Green, ethical, energy issues in the news

Martyn1981

Greening up green energy.

Siemens Gamesa claims world’s first recyclable offshore wind turbine blade

Siemens Gamesa has launched what it claims is the world’s first recyclable offshore wind turbine blade. The “RecyclableBlade” is ready for commercial use offshore, and Siemens Gamesa has already made agreements with three customers.

Recyclable offshore wind turbine blade

The Spanish renewable company’s first six 266-feet-long (81-meter-long) RecyclableBlades have been produced at its blade factory in Aalborg, Denmark.

How it works

According to Siemens Gamesa:

Siemens Gamesa wind turbine blades are made from a combination of materials cast together with resin to form a strong and flexible lightweight structure. The chemical structure of this new resin type makes it possible to efficiently separate the resin from the other components at end of the blade’s working life. This mild process protects the properties of the materials in the blade, in contrast to other existing ways of recycling conventional wind turbine blades.

Coastalwatch

I have to confess that it was the headline name rather than the battery performance that originally attracted my attention.Having been associated with four stroke lawn mowers for as long as I can remember it was this name rather than that of the battery manufacturer with which I was familiar. I wasn't even aware they still in existence. 

But the claims about battery efficiency, duration and elimination of thermal runaway seem very impressive to a mere layman such as I.

Briggs & Stratton acquires energy storage provider SimpliPhi Power

Through this acquisition, Briggs & Stratton said it will accelerate its growth into the energy storage system market, expanding the business. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

SimpliPhi Power designs and manufactures battery-based storage equipment using lithium ferrous phosphate (LFP) battery cell chemistry. The company’s web site claims that the batteries eliminate the risks of thermal runaway, operate at 98% efficiency for more than 5,000 cycles, offer up to 100% depth of discharge, and can cycle daily for 10 years.

https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2021/09/08/briggs-stratton-acquires-energy-storage-provider-simpliphi-power/?utm_source=USA+|+Newsletter&utm_campaign=44d2bdb829-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_80e0d17bb8-44d2bdb829-159341337

Coastalwatch

While interesting to learn that funding for Solar and Storage micro grids is being sort to back up the more tradtional means of FF generators following Hurricane Ida, it was the name of a battery supplier, unknown to me prior to the previous post that seems to suggest they are a credible supplier. Hats off to them, lets hope the fundraising goes well and the batteries do the business for which they were intended.

Here’s how you can help bring emergency solar to New Orleans

The Footprint Project is seeking hardware and monetary donations to construct solar power plus energy storage mobile microgrids to be deployed in New Orleans. The non-profit can be reached via its Contact Us page.

The group is currently raising $50,000, via a DER Task Force initiated GoFundMe, to purchase and deploy this solar+storage hardware into New Orleans. As of press time for this article, they’ve raised more than $45,000.

Hurricane Ida on August 29 knocked out all transmission power lines that support the greater New Orleans region. Estimated reconstruction timelines were initially estimated at greater than two months. Specific areas within local electricity utility Entergy have been given tentative electricity restoration time frames through the end of September.

Footprint Project is working to set up mobile solar and storage throughout New Orleans to complement the diesel/gas generators that are being deployed by others. Typical sites include community centers, medical centers, and fire stations, as well as street corners and parking lots so people can charge cell phones, medical and mobility devices, and use wifi.

California battery manufacturer SimpliPhi’s Matt Roberts said that it sent a pallet of batteries, and is also working with the Footprint Project. Roberts said the company will donate 1% of all revenue to high human-impact energy projects.

https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2021/09/07/heres-how-you-can-help-bring-emergency-solar-to-new-orleans/?utm_source=USA+|+Newsletter&utm_campaign=44d2bdb829-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_80e0d17bb8-44d2bdb829-159341337

QrizB

My DIY home battery is LFP chemistry, and I think Pylontech use the same, while (according to Wikipedia) the Tesla Powerwall is NMC. LFP has lower energy density by mass and by volume so is less attractive for EVs.

ABrass

QrizB said:

My DIY home battery is LFP chemistry, and I think Pylontech use the same, while (according to Wikipedia) the Tesla Powerwall is NMC. LFP has lower energy density by mass and by volume so is less attractive for EVs.

