Within a year, the very idea of this solar system and grid will turn into a reality, hoped the Senator Rukhsana Zuberi; the PEC Chairperson, and we will see a boom in energy since our country is already rich in energy sources.’

The chairperson is hopeful that, thanks to the On-Grid Solar Electricity Generation System. Pakistan will soon become self-sufficient is energy and power production. ‘Such environment friendly steps will not only save the foreign exchange but will also create numerous job opportunities for the needy’, she added, while holding a press conference on Saturday.

Such endeavors are likely to resuscitate the already suffocated job market in the country’, said the chairperson. She continued by saying, ‘Excess electricity generated by On-Grid Solar Electricity Generation System will be supplied to Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO) and national grid through smart-meter.’

The grant for the project has arrived from the government of Japan in the form of 480 million yen under the clean earth programme.

As per the chairperson the PEC building, located in Islamabad, will be converted into solar energy by the end of February 2012 after the successful installation of two solar electricity generation systems – each system generates a power of 180 KW. The first installations will be set up at the PEC and Planning Commission, Islamabad.

The chairperson is hopeful that this system will create a plethora of job as well as business opportunities within the country. As per her, this mega energy system will provide much needed breakthroughs in the country, and it will also be providing business and investment opportunities.

According to the chairperson, people can produce domestic electricity by connecting their solar energy system into the smart grid. The extra power, as per the chairperson, ‘can be transferred to the main grid which – apart from saving money will produce income at the government level.

It is, therefore, important to create awareness amongst people by telling them the benefits of the On-Grid Solar Electricity Generation System. Surely, it will bring glad tidings to the people after their energy bills will be reduced by placing solar panels and connecting them to the grid – at the roof tops of their houses. Also the fact should be highlighted here that with the arrival of this new system, people will not only be able to make electricity for their own use but can also make a profit by selling it.

Source: Daily Times

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There exists two different types of hybrid cars. There is the plug-in hybrid model where diesel and gasoline engines take over when the battery of the electric engine is finished. The second type of plug-in hybrid work together with the gasoline engine in the sense that the diesel or gasoline engine will charge the electric engine to improve the autonomity of the car.

Unfortunately, due to technical disadvantages the electric engine is currently only appropriate for short distance. However, the conventional engines can help by constantly recharging the electric engines while driving. This will boost the potential distance that the electric engine can cover; it can go up to 450 Km or even more. The best part with electric engines is that they produce no emissions.

The use of electric engines can make the transport sector really green. Let’s say that cars are recharged during the evening with electricity coming from pure sources such as wind energy. ‘More advanced electric vehicles do even generate energy from braking’. This is a source of energy, which is wasted by conventional gasoline or diesel vehicles. This makes electric engines perfect for short and urban distance where lots of braking is done.

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A new model produced by General Motors is Volt. It has an electric engine which can provide 64 Kms of daily travelling simply by its advanced autonomy. In case the car is used to travel across long distances than the gasoline engine will simply help in charging the battery for the electric engine.

General Motors estimates that the cost of driving a Volt with the use of battery energy will only cost about two cents of a euro in comparison to 12 cents of a euro for a typical gasoline vehicle. The cost difference is gigantic. A typical driver who covers 60 kms a day or 22,000 km per annum will save 2,200 € every year. This could help to pay for the additional cost associated with the battery of the car. In other words, driving a Volt is six times cheaper than a conventional vehicle per km.

On average, the cars that are sold in Europe – 2006 – consume roughly 6.5 liters for every 100 kms covered. On the other hand, a plug-in hybrid vehicle can drive 50 kms with electricity, and the remaining 50 would be covered with around 2.5 liters.

A daily trip is usually less than 60km. Using hybrid vehicles could generate remarkable changes in terms of cost. For short distance recharging could be done at parking. This means that fossil fuel wouldn’t be needed when travelling in urban regions.

Electric or hybrid vehicles are definitely cost-efficient. The car is cost-efficient and doesn’t generate emissions while driving on the electric engine.

Source: EV Wind

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An advantage of electric engines is that they make use of the energy generated from braking. This heat is usually wasted. This means that these vehicles are perfect for urban distances where lots of braking is done.

In addition, there are fewer mechanical components – this reduces the operation cost of the vehicles. The cost of driving electric vehicles has for the first time in history decreased to a highly competitive cost. Electric vehicles are even more cost-effective than typical diesel and gasoline vehicles. This motivates the development of the electrification of the transportation sector.

Of course, transforming the road system will take time and requires creativity. Irrespective of the amount of effort required to realise the introduction of greener cars has a phenomenal profit potential.

