News about Solar, Wind and alternative green power technologies

Early in 2010, a report was released suggesting that Australia can power its whole economy with wind and solar power. It does only involve making use of actual technology available, today.

The research was carried out by “Beyond Zero Emission” which is a Victoria-based advocacy group of engineers and scientists from.

Matthew Wright, the Executive Director of Beyond Zero Emission said that “There are no Technological Impediments” in the transformation of Australia into a Zero emission zone within 10 years to come.

Nowadays, approximately 80 percent of the power generated in the country comes from coal plants. Wind power represents only a percent and solar energy less than that.

Wright says that Australia is actually dormant in the expansion of clean energy. He predicts that once community support entrenches strong motive to take out polluters, only then will renewable energy expand in the country.

According to the report published, it was predicted that by year 2020, wind energy would represent 40 percent and Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) plants using molten salt to store the energy, 60 percent.

Concentrating Solar Power plants make use of mirrors instead of solar cells to capture sunlight. The sunlight is used to generate steam, which stimulates turbines and thereby produces power. There are only a few CSP plants operating in the world but around 30 more are under construction (none in Australia).

In respect to “DESERTEC – Australia” suggestions covering 50 square-Kilometers with solar mirrors would practically be enough to meet the total electricity demand in Australia.

The report by “Beyond Zero Emission” suggests that more than 20 percent of the proposed development of CSP plants could be constructed within year 2011 to 2015. Moreover, Wright highlighted that 12 locations with a potential capacity of 3,500 MW have already been identified for concentrate solar power plants.

The locations that have been selected were chosen carefully by solar researchers from Australian National University and Melbourne University. The main criterion used to evaluate sites was the solar incidence data.

Back-UP Energy

The zero-carbon objective might require some “burning” indeed. For instance, biomass would be required during winters to supplement solar plants. Furthermore, an improved grid system connecting wind and solar energy together would be required to assure that energy is provided consistently to the population.

However, reaching the ambitious plan of eradicating carbon emission by year 2020 goes far beyond simply setting an end to coal energy. It is even suggested that vehicles would be powered fully be electricity in 10 years.

Nonetheless, there is a relatively high cost involved in quitting the use of carbon entirely. The cost is predicted to be somewhere near $36 billion per annum, which is tantamount to 3.5 percent of the annual GDP of Australia. Yet, savings or profit can be expected as price of oil, coal and other non-renewable sources escalate.

Weak Legislations

The transformation towards clean power in Australia is still very unlikely to happen as quickly as predicted by Beyond Zero Emissions. Last year, in December 2009, the senate failed to implement climate legislation related to the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

There are eventually several experts that are examining the plan of going towards zero emissions by year 2020. The last verdict of the report will be finalized in the month to come. According to Wright, there haven’t been any backlashes to the ambitious plan yet. The fossil fuel industries as well as vested interests groups have also not interfered much in the clean energy plan. Their non-interference is uncommon. They might be trying to minimize news awareness and that is why they are not really attacking the project yet.

The group did very recently provide a “summary of the report”. The summary report provides fruitful information on how various industries can turn into carbon-free. It includes industries such as building, land, transportation, agriculture, and even how to substitute coal export.

There Is No Need For Nuclear Energy

It is expected that solar and wind power would be sufficient to displace traditional fossil fuel out of the energy industry. Even nuclear energy wouldn’t be required.

People have since long supported nuclear energy. The main reason behind this attitude was that recently other energy alternatives did not exist but this is no longer the case. Renewable energy can nowadays provide 24-hour electricity supply.

In America, there are funds being injected to stimulate new nuclear plants. Recently, an $8 billion loan was guaranteed by the state for setting up the first two nuclear plants. In America, there is a tendency towards the atomic renaissance but this is not the case for Australia.

The argument supporting nuclear power over wind and other sources of renewable energy is that energy storage capacity is yet inefficient. It is thus, difficult to rely on more than 20 to 30 percent on renewable energy for electricity supply to the whole population.

However, in Australia, the revival of nuclear energy was eliminated in the plan towards a carbon-free economy.

Feasibility of Zero-Carbon Plan

The unpredictability of sun and wind energy makes it hard to rely solely on renewable sources of energy. Moreover, Allan Moran, the director of the deregulation Unit at Melbourne-based Institute of Public Affairs says that it is hard to imagine a future where automobiles and plans are being fully fuelled by renewable sources. According to him, nuclear can fill the holes in the supply of energy.

There is even greater pressure for a zero-carbon economy or even a zero-carbon world being pushed forward by Climate change audits. For instance, last year Hans Joachim Schellnhuber working for German Advisory Council on Global Change said that the United States need to cut greenhouse emissions by 100 percent before 2020 to prevent the most devastating climate changes. Other, polluters have until approximately year 2025 to 2030 to cut their emission levels.

Professor Mark Z. Jacobson from Stanford University Engineer and Mark Delucchi from University of California-Davis research established a plan where the whole world could operate on renewable energy by 2030. It included a mixture of hydroelectric, solar and wind power.

It is very unlikely that Australia will reach a 100 percent carbon-free economy by year 2020. However, with proper support and introduction of legislations during the 10 years to come a large amount of energy might be generated from renewable sources.

Source: Solve Climate and Beyond Zero Emission

PDF summary of Zero Emission Plan