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In 2009 Renewable Energy Represented 62 Percent of The total Electricity Expansion in the European Union

Jimmy Eriksson — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 01:49:01 +0000

In 2009, approximately 19.9 percent (608 TWh) of Europe’s Total Electricity consumption (3042TWh) was generated from alternative energy sources. Hydropower is the biggest contributor accounting for 11.6 percent and subsequently, wind (4.2 percent), biomass (3.5 percent) and solar (0.4 percent).

The expansion of electricity capacity for 2009 was of a total of 27.5 GW. Renewable sources such as wind power, photovoltaic (PV), biomass, hydro and concentrated solar power accounted for 37.1 %, 21 % 2.1 %, and 1, 4 % and 0.4 % respectively. The remaining was constructed from gas fired power stations (24 percent), coal-fired power stations (8.7 percent), oil (2.1 percent), nuclear (1.6 percent) and waste incineration (1.6 percent)

However, some of the facilities expanded for energy output are not operating on full potentials. For example, the constructed gas-fired power stations will produce 28 TWh yearly on reaching full capacity. Other sources such as wind will produce 20 TWh and PV 5.6 TWh per annum.

The “report” suggests that if the actual growth rate is sustained then by year 2020 more than 1400 TWh of electricity will be produced from clean energy sources. With such a capacity, renewable energy would represent around 35 to 40 percent of Europe’s electricity consumption. This would definitely contribute to achieve the current goal of generating 20 percent of electricity from renewable sources of energy by 2020.

Indeed, to meet the 20 percent target some obstacles need to be addressed. Emphasis must be laid on improving access to grids, invest more in R&D and encourage the use of renewable electricity systems. According to the study, the cost of renewable technology will not be influenced by the time (in the future) but rather on production volume.

Overview of 2010 Snapshot

Several targets set are being met earlier than expected. For wind energy, the total installed capacity reached above 74 GW in 2009. It is already 80 percent more than the target for 2010, which is 40 GW. The current target established by the European Wind Association is to reach an installed capacity of 230 GW (40 GW offshore) by year 2020. This will be enough to provide roughly 20 percent of the energy consumption required in Europe.

The expansion in biomass is doubling the output from 108 TWh to 200 TWh in 2008 to 2010. Nevertheless, there are competing uses of biomass such as for transport fuels and heating. These competing alternative uses might hinder its use as bio-electricity. The positive aspect of bio-electricity is that it can be stored to be used when demand for electricity increases.

In Europe the use of Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) is only moderately developed. It generated 0.43 GW in May 2010. However, it is a growing source of electricity. For 2020, CSP can provide an estimated 30 GW of electricity, assuming that European Solar Industry Initiative ESII is implemented. Spain has most of the CSP projects currently in Europe.

Typical solar photovoltaic (PV) has since 2003 increased its total installed capacity by 100 percent per annum. It reached a total of 16 GW in 2009, which accounts for around 2 percent of the general capacity. In 2010, PV is expected to expand with a further 10 GW of installed capacity. Moreover, solar photovoltaic has surpassed the suggested amount of installed capacity prescribed by EU’s white papers on renewable energy sources.

There are other sources of renewable energy which are progressing gradually in research and development such as geothermal, wave and tidal power. They are thus not incorporated in the Renewable Energy Snapshots. Nonetheless, they will be included in the years to come.

There is one particular source of energy which is not expected to increase much. Hydropower does already represent the major part of renewable energy but it is not predicted to expand much, as most of its resources are already being exploited. Yet, hydropower, such as pumped hydro will be used as a storage capacity for alternative sources of energy.

PDF Report: Renewable Energy Snapshot 2009

Sources: Escience, Europe Commission Link 1 and link 2

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Utility Sized Solar Power Facilities Ramping Up Across The United States

Henry Andrew — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 08:10:24 +0000

The US Government’s Department Of The Interior is concentrating efforts to develop renewable power programs built on public land regulated by the Bureau of Land Management. One particular plan has them focusing on the use of enormous tracts of arid desert land to construct utility scale solar power plants. Just the sound of the name lends itself to its definition of huge power facilities or solar energy farms where the power is produced and provided to many people. For the most part, power utility companies have kept a low profile until now.

Two varieties of solar power exist today able to supply large requirements: Solar thermal and photovoltaic cell technologies.
Basically speaking, solar thermal energy is generated when the sun heats fluids that produce steam and the steam is then utilized to power a generator or turbine. Utility scale enterprises use mirrors or lenses that focus the sun’s rays in a concentrated manner like a kid with a magnifying glass.