Plans have already been proposed in Australia, Portugal, Israel, Ireland, Denmark, France and New Zealand. In other areas such as in Japan, Germany and in states of US like California and Hawaii, pilot programs have already been introduced. Spain is planning to progress with pilot programs in 2012. The U.S, Obama’s administration is steadily promoting plug in hybrid and electric cars to the market – news is expected soon -.

To charge electric vehicles, there are two feasible solutions – a single large electric plug-in engine or several smaller engines placed to each wheel. The use of one engine in the electric vehicles will make the cars more powerful and alike to contemporary cars. However, they have a downfall, related to its inefficient reaction to friction.

The electric vehicles could have engines in the tires. This would reduce the loss of energy (friction) in respect to the single engine solution. Unfortunately, several small engines would only be appropriate for small cars as larger vehicles need more power and thus a larger engine.

The problem of electric cars might come in the motivation to transform and redefine the way these cars are re-filled. Instead of recharging cars for hours, the batteries could simply be changed. It would practically take the same degree of time to change a battery to that of re-fuelling.

The focus is to provide low battery costs. One solution is to provide batteries at a monthly fee or even the car itself for a periodic fee. This would make the car industry alike to that of the phone market. Vehicles could be purchased cheaply in this way. Battery charging, maintenance, replacement infrastructure and support would be provided for a monthly fee.

On average in Europe approximately 12,000 Euros are spent to buy a car and 30,000 Litres of fuel are needed over a year. This brings the cost to roughly 30,000 to 35,000 Euros per year. Research suggests that fuel is three times as expensive as the car itself. On the other hand, an electric car battery would merely cost 7,000 Euros. The electricity cost of charging the battery would amount to 2,000 during the operation life of the battery. In other words, it is only 30 percent of the cost of fuel consumed by typical cars.

In addition, the cost of electricity from renewable sources of energy and battery tend to fall year on year. This mean that the cost of electric cars will experience a diminishing cost in all it senses – the vehicle, electricity and batteries –

For an electric car to drive 100 kms, it will need roughly 10 to 20 kilowatt hour. This is tantamount to 2 Euros. A gasoline or diesel car would make this distance at the cost of 8 Euros. This makes electric vehicles extremely competitive. The only drawback is the high fixed cost of the battery. In order, to deal with these problems formulas used in the cellular phone sector, is currently a competitive option. The battery could be leased similarly to subscription to various phone networks or internet packages. The battery companies will then only change battery at the re-charging stations.

The introduction of electric cars needs a new environment. The solutions lie in either battery replacement stations or charging spots on parking areas (near to cars). Unfortunately, these things aren’t available yet. The transport electrification plans need to be introduced effectively to make sure that the market for electric cars strives.

Strong collaboration between manufacturers and governments are fundamental. Countries like Australia, Iceland, Portugal, Ireland, Denmark, Israel, and in the U.S. San Francisco and Hawaii are taking critical steps. Besides, pilot projects are steadily progressing on countries like UK, France, China, Italy and Germany.

Source: EV wind

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Aran Islands were thought to be the perfect site for such testing as there is much wind. Also the relentless waves drum up the energy.

The project is over a period of three years. It consists of given the eight householders living on the islands a vivid orange electric car.

The objective of the project is to ultimately produce sufficient energy to generate heat, electricity as well as transport for the various islands.

Varied households will be selected to participate in the project on a yearly basis with the aim to make use of absolutely no carbon fuel in the years to come.

In accordance to Inis Oirr Island Cooperative’s manager, Paddy Crowe, the project’s bottom line is to make all the islands become self-sustainable.

He furthermore adds that they have done all that is in their hands to become green as far as possible. They have even insulated the houses as well as make use of solar panels.

Paddy Crowe advances that the islands were the perfect testing site for the electric cars. This is so because the amount of fuel that will be saved is measurable on the islands as all the fuel to be used will need to be brought to the islands.

He declares that they are completely controlling the situation. All the fuel to be used will be brought in the islands by ferry. Measuring the fuel use in a town is far more difficult compared to on an island.

Mr Crowe stated that the families that will be given the cars would make use of them on a regular basis.

This pilot project has take shape due to the partnership between the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs and Sustainable Energy Ireland.

Out of the six Mega e-City cars will be sent to Inis Mor and one to Inis Oirr and Inis Meain.

The drivers of the vehicles will require paying a lease of 12 euro. The principal costs will consist of paying 400 euro. This will be for installing a charge point near every house.

The general operation cost per annum is anticipated to be approximately 90 euro.

Source: BBC

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For wind energy, generated in the North Sea or regional wind, solar, and bio-gas power plants to reach consumers, there is a long transmission line required. In this journey, lots of energy is lost. Nevertheless, new electronic components are providing a solution.

Electricity flows very similarly to cars and trucks that travel on the highway – it stops at substations and moves on parallel to how cars stop at traffic lights. In other words, the electric network is controlled alike to traffic lights. For energy to reach a city centre it has to pass through a numerous substations (points), so that low voltage can be supplied to household appliances. The highly advanced electricity network allows almost any kind of electrical devices to be wired on.

All this is only possible as long as there is a consistent source of energy supply. For renewable energy, the big challenge has always and still is reliability in supply.

The power and transport networks will continue to advance. In the near future, electro-mobility will be added as electricity vehicles are at the vertex of introduction. So the power grid will soon have to accommodate storage points where batteries can be charged.

Professor Lothar Frey, Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Systems and Device Technology IISB in Erlangen says that the use of renewable energy will grow in the future to contribute to the energy supply of most households.

The large Desertec Project is expected to generate a mass of solar thermal power in the Middle East and North African (MENA) region. This energy supply of the future will be catapulted to Europe via high-voltage cables that will be lined above and below sea-level. There is clearly a need for modern cabling system able to adapt to the future energy mix. The new components must be able to provide reliable power to consumers with only a minimum loss of energy.

At IISB, power electronics experts are already working on this. They are developing components with innovative technology that will deal with the conversion of electrical energy.

When energy is to be transmitted over 500 Kms on land or undersea-level then direct current will be sent through cables. This will minimize the loss of energy to only 7 percent in comparison to a fluctuation loss topping at 40 percent. However, a conversion station would be required to change the high voltage direct current to alternative current (DC to AC) so that consumers can connect household appliances.

Dipl.-Ing. Markus Billmann from the IISB, says that they are collaborating with Siemens Energy to invent these innovative high-power switches. These switches will be necessary to integrate direct voltage into the contemporary power grid and thus quintessential for projects like Desertec. These new switches have to be consistent, and appropriate to match the need of large projects in the future.

To realise this technology, low-cost semiconductor cells are used to switch high-voltage direct-current transmission (HVDCT), previously this material couldn’t be used to switch HVDCT. Moreover, converter stations need to be built at the end of each HVDCT system. These converters will be using interruptible devices having higher switching frequencies. This renders the system smaller and easier to monitor.

The most alarming obstacle is to avoid the semiconductor cells to be damaged. A converter station is constituted of nearly 5,000 modules with interlinked series. There is a high risk with this system, if ever several modules fail at once, they might affect nearby modules and create a chain reaction. This could damage the whole station. A solution has already been found to this problem. Billmann says that the cooperation with Siemens is helping to create new-tailored components and materials, which will minimise the loss of energy in a safe and sound manner.

Main Source: Fraunhoger and Physorg

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The objective of Germany is to have around one million electric vehicles on the road by the year 2020 that are powered by energy produced from renewable sources. Moreover, the German environment ministry anticipates that within ten years “green electricity” would make up 30 percent of the totality of the power that is consumed. From an arithmetic point of view, it would be possible to attain a CO2-neutral electromobility. Nevertheless, in fact, it is a hard objective to achieve. When more and more wind and solar energy is included in the power grid, the percentage of electricity that cannot be controlled by merely pressing a button is on the rise. Additionally, there is an increasing risk that the growing number of electric vehicles will initiate extreme surges in demand during the rush hour.

In accordance to Dominik Noeren, Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, what they require is a smart grid that is able to carry information as well as power. The grid’s structure needs to change from being a push system that is based on energy demand to become a pull system whose basis is production output. Noeren is of view that electric cars are the ones that are the best equipped to meet this challenge. When they are introduced in great numbers, they have the ability to store much energy. A car is usually parked for no less than 20 hours a day on average. So much time is more than enough to recharge them when the demand for energy is low or when the wind picks up.

The Fraunhofer researchers developed the “smart” charging station. The latter is a device that allows electric vehicles to recharge themselves when the system load is low and the percentage of energy from renewable sources is high. Like this load peaks can be prevented and we can completely exploit the contribution of wind and solar power. Noeren lays much emphasis that for them it is crucial that the end customers are entirely free to choose when they want to recharge their vehicles. They at no time want them to experience any sort of disadvantage from the controlled recharging of their cars’ batteries. That is particularly why Noeren is in favor of electricity rates that are able to adapt to the actual situation in the power grid – ones that are indeed more costly in times of peak demand and especially cheap when there is an excess of renewable energy.

The individual that would be making use of the “smart” charging station would then be able to decide between recharging instantaneously or choosing a less expensive, possibly longer, recharging time. In case the person opts for the second one, all that he will require to do, is enter the time when his car will need to be ready to drive again. Everything else would be taken care of by the charging station, namely, calculating the charges and controlling the recharging process. The cost incurred, the progress of recharging in addition to the quantity of energy used can be tracked via the display by the user.

A presentation of the charging devices will be made by the experts at the Hannover Messe.

Source: Science Daily

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1. Fewer sheep, cows and green fielded countryside

In the UK estimated 13 million hectares are used to graze livestock and to feed sheep, cows and other cattle. Based on calculations, reducing the amount of cows by 80 to 90 percent and that of sheep by 80 percent, would reduce the methane emission coming from livestock enormously. The land fields could be reengineered toward fast growing crops. These crops could be used to generate heat and power.

The landscaping changes would be countryside with fewer cow-dotted and sheep-dotted fields. The field would be replaced with woody crops. It would also mean healthier diets with less beef and lamb.

2. Insulation

The energy demand of Britain’s households represents 28 percent of total energy. It is also accountable for 30 percent of the total carbon dioxide emission. Roughly, half of the greenhouse emission is derived from heating.

Simply enhancing the insulation systems can decrease energy demand for British’s households by 70 percent. The better designed homes must have a thermal comfort establish with warmer surfaces. This would practically substitute the need for constant heating.

The most effective way to achieve this refurbishment policy would be to offer rebates for energy efficient enhancement, lower mortgage interest for energy efficient buildings, subsidies and/or VAT reduction on insulation materials. This would promote the building industry to reshape its policies.

3. Offshore Wind

Meeting energy needs through alternative sources of energy by year 2030 means leaving coal-fired and nuclear stations behind. Removing this 55 percent can be matched by establishing 20,000 offshore wind turbines.

The largest deployed offshore capacity in Europe is already present in Britain. Moreover, the North Sea Oil as well as gas reserves are depleting. Offshore wind capacity can substitute this dependency. For this to be possible the government will have to invest £300 billion in offshore wind power over two decades. This would ensure the expansion of wind installation. The sum might appear colossal, but it does merely represent 2 percents of UK’s GDP for 2008.

4. Decrease flight volume

The aviation sector is growing very fast in our world economy. The volume of air passengers is, however, expected to rise by more than 200 percent before year 2030.

It would be fundamental to stop local flight and reduce the international flights by more than 50 percent to achieve a zero carbon UK. The long-haul flights represent for 66 percent of the greenhouse emissions by UK’s aviation sector. These reductions are expected to be met by new technology such as video-conferencing to supersede business meetings. Holidays taken closer to home could also be promoted via price regulations.

5. Hydrogen Buses and Electric Cars

The introduction of electric cars would slash carbon dioxide emission by 50 percent, in comparison to contemporary petrol or diesel driven vehicles..

It would be possible to power the whole automobile industry (cars and taxis) with simply 16 percent of the total electricity demand in UK. The implementation of smart charging strategies at night when the general electricity demand is low would avoid a peak power requirement. During the day, batteries could be swapped to avoid the need to set up more power installation to expand capacity.

Moreover, to reduce the volume of cars circulating in our actual road networks can be achieved in two ways. Set at tax per mile driven, this will make public transport a more cost effective option. Better town planning could reduce travelling distances and therefore, walking and cycling would be potential alternatives for car driving.

6. More Trains

The expansion of train networks could encourage a decrease in domestic aviation by 2030. Moreover, trains that are electrified are less polluting than airplanes. If high-speed rail networks were established across Europe than short-haul flights could diminish as well. Trains could also become a cheaper medium of transport for consumers via carbon pricing.

7. Bio-fuels

Bio-fuel is derived from biomass (wood). It is a type of liquid form of fuel that has less greenhouse impact than conventional fuel. It would be appropriate to use bio-fuel in sectors where electrification cannot be achieved like for aviation.

8. Carbon Price and Taxes

It would be fundamental to impose measures to discourage emission of CO2. A carbon price of roughly £200 to £500 per tonne would accord to CAT reduce greenhouse gas emissions significantly. The impact that carbon price will have on carbon-intensive consumption materials would be radical. For instance, adopting such a pricing strategy, the cost of one kilogram of beef would increase by £7, whereas for a kilogram of chicken the price would only increase by an additional £1.75.

9. Reduce Food Imports

In Britain, approximately 30 to 40 percent of all food consumed is imported. This could be reduced to roughly 15 percent. The drawback of such a strategy is that the supermarket shelves would probably have to display an out-of-season message for some products.

10. Enhance Marketing Tactics

In order to implement all the mention steps it is necessary to urge a change in behaviour and a rise in acceptance to avoid international travelling and decreased meat consumption.

For the case of reducing meat consumption even CAT acknowledged that it is against people’s preferences. The consumption of livestock products has instead of decreased augmented in the recent years. Thus, lessening the consumption of meat is slightly against historical trends.

This manoeuvre to change behaviour must be promoted and performed by NGOs and the government according to CAT. This could encourage a serious path towards a zero-carbon economy in Britain by year 2030.

Source: The Ecologist