Relaxnews
Monday, 25 July 2011
As well as providing a source of alternative energy, roof-mounted solar panels could also have the extra benefit of cooling the house or workplace on which they are fitted says a new report.
The findings come as part of a study conducted by Jan Kleissal and his team at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering in America due to be printed in an upcoming issue of the journal Solar Energy.
The study, the first peer-reviewed one of its kind, used thermal imaging to monitor the temperature of buildings. The researchers found that during daylight hours the ceiling of a building with solar panels was five degrees Fahrenheit (2.8 degrees Celsius) cooler than the ceiling of an equivalent building without solar panels.
The team found that the cooling effect of the solar panels impacted the building's total energy costs and amounted to a 38 percent reduction in "annual cooling load" - the rate at which heat is removed from a conditioned space and the amount required to maintain a constant temperature.
The research team also found that the solar panels had insulating benefits - enabling the building to retain heat during the nighttime.
A summary of the article is available to read on ScienceDirect and can be purchased in full from the same site.
The latest innovations in solar technology were recently exhibited at the 20th Intersolar event, June 8-11, and at the Greenbuild Expo, June 29-30 in the UK. One of the major themes at both events was solar thermal technology or solar heating systems.
Later in the year, solar technology will also be exhibited at Solar Power International in the United States, October 17-20. In addition to showcasing the latest solar technologies, the event, which is expected to attract over 24,000 visitors, will host a series of seminars and workshops.
Solar Power International: https://www.solarpowerinternational.com
Report - Effects of solar photovoltaic panels on heat roof transfer: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0038092X11002131
Tuesday, 26 July 2011
Electric car sales fell by half in second quarter
Figures show just 215 electric cars were bought between April and June compared to 465 in the first three months of 2011
Will Nichols for BusinessGreen, part of the Guardian Environment Network
guardian.co.uk, Monday 25 July 2011 14.35 BST
The government and industry remain convinced electric cars will see an upswing in demand, despite a dramatic fall in the number of the grants issued during the second quarter of the year to those motorists purchasing electric vehicles (EV).
According to figures published by research charity the RAC Foundation late last week, the second quarter of the year saw just 215 cars bought under the government's EV grant scheme, which knocks £5,000 of the price of a new electric car.
This contrasts with 465 taken up in the first three months of the year, and takes the total of cars bought under the scheme to 680, leaving the UK's electric fleet still struggling to top 2,500 vehicles.
The low uptake means just £3.4m of the £43m put aside by the government until the end of March 2012 has been spent.
Estimates vary, but the WWF and the Committee on Climate Change say at least 1.7 million electric cars need to be on the UK's streets by 2020, and 6.6 million a decade later, if the country is to meet its climate change targets.
"The figures show the mountain we have to climb if the national car fleet of 28 million vehicles is to turn truly green," Professor Stephen Glaister, director of the RAC Foundation, said in a statement. "Even with the grants, electric cars are still much more expensive than similar-sized petrol and diesel models."
However, a spokesman for the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) told BusinessGreen the numbers were misleading as most car sales showed a decline after March, when 20 per cent of new car registrations are made.
He said it was "still early days" for the industry as a number of models, such as the Nissan Leaf, only came on to the market part of the way through the year.
"No one in industry is worrying as it is still such an early stage," he said, adding that the expansion of charging infrastructure and the release of new models next year should result in an increase in sales.
Experts point to the establishment of supporting infrastructure as crucial to expanding the market beyond early adopters. The Department for Transport (DfT) released a strategy aimed at encouraging householders and workplaces to install points earlier this month, while last week Chargemaster announced plans to install 4,000 points across 100 UK locations.
A DfT spokeswoman echoed the SMMT view, predicting an upswing in purchases next year.
"Relative to the number of electric cars registered in previous years, the numbers bought over the last six months represent a step change," she said. "We expect uptake to increase as more vehicles come to market... and [the] Chargemaster [announcement] is a clear sign of the private sector getting the bit between its teeth to support this new market as well."