With photovoltaic solar cell technology [PV], the sun radiates on to the solar panel or the solar film where it converts into an electrical current. This PV apparatus is a semi conductor cell. Photovoltaic is defined as converting or producing electric current or charge after exposure to a light source or radiated energy.

Smaller kinds of solar photovoltaic devices have been around for some time now such as calculators, flashlights, garden lights etc. Mid size utilization would be powering a home a couple rooms within a home or a garage. Large utilization of Photovoltaic usage would be enormous utility scale solar power arrays installed in large areas with unremitting sunlight directed at the facility.

The use of large scale solar power plants is still novel and in development stages. Technology is progressing rapidly as is the overall interest in solar as a source of renewable power. The government however, has been slow to adapt to utility scale solar power. It is still treading in new turf when commencing discussions regarding Utility scale solar power plants. California is beginning to move into utility solar to a larger degree. Pacific Gas and Electric [PG&E] is working on a development alongside Topaz Solar Farms which they hope will begin generating power by next year and move into peak production by 2013.

It has been forecast that the PG&E solar project will add a further 1.1 million megawatts to the California grid with more projects projected at a utility scale for California and Nevada. They are also looking at utilizing solar thermal power also. Further solar power plans are under evaluation for Florida, Arizona and surprisingly New Jersey. US Secretary of the Interior Kenneth Salazar has discussed fast tracking some developments for this year of 2010 that would mean fourteen projects slated for US government property. In January of this year, the number of applications was one hundred twenty eight sent to the Bureau of Land Management for building large utility solar facilities.

One of the potential road blocks for rapid development of utility scale solar plants is a dearth of transmission capabilities. Most big utility solar facilities need to be built in remote locations where land is available and sunshine is abundant, and the remote desert locations fill this requirement. Secretary Salazar has since made an announcement that approximately five thousand miles of transmission cabling onto land corridors on managed land has been allotted. They are also managing the right of way access applications for other available lands.

Solar energy is free and a widely available source of power. Certain spots in the US have the ideal conditions to sustain utility scale solar power. The solar power plants run clean and are renewable energy sources as opposed to fossil fuel operations, which are finite petro based systems and come at a cost to the environment. What is required is a durable and long standing plan for creating new and reliable supplies of power including utility scale solar power.

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Geothermal Energy Emerging In Australia

Jimmy Eriksson — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 21:21:07 +0000

In Australia, the first grid connected geothermal energy producer is expected to be operational in the late 2011. The project is entitled Panax Geothermal’s Penola. According to Bertus de Graaf, it is going to generate electricity at a lesser cost than conventional wind power. The expected capacity of the plant is 5.9 MW but plans to boost it further to 60 MW are already being considered.

The company does already have a geothermal power station at Birdsville but with a limited capacity of only 0.15 MW. The Penola project will be on a much larger scale and the cost to create the well will be around $15 millions. The federal Government’s geothermal drilling program is contributing a total of $7 million for the project.

Information about the region will be further investigated. Near to the township of Penola, it will be easy to integrate the electricity production to the electricity grid. Moreover, if the location appears to be an ideal one, the geothermal power station is expected to grow by as much as 10 times by 2014, according to Dr. de Graaf.

This project is fundamental according to Federal Resources Minister Martin Ferguson who approved the project. He said that in order to reach the target of having 20 percent of total energy supply from renewable energy sources by 2020, geothermal energy is essential. Now, only 8.2 percent of the energy in Australia is harnessed through renewable energy. Moreover, hydropower represents for most of it but expansion capacity is limited in the country.

There will be a need to focus on wind energy. However, to assure a sustainable supply of energy geothermal energy will play a fundamental role. The well at Salamander-q will be of a depth of around 3.5 km to 4 Km targeting a heat of around 150 to 200 degree Celsius.

The project will be fully owned by “Panax Geothermal”; however, latest reports suggest that they are searching to establish a venture with a partner.

Source: Gippsland

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Transmission Superhighway Runs Into A Roadblock

Henry Andrew — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 11:27:40 +0000

Everyone is excited about the prospect of using renewable energy. This energy source is not harmful to the environment; it is clean, readily available to anyone, and exists right in our own neighborhoods! Survey results show that the majority of Americans throughout the country are in favor of increasing the supply of renewable energy.

An abundant supply of renewable energy assets exist in every state, according to the Institute for Local Self Reliance – Energy Self Reliant States. Each state can potentially meet or exceed its goals for renewable energy, and sixty percent of the states could be totally reliant on renewable energy. By using photovolatics, or rooftop solar panels, each state could generate twenty percent of its power needs.