...but is starting to gain market share, especially at the cheaper end. Standard range Tesla 3 and Ys are starting to use LFP. 

Solarchaser

Yep a couple of my colleagues have got the standard range plus in last 3 months and are indeed lfp

Martyn1981

Just a quick article, almost a summary, of off-shore windfarm deployment, expansion, and targets. It starts off about China, but then shifts to UK. [The UK is still expanding RE generation by roughly 3.5% of leccy supply each year, roughly moving from about 5% to 40% over the last decade or so, and no slowing down, yet.]

Global windfarm installations expected to surge after Covid drop, says report

Windfarm installations are expected to double to record global levels this year, after a short-lived Covid-19 slowdown, according to the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC).

The group’s annual report found that the world’s offshore windfarm capacity grew by 6.1GW last year, down slightly from a record 6.24GW in 2019, but would rebound to more than 12GW in 2021 powered by an offshore wind boom in China.

GWEC expects the offshore wind industry to deliver 235GW of new capacity over the next decade under current government policies, more than seven times the existing global offshore wind total, but warned that the pace of growth will need to accelerate to meet global climate targets.

Obviously, we need to end FF use asap, to reduce the emission of CO2(e), but in order to avoid the worst of AGW and the climate crisis, we also need to remove CO2 from the environment, with hopes for sizeable removal in the second half of this century. So here's a model in Iceland having a go at it:

World’s biggest machine capturing carbon from air turned on in Iceland

The world’s largest plant designed to suck carbon dioxide out of the air and turn it into rock started has running, the companies behind the project said on Wednesday.

The plant, named Orca after the Icelandic word “orka” meaning “energy”, consists of four units, each made up of two metal boxes that look like shipping containers.

Constructed by Switzerland’s Climeworks and Iceland’s Carbfix, when operating at capacity the plant will draw 4,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide out of the air every year, according to the companies.

According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, that equates to the emissions from about 870 cars. The plant cost between US$10 and 15m to build, Bloomberg reported.

Proponents of so-called carbon capture and storage believe these technologies can become a major tool in the fight against climate change.

Critics however argue that the technology is still prohibitively expensive and might take decades to operate at scale.

Martyn1981

Martyn1981 said:

Obviously, we need to end FF use asap, to reduce the emission of CO2(e), but in order to avoid the worst of AGW and the climate crisis, we also need to remove CO2 from the environment, with hopes for sizeable removal in the second half of this century. So here's a model in Iceland having a go at it:

Not sure if this is of interest, but just thought it was important to stress that whilst carbon capture is crucial in the long run, as mentioned above, it is not in any way (shape or form) an alternative to 'step one', that of reducing FF usage as fast as possible. Only after we stop adding to the problem, can we really hope to start reducing it later this century, when, if we are lucky, the cost of CC will have fallen significantly, and the scale (potential scale) have risen significantly, to make it viable.


This editorial tries to set this out.

The Guardian view on fossil fuels: a very long way to go

The switching on of the world’s largest carbon capture and storage plant, in Iceland, is a glimmer of hope in a bleak climate landscape. The amount of carbon dioxide removed from the atmosphere by this new machine will be tiny: 4,000 tonnes a year, which is equivalent to that produced by 870 cars. Still, the project brings a step closer the possibility that significant amounts of carbon dioxide could, one day, be removed from the atmosphere.

The significant risks that such technological developments carry must be addressed head-on. The danger is that they are a displacement activity from the massive and necessary task of reducing and then eliminating emissions (with any residual emissions offset or, if carbon capture technologies are scaled up, removed). This distraction need not be deliberate, although fossil fuel producers have consistently undermined climate action by promoting the idea that technological solutions will eventually make calls to decarbonise obsolete.

The fast-falling cost of renewables sends a clear signal that there is a route to safety. So does the political momentum generated by younger generations of voters and activists who are full of fear for the future. But the role of technologies such as that being tested in Iceland, and new forms of nuclear energy, remain highly contested and unclear. The inescapable fact remains unchanged: fossil fuels will continue to heat up our planet for as long as we keep burning them. Net zero pledges are empty promises unless they are accompanied by binding commitments to stop.

Martyn1981

So much opportunity if the UK moves faster towards the green economy.

660,000 jobs at risk as UK’s green investment lags

Up to 660,000 jobs will be at serious risk if the UK continues to fall behind other countries in the amount it invests in green infrastructure and jobs, according to an alarming study published on Saturday.

Coming just two months before Boris Johnson’s government hosts the United Nations Climate conference, COP26 in Glasgow, the report by the TUC makes clear that the impact on employment in the UK as a result of jobs moving “offshore” to countries in the vanguard of green investment and technology will be particularly acute in the UK’s industrial heartlands in the north-west, Yorkshire and the Humber.

Separate research by the TUC in June found that the UK is second from bottom in the league table of G7 economies for its record in investment in green investment and jobs – despite Johnson’s claims to be a leading force in the race to save the planet from global warming.

While the UK Treasury is expected to invest only about £180 per person on green recovery and jobs over the next decade, President Joe Biden plans to allocate more than £2,960 per person on a green recovery in the US: jobs and programmes involving public transport, electric vehicles and energy efficiency retrofits.

Relative to population, the UK’s green recovery investment is just 24% that of France, 21% that of Canada, and 6% that of the US.

The TUC is calling on the government to fund an £85bn green recovery package to create 1.24 million green jobs. In addition it is stepping up calls for a scheme to help protect working people through this and other periods of profound industrial change, which would act as a bridge for those in jobs and industries under threat from offshoring during the global transition to net zero.

Martyn1981

This week's Carbon Commentary Newsletter from Chris Goodall.

 Things I noticed and thought were interesting

Week ending September 11th 2021
 
1, Hydrogen in India. The chairman of one of India’s largest conglomerates said his company would work with partners to install at least 100 GW of new renewable electricity capacity by 2030 for the purposes of making hydrogen. For comparison, this is about as much as India’s total renewables today. Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries targets $1 per kilogramme (about 3 US cents per kilowatt hour, or half current European natural gas prices) within a decade. The US government has a similar objective. I estimate the Reliance 100 GW portfolio would make about 5 million tonnes of hydrogen, about 7% of current global demand. Another hugely successful businessperson has just decided that he can make a lot of money from hydrogen.
 
2, Shipping carbon tax. The shipping industry repeatedly tells us it needs a carbon tax because renewable fuels are currently expensive compared to oil. The International Chamber of Shipping, representing 80% of world tonnage, formally asked the IMO, part of the UN, to push for a global levy. The funds raised would be used to push down the cost of low carbon alternatives and to set up full scale bunkering across the world. Perhaps the global trade associations for steel, cement and aviation would also like to appeal for a carbon levy? A call from international business for a uniform carbon tax across the world would be difficult to resist.
                      
3, McKinsey on EVs. McKinsey published a useful short paper on the future for electric mobility. Among other things, it provides an estimate of how much the need for ‘sunset’ components, such as fuel injection systems, will decline before 2030. It says that the value will fall from 26% to 11% of the total European market. The switch to EVs will require 100,000 people to move jobs from 'sunset' to 'sunrise' sectors in Germany alone. McKinsey points also to the increasing localisation of battery production, with European manufacturing meeting all requirements after the development of 24 gigafactories, making almost a terawatt hour of storage a year. But the consultancy also cautions that today’s EVs create 80% more emissions than comparable petrol cars because of batteries and greater use of aluminium. Electric cars will also add 5% to European electricity demand by the end of this decade
 
Fuel cells get no mention. Electrification of passenger cars is seen as overwhelmingly likely. But only this week Hyundai said it aimed to decrease full cell costs to comparable levels to batteries by the end of the decade and will introduce a hydrogen variant of all its heavier commercial vehicles by 2028. Several Korean and Japanese manufacturers don’t yet see an inevitable victory of batteries for all transport needs.
 
4, Maersk and WasteFuel. In the wake of its recent commitment to buy 8 large dual-fuel container ships, Maersk invested in a Californian start-up that will make low carbon fuels, potentially including e-methanol, from agricultural and municipal wastes. Other shipping industry participants have repeatedly questioned whether Maersk will be able to source enough e-methanol to fuel the new ships and this investment will only partly address the scepticism. WasteFuel says it is intending to develop five refineries for low carbon fuels by 2025, with a total production of around 40,000 tonnes of aviation fuel. Much of this is already pre-sold to the private jet operator NetJets. But Maersk says it will need 360,000 tonnes of e-methanol just to fuel the 8 ships under order. I presume the shipping company’s investment will be used to help WasteFuel sharply accelerate its growth. 
 