Will Nichols for BusinessGreen, part of the Guardian Environment Network
guardian.co.uk, Monday 25 July 2011 14.35 BST
The government and industry remain convinced electric cars will see an upswing in demand, despite a dramatic fall in the number of the grants issued during the second quarter of the year to those motorists purchasing electric vehicles (EV).
According to figures published by research charity the RAC Foundation late last week, the second quarter of the year saw just 215 cars bought under the government's EV grant scheme, which knocks £5,000 of the price of a new electric car.
This contrasts with 465 taken up in the first three months of the year, and takes the total of cars bought under the scheme to 680, leaving the UK's electric fleet still struggling to top 2,500 vehicles.
The low uptake means just £3.4m of the £43m put aside by the government until the end of March 2012 has been spent.
Estimates vary, but the WWF and the Committee on Climate Change say at least 1.7 million electric cars need to be on the UK's streets by 2020, and 6.6 million a decade later, if the country is to meet its climate change targets.
"The figures show the mountain we have to climb if the national car fleet of 28 million vehicles is to turn truly green," Professor Stephen Glaister, director of the RAC Foundation, said in a statement. "Even with the grants, electric cars are still much more expensive than similar-sized petrol and diesel models."
However, a spokesman for the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) told BusinessGreen the numbers were misleading as most car sales showed a decline after March, when 20 per cent of new car registrations are made.
He said it was "still early days" for the industry as a number of models, such as the Nissan Leaf, only came on to the market part of the way through the year.
"No one in industry is worrying as it is still such an early stage," he said, adding that the expansion of charging infrastructure and the release of new models next year should result in an increase in sales.
Experts point to the establishment of supporting infrastructure as crucial to expanding the market beyond early adopters. The Department for Transport (DfT) released a strategy aimed at encouraging householders and workplaces to install points earlier this month, while last week Chargemaster announced plans to install 4,000 points across 100 UK locations.
A DfT spokeswoman echoed the SMMT view, predicting an upswing in purchases next year.
"Relative to the number of electric cars registered in previous years, the numbers bought over the last six months represent a step change," she said. "We expect uptake to increase as more vehicles come to market... and [the] Chargemaster [announcement] is a clear sign of the private sector getting the bit between its teeth to support this new market as well."
Carbon capture and utilisation could make economic sense
Many countries are investing in techniques of utilising CO2 for manufacturing processes – but UK is getting left behind
Fiona Harvey, environment correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Monday 25 July 2011 11.41 BST
Passing carbon dioxide through slag left over from steel-making turns the waste product into a strong material that can be used for construction. Pumped into greenhouses, it provides a growing boost for crops. Put into tanks of algae, it can be used to make biofuels. Waste carbon dioxide can even be cleaned up to "food grade" and injected into fizzy drinks.
But these processes are rare – instead, carbon dioxide from power generation is normally simply vented into the atmosphere, where it contributes to global warming. When the gas is needed for an industrial process, it is manufactured from scratch.
Peter Styring, a professor at the University of Sheffield, wants to change this situation. He believes that carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) could be one of the best ways of combating climate change, by turning carbon dioxide from a waste gas into an integral part of industrial processes.
"There are real possibilities here that we are still only at the beginning of exploring," he said. "Some of the technology we need has already been developed, some is at an early stage, and in some cases we need to develop new chemistry."
There are a few examples of the development of processes to use CO2 like this. The US is spending $1bn on CCU research, including a project at Sandia Laboratories to make synthetic diesel from carbon dioxide, and the German government is putting €118m into a project with Bayer called the Dream production plan. In Australia, work is under way to manufacture cement using the carbon dioxide from power plants, and in several places around the world, algae is being cultivated that would absorb the gas and could itself then be used to make biofuels.
But in the UK, by contrast, the government is pouring at least £1bn into carbon capture and storage technology – where the carbon from power stations is liquefied and stored in depleted oilfields under the North Sea – but nothing into recycling carbon dioxide.
Styring is confident that many of the potential uses for carbon dioxide could make economic sense, with the right investment. In a report he co-authored, entitled Carbon Capture and Utilisation in the Green Economy, published by the Centre for Low Carbon Futures, he points to a case study by Newcastle University. There, a group of researchers have developed a new class of catalysts for the conversion of CO2 into commercially important cyclic carbonates, which can be used as electrolytes for lithium ion batteries; additives for petrol, diesel and aviation fuel; solvents; and in the production of polycarbonates and polyurethanes, and other commercial chemical processes.
