. Hybrid electric diesel trucks are believed to decrease particulate emissions by almost 96% and increase mileage by 57%.

Many hybrid buses using hydrogen and natural gas, are already on the roads.

WIND TURBINES

Global wind power capacity increased almost 26% in 2006, exceeding 74,200 megawatts by year’s end. Global investment in wind power was roughly $22billion in 2006, and in Europe and North America, the power industry added more capacity in wind than it did in coal and nuclear combined. The global market for wind equipment has risen 74% in the past two years, leading to long backorders for wind turbine equipment in much of the world.

Experts say, wind power is on track to soon play a major role in reducing fossil fuel dependence and slowing the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Already, the 43m tonnes of carbon dioxide displaced by the new wind plants installed in 2006 equaled more than 5% of the year’s growth in global emissions. If the wind market quadruples over the next nine years—apparently a highly plausible scenario—wind power could be reducing global emissions growth by 20% in 2015.

Germany, Spain, and the US generate nearly 60% of the world’s wind power. But the industry is shifting quickly from its European and North American roots to a new centre of gravity in the booming energy markets of Asia.

In 2006, India was the third largest wind turbine installer and China took the fifth spot, thanks to a 170% increase in new wind power installations over the previous year. More than 50 nations now tap the wind to produce electricity, and 13 have more than 1,000 megawatts of wind capacity installed.

SOLAR ENERGY

Hybrid systems work under the premise that incorporating heat, power and highly efficient devices like fuel cells, advanced materials, cooling systems, and so on, can increase overall efficiency and conserve energy. Higher reliability along with improved quality and availability of power can be achieved with redundant technologies and energy storage.

Also, the use of renewables can be maximized, resulting in a system with lower emission levels than the conventional fossil-fueled technologies.

A typical hybrid energy system combines two or more energy conversion devices, or two or more fuels for the same device, which when integrated can overcome the limitations inherent in either.

Hybrid vehicles are the future with improvised design of the internal combustion engine and the use of renewable fuels such as hydrogen, natural gas and so on. Hybrid electric diesel trucks are believed to decrease particulate emissions by almost 96% and increase mileage by 57%.

Many hybrid buses using hydrogen and natural gas, are already on the roads.

THE NUCLEAR REMEDY

Many politicians and even a few environmentalists have begun advocating nuclear power as a remedy for climate change. And in an effort to ride the coattails of a far more popular set of energy alternatives, political leaders, including President George Bush, are now referring to nuclear power as "a renewable source of energy".

In a Worldwatch Institute's magazine special entitled “Brave Nuclear World,” Karen Charman questions whether or not efforts to bring back the nuclear power industry will be any more successful than the other five nuclear “revivals” that have been attempted since the industry first collapsed a 25 years ago.

Research indicates that some 700 new large nuclear reactors - producing about twice the total power of the world's currently operating reactors - would be needed to achieve just one-seventh of the reductions in greenhouse gas emissions required to stabilise atmospheric carbon concentrations at 500 parts per million.

Building 700 nuclear reactors would cost at least $1.7trillion and would require construction of a new nuclear waste disposal site the size of Nevada's controversial Yucca Mountain depository “somewhere in the world every three to four years!”

It is suggested that if such monies were instead spent on energy efficiency measures and renewable energy, greenhouse gas emissions could be reduced by a far greater amount.

AIR TRANSPORT

One of the most fuel-consuming means of transportation, airplanes use as much energy and emit a corresponding amount of CO2 as each of the passengers would if they undertook the same journey by car. To make the problem worse, increasing passenger demands stimulated a boom in budget airlines, which has obviously resulted in a rapid increase in aircraft pollution.

There are 25 airlines that carry more than 15million passengers annually. Aviation traffic is expected to increase by 5% annually over the next two decades. Though newer planes are less polluting, the fleets of many airline carriers remain dominated by older, less efficeint aeroplanes.

Air traffic is responsible for 5-6% of the total warming effect caused by greenhouse gases. Aircraft release exhaustive amounts of nitrogen oxides and other gases during taxiing, idling, takeoffs, and landings.

Indeed one very alarming fact is that from 1990 to 2002, international aviation emissions went up by almost 70 %.

Understandably, environmentalists the world over have placed strong demands for aircraft that are cleaner and emission-free. They say we are capable of developing bio-fuels and hybrid engines for cars then why not for airplanes?

UK HOUSEHOLD ENERGY

In the UK thousands of householders have already fitted solar and other energy-saving technologies to their homes, often with the help of government grants. Many local authorities and housing associations have also taken advantage of grants to fit renewables to new and existing housing – sometimes as part of wider community regeneration programmes.

One regeneration project, in particular, includes renewable energy technologies that provide a thematic and physical link between the new and existing housing. It is reducing current and future energy costs to tenants, addressing fuel poverty concerns and protecting tenants from predicted energy cost rises.

PV (PV) is one of the technologies and it’s converting energy from the sun into electrical energy supplying it to the building or the UK national electricity grid.

Solar water heating systems use a heat collector, generally mounted on the roof, in which a fluid is heated by the sun, which then heats up water stored in the building. As these systems can function in diffuse lighting conditions, they work successfully in all parts of the UK. They are suitable for any building type that has sufficient year-round hot water needs and a south (or south-east/south-west) facing roof.

HEAT PUMPS

Ground source heat pumps (GSHP), using geothermal heat, are growing in popularity, especially in the new build housing arena. Last year, for instance, Sweden installed 30,000 systems and Germany well over 10,000.

Switzerland has the highest density per head of population in the world where about one in three new houses have a heat pump. France, too, is leaping ahead installing in the order of 20,000 systems in 2005 - if not more. While the United States and Canada completed in the order of 200,000.

Producing and using energy efficiently and effectively is crucial to our planet’s future and it is in mankind’s very best interest to keep up to speed with all the technologies that are at our disposal.

Useful sources for further information:

www.britishdesign.co.uk

www.bwea.com

www.ec.europa.eu/transport/clean/index_en.htm

www.ecoheatpumps.co.uk

www.energy-crops.com

www.hybridcars.com/

www.howstuffworks.com/fuel-cell.htm

www.iceenergy.co.uk

www.jhfc.jp/e/

www.nef.org.uk/gshp/

www.r-p-a.uk

www.solarcentury.co.uk

www.world-nuclear.org

www.worldwatch.org