5, Energy island. The plans for the proposed energy island 80 km off Jutland, western Denmark, moved ahead. The newly-constructed island will eventually be the hub for at least 10 GW of offshore wind, including an initial 200 turbines to be put in place by 2030. The consortium was widened to include land reclamation specialist Van Oord and the offshore construction division of Bouygues as well as Danish harbour constructor Aarsleff. They join Ørsted and Denmark’s largest institutional investor.
 
6, Timber buildings. An all-timber building with a height of 75 metres opened in the Swedish city of Skellefteå. It includes a cultural centre and a twenty storey hotel. Solar panels on the roof will balance the building’s emissions from operation, while the carbon stored in the timber will sequester twice as much CO2 as emitted in the construction of the building. The wood was grown locally. This isn’t the largest building in the world that used only cross laminated timber in construction but it may be most stylish.
 
7, Green steel in Hamburg. Arcelor Mittal made another move towards hydrogen steel. It obtained a promise of half the €110m cost of a new Direct Reduction Iron plant from the German government. This will enable the production of 100,000 tonnes of DRI by 2025 and the aim is for 1 million tonnes by 2030. Hamburg, where the plant will be located, is likely to a major hub for hydrogen production and use. Although the project is less than half the size of Arcelor’s recent DRI announcement in Spain, it does seem to be part of a wider plan to use hydrogen in the company’s locations across Germany. As the federal elections approach, the minister predictably restated her government’s commitment to funding the German steel industry's move to hydrogen.
 
8, CCUS. A study looked at the success rate of 263 carbon capture projects.. The authors concluded that 'most CCUS projects initiated in the past three decades have failed'. The failure rate increases with the size of the project. However some countries continue to push on with large scale CCUS schemes, particularly Norway. At the moment, the natural gas that is co-produced with oil from two fields in the Barents Sea is re-injected back into the reservoir. Now Equinor and its partners plan to use the gas for making ‘blue’ ammonia onshore.  This will produce about a million tonnes a year or about half a percent of the global total. The CO2 emitted from this process will be captured and transported by ship before being stored in an offshore hydrocarbon field. This is exactly the type of complex project that seems most likely to experience problems. The world needs CCUS to work but we are still a long way from ensuring that projects are both technically possible and financially manageable.

9, Hydrogen for rail. Oil major Chevron says it is trying to develop early markets for hydrogen, particularly for transportation and industrial uses. It announced a collaboration with Caterpillar to create a demonstration railway project. The partnership will run a hydrogen-fuelled locomotive on railways connecting mining sites in the US. The refuelling infrastructure will form part of the plan and work will begin immediately. “Through Chevron New Energies, Chevron is pursuing opportunities to create demand for hydrogen – and the technologies needed for its use – for the heavy-duty transportation and industrial sectors, in which carbon emissions are harder to abate,” said Jeff Gustavson, president of Chevron New Energies. “Our collaboration with Caterpillar is another important step toward advancing a commercially viable hydrogen economy.” This seems a sensible step forward to me; non-electrified railways are prime targets for hydrogen use.
 
10, Lower carbon cement. Cement is an intractable problem because of the CO2 driven off from the raw material as it is heated. Although it is clearly possible to use hydrogen to provide the heat, avoiding the direct CO2 emissions from clinker manufacture has proved difficult. Several different raw materials have been tried and another alternative is proposed by German and Brazilian researchers. They suggest that the clays frequently found above deposits of aluminium ore (bauxite), particularly in Brazil, can be used to replace part of the limestone required for cement. This is not a new idea – the aluminium trade association has previously proposed 10% to 20% use. But the research recently published suggests the percentage can be increased to 60%. The manufacturing process can also be run at lower temperatures, reducing the need for fuel. The combination of these two benefits might reduce total emissions by two thirds. (This percentage would be less if low carbon fuel, such as hydrogen, is already used for heating).