The group calculated that a plant operating this system could have a payback time of less than 2 years and generate profits of more £1.4bn over 15 years, if the resulting carbonates were sold at current market prices.
Many of the processes envisaged for CCU require some energy input – but the report's authors note that this could be provided by renewable energy, especially when wind or solar plants are producing energy at times of low demand. In this way, producing fuels from CO2 could effectively be a way of storing renewable energy in another form.
However, the costs are still high for many of the potential applications of waste CO2 – about 10 times too expensive in the case of algae, for example. Much more investment is needed to bring down the costs, and putting a sizeable price on carbon dioxide emissions would also help.
Styring said: "The UK government needs to invest in R&D for carbon capture and utilisation and investors need to be made aware of the potential benefits of the technology so that barriers can be brought down. Our report shows that all CCU options could be relevant to the UK and given its business-oriented academic community, the UK could benefit from the commercialisation of the technologies involved."
Fiona Harvey, environment correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Monday 25 July 2011 11.41 BST
Passing carbon dioxide through slag left over from steel-making turns the waste product into a strong material that can be used for construction. Pumped into greenhouses, it provides a growing boost for crops. Put into tanks of algae, it can be used to make biofuels. Waste carbon dioxide can even be cleaned up to "food grade" and injected into fizzy drinks.
But these processes are rare – instead, carbon dioxide from power generation is normally simply vented into the atmosphere, where it contributes to global warming. When the gas is needed for an industrial process, it is manufactured from scratch.
Peter Styring, a professor at the University of Sheffield, wants to change this situation. He believes that carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) could be one of the best ways of combating climate change, by turning carbon dioxide from a waste gas into an integral part of industrial processes.
"There are real possibilities here that we are still only at the beginning of exploring," he said. "Some of the technology we need has already been developed, some is at an early stage, and in some cases we need to develop new chemistry."
There are a few examples of the development of processes to use CO2 like this. The US is spending $1bn on CCU research, including a project at Sandia Laboratories to make synthetic diesel from carbon dioxide, and the German government is putting €118m into a project with Bayer called the Dream production plan. In Australia, work is under way to manufacture cement using the carbon dioxide from power plants, and in several places around the world, algae is being cultivated that would absorb the gas and could itself then be used to make biofuels.
But in the UK, by contrast, the government is pouring at least £1bn into carbon capture and storage technology – where the carbon from power stations is liquefied and stored in depleted oilfields under the North Sea – but nothing into recycling carbon dioxide.
Styring is confident that many of the potential uses for carbon dioxide could make economic sense, with the right investment. In a report he co-authored, entitled Carbon Capture and Utilisation in the Green Economy, published by the Centre for Low Carbon Futures, he points to a case study by Newcastle University. There, a group of researchers have developed a new class of catalysts for the conversion of CO2 into commercially important cyclic carbonates, which can be used as electrolytes for lithium ion batteries; additives for petrol, diesel and aviation fuel; solvents; and in the production of polycarbonates and polyurethanes, and other commercial chemical processes.
The group calculated that a plant operating this system could have a payback time of less than 2 years and generate profits of more £1.4bn over 15 years, if the resulting carbonates were sold at current market prices.
Many of the processes envisaged for CCU require some energy input – but the report's authors note that this could be provided by renewable energy, especially when wind or solar plants are producing energy at times of low demand. In this way, producing fuels from CO2 could effectively be a way of storing renewable energy in another form.
However, the costs are still high for many of the potential applications of waste CO2 – about 10 times too expensive in the case of algae, for example. Much more investment is needed to bring down the costs, and putting a sizeable price on carbon dioxide emissions would also help.
Styring said: "The UK government needs to invest in R&D for carbon capture and utilisation and investors need to be made aware of the potential benefits of the technology so that barriers can be brought down. Our report shows that all CCU options could be relevant to the UK and given its business-oriented academic community, the UK could benefit from the commercialisation of the technologies involved."
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