Wind turbines create not only a renewable energy source, but also significantly impact the local economy. Just one wind turbine will create a million dollars worth of economic activity. Other wind projects that are owned locally and operated create double the number of jobs and up to four times the economic activity of projects owned by out of state companies. The economic impact benefits the local community, which generates even more support from local residents for renewable energy.

However, building more high voltage transmission lines to transport this energy is a topic that is currently under debate. Currently, Congress is working on passing legislation that would override the authority for local regulatory commissions to approve transmission lines. The intent of this legislation is to speed up the construction of the transmission superhighway so power can be transported more easily to the coastal states. Solar power from the Southwest and wind power from the Great Plains could be transported on a superhighway costing between one and two hundred billion dollars to construct.

The issue at the heart of this debate is the cost of this project and the inconvenience of living near a tower standing one hundred and fifty feet tall. There are also environmental factors to consider, and property could be seized from owners to construct the transmission superhighway. The landscape would be marked with a wide, bare patch of land running the distance of the power lines.

To address this problem, the Massachusetts Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs, Ian Bowles, has suggested that renewable energy sources can be found throughout the country, and the need to build a costly superhighway to transport energy is unnecessary. Currently, excess energy exists in the states of Texas, the Great Plains, and Eastern Canada. Building a superhighway to transport energy from these areas to cities such as Boston, Chicago, and New York, with large populations and greater demands for energy, is not required. Renewable energy sources exist throughout the country, so alternatives should be considered that are more economically feasible.

The governors from ten East Coast States gathered together in May 2009 to protest the superhighway proposal. They wrote a letter of protest to congress, stating that such a project could jeopardize their own renewable energy projects, in particular the development of more wind turbine projects. Forcing their constituents to support a project that imports electricity from the upper Midwest and Southwest areas for their local use would be counterproductive. The local population would be more supportive for local projects that create reliable energy sources than such an expensive and long distance proposal.

Over eighty percent of their energy needs from local renewable energy sources in nine of the ten Eastern states that addressed Congress in the protest. The creation of energy self-reliance, and spin-off economic benefits would never be realized under this proposal. If energy is produced locally, then legal battles over the construction of tall transmission towers will also be avoided.

Another concern about energy transmission power lines was raised by Duke University’s Climate Change Policy Partnership. Their study found that the transmission power lines could also be used to transport coal power, in addition to renewable energy, from low cost energy regions such as the Great Plains, to high cost regions such as the East Coast. The transmission of coal power would be detrimental to the environment, as carbon emissions would not be eliminated.

These legitimate protests should be considered in the debate about the energy superhighway. Such a project is not only expensive and discourages the development of local energy resources, but also may encourage coal power producers. The winning states are the Southwest, while the losing East Coast states must depend on costly imports for their power needs.

If an interstate transmission highway is approved, then public support for renewable energy may decrease. Renewable energy is available throughout the country, and is not dependent on a specific area of the country to harness the power and transport it to other areas. Economic benefits and environmental impact must all be considered when deciding on future plans for renewable energy.

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Power Utilities Need Not Worry About Wind Power

Richard Nelson — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 11:15:18 +0000

Wind power is quite expensive to build and costs almost nothing to manage. That being the case, could it curtail profits of the commercial utilities that are now charging extra to power up your residence as they burn the decomposition of ancient organics? Experts say that investors need not worry too badly, since according to Lasan Johong of RBC Capital as we come to count on wind power prices could go up substantially.

Even though the power companies do not have a raging monopoly as they had at one time, because of chaotic distributions of power producers to the distributor, the basic programs remain pretty much unbothered. According to deep pocketed Warren Buffet, the power companies take care of their clients utilizing state regulators, and in return, clients allow then a fixed return on any investment.

So then, what occurs when you add complimentary electricity into the game? A renewed enthusiasm for renewable energy that comes disguised as government mandates and incentives makes utilities, investors and property owners raise a windmill where ever the wind is blowing. The guaranteed investment return that comes with new wind power facilities does not end up with the companies that manage the power grid; instead, it goes to the people and businesses with the land and the money.

This does not seem like a very good arrangement for the power companies at first look. Electricity prices are loaded with regulations and engineered to let the utilities earn back their costs and make a little profit as well. Overnight, with a small demand for electricity and laws that demand purchases from wind farms, the rates for electricity could theoretically fall to zip.

That situation will not last long says Johong. Power companies that buy electricity from the wind farms will be looking to resell the power at cost that would include a markup for outlay. Wind power is not very likely to meet the demand, particularly overnight, and utilities will be able to choose the wind farm they prefer to purchase from, finding a source for power that lets them pass their costs back to the consumer.

If wind power became a requirement included by utilities this might also raise the price of power making it that much more volatile. Compared to other types of power generation, wind turbines are expensive options. Johong estimates their costs to be about eight thousand dollars per kilowatt hour since there is an inclination for them to function at a quarter of what their pinnacle capability is. This is the expense of counting on an unpredictable option like wind. Look at wind compared to coal at [$3,500 a KWh], geothermal at [$1,000 a KWh] and then nuclear coming in at [$5,000 a KWh]

As the power companies begin to count on wind turbine power generation more than they do currently, conventional power plants will begin to close, [with their pollution this is the whole point of renewable alternatives], and begin to depend on backup power when the situation is critical and the wind is not cooperating. This kind of power plant backup can be costly to operate and Johong believes prices for peak usage may increase significantly, only adding more unpredictability to electricity rates.

The brightest indicator that wind power is not threatening to the utilities is Warren Buffett immodestly spelling out to shareholders at the beginning of this year that Berkshire Hathaway had heavily financed wind power ventures. The world famous investor his corporations major utility, MidAmerican, raised its wind power presentation from zero up to one fifth capacity by injecting $1.8 billion dollars into it in 2008, making MidAmerican the largest wind power producer of any American utility.

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Emerging Energy Projects Preparing For A Bright Tomorrow

Richard Nelson — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:20:12 +0000

The US Department of Energy has given funding to a number of nonprofit organizations, private companies, research institutes and academia totaling $377 million dollars to encourage promising energy technologies exploration they hope will eventually decrease the United States dependence on foreign oil.

Those who received the money are known as EFRCs or Energy Frontier Research Centers. They utilize scientists, engineers, and also students, to move forward on energy technologies across the nation. The objective is to recognize and manufacture renewable and clean energy systems.

The EFRCs will have their assignments partitioned like this. Twenty EFRCs will be paying attention to carbon neutral and renewable energy tasks. Fourteen EFRC’s will commit to basic studies, and six will give their attention to Energy efficiency. The six that are left will be tasked with development of energy storage. Of these forty six EFRCs, sixteen of them are financed by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the thirty remaining get their money via the Federal Budget. A total of $777 million dollars will be dedicated over five years to develop new start up energy technologies.

Government financed research are not the only ones landing the emerging energy technology advancements. There was a test completed recently of New Energy Technologies Inc.’s MotionPower device that produces electricity from light trucks and vehicles that are traveling and the model is pressing forward quickly. The company is excited about having the technology “out there” as quickly as possible.

The MotionPower apparatus works like this: Each time a vehicle moving at five miles per hour or less drives over a MotionPower unit, it presses a perfunctory actuator. The mechanical actuator collects 2000 watts from this act of motion. The power is then instantly captured and converted to electricity. The most recent evaluation of this technology happened at a Burger King drive-thru in Hillside, New Jersey on the Labor day weekend.

The MotionPower device is designed to be placed in areas where a vehicle has yet to give up its energy by acceleration. These kinds of places include rest stops, restaurant drive thru operations, toll booths and plazas, etc. The MotionPower unit changes the additional kinetic energy not utilized by forward acceleration or braking, capturing and transforming it into electrical power. The unit looks a bit like a speed bump only slightly more misshapen, however, advancements to the shape and size of the system is on their priority to do list.

Another business known as Ascent Solar of late has affiliated with Energy Technologies, Inc. to start work on manufacturing PV or photovoltaic goods for Military defense purposes. Combined, Ascent Solar and Energy Technologies will develop solar power generating systems for soft walled military sanctuaries engineered for fast deployment. The materials Ascent Solar utilizes have greater flexibility than solar panels using monocrystal equipment.

A single government or private corporation simply cannot develop on its own, the many emerging energy technologies. As a result, it is fortuitous that around the world, businesses and governments are recognizing the astuteness of investing in renewable and clean emerging energy projects on a planet that is quickly reaching the limits of fossil fuels while energy usage is increasing rapidly due to developing countries such as India and China pushing their economic borders.

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Forecasting Wind Power Growth Into The Future

Richard Nelson — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 08:32:00 +0000

The use of wind to generate energy is rapidly emerging as a strong renewable energy source. Nearly the same amount of wind energy production was added in the previous three years as was created in the preceding twenty years. The average per annum growth in wind power since 1980 has exceeded forty percent. European wind power numbers are declining somewhat but the United States and emerging markets like China and India are continuing strong investment into wind power.

A report titled The Future Of Wind Power – is a report that uses more than thirty five sources for wind power analysis of wind power technologies and how they are growing and developing, as well as their effect on the general power generation setting. The report looks at how technological development, government renewable energy targets and the addition of production capability are incurring a tremendous impact on the financial side and upside of wind power. It also examines how environmental and regulatory conditions move the wind sector forward or thwart its advancement.

The report uncovers many of the issues, which slow wind power advancement, and also those that drive it forward and these are some key conclusions summarizing the report.

• Wind power generation was responsible for thirty five percent of all new capacity add ons in the US and forty percent in the European Union in 2007. Wind power production in China increased by 127 percent in ’07 compared with ’06.
• Global wind resources differ greatly from between seventy two thousand Gigawatts [GW] to One million Gigawatts. Regardless of the correct number, the potential for current worldwide demand in electricity is far greater than that.
• Older turbines erected in the eighties need to be replaced and repowered with newer models since power generation is forty times better as of 2005. This will be a vital factor for power production growth.
• The price of incorporating wind power continues to be an issue. Dollar estimates average out at ten dollars per MWh, depending on how available hydropower is for storing energy and the amount of wind power diffusion.
• Wind power is extremely viable when compared to nuclear, supercritical coal and gas turbine power plants and that is without government tax incentives, according to head to head costing evaluations.
The Future Of Wind Power Report will facilitate your ability to do the following:
• Scale the aggressiveness of wind power production alongside more conventional technologies due to the report’s assessment of wind power production cost and breakdown of the tax incentives.
• To be able to forecast wind power development in Euro countries, the United States, as well as top emerging economies and understanding the part that wind power will have in achieving renewable energy targets based on this global wind power economies forecasting information.
• Determining the effectual impact of technological changes to wind power due to the evaluation of the changes in efficiency, reliability, and expenses as wind power technology continues to establish itself.
• Recognizing the top concerns, motivations and setbacks of wind power for subjects such as grid incorporation for high wind power quantities as the distribution of wind power continues to climb.
• Evaluate the environmental effects of wind power utilizing the analytical keys to environment issues such as analysis of lifecycle emissions.
Important subject matter studied and evaluated in The Future Of Wind Power report:
• Emerging Markets. Since Europe was initially at the forefront of wind power development, other countries like China and Asia of late are spiking their financial investments for renewable energy causing high growth for wind power generation and development.
• Integrating into the Grid. Higher levels of wind power creation that is being asked for by government energy targets means a considerable cash injection must be made for energy storage. Commercial providers are not yet prepared to initiate these changes.
• The cost of wind generation. Wind power production is now competitive with natural gas, nuclear and coal generated power using costing statistics from California. The problem is that capital costs are once again increasing for wind power.
• Replacement [repowering]. Trading up from the older wind turbines, replacing outdated versions with newer models, is more often today used as a method of adding wind production numbers while not creating the larger environmental footprint of finding new locations for new equipment.

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Does The Will Exist To Convert The World Entirely To Renewables By 2030?

Richard Nelson — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 02:42:18 +0000

In a recent issue of Scientific American, California based scientists claim that wind, water and solar energy are able to supply enough power for the entire world.

The professors from Stanford University ran the numbers and confirmed that if everyone used existing sources of energy and technology to convert everything to electricity and hydrogen from renewables, by 2030, the requirements for power around the globe could be decreased by thirty percent because of the predicted 16.9 terawatts to 11.5 terawatts. The forecasted decrease is based on the fact that fossil fuels and biomass burning is grossly inefficient; energy in the form of heat is lost by up to eighty percent. Energy produced via electricity loses a mere twenty percent in heat.

If there were no reductions in the level of energy required by the entire world population, they claim that there is still plenty of availability with renewable energy to satisfy the world requirements [according to their calculations, wind would produce 1700 TW and solar could provide 6500 TW]. When you exclude difficult to reach locations and government protected regions from their data totals, it shows a minimum of 40 TW from wind and 580 TW from solar power. The study indicates that currently we are producing .02 in wind and .008 of solar power.

Their determined hypothesis plans for 3.8 million big wind turbines, that when spaced properly could engage one percent of the earth’s surface. They would also propose to have eighty nine thousand three hundred MW photovoltaic and concentrated solar power plants. These solar arrays would take up .33 percent of the earth’s land plane. Their arrangement also calls for four hundred ninety thousand tidal turbines, five thousand three hundred and fifty geo thermal facilities, seven hundred twenty thousand wave conversion units as well as 1.7 billion rooftop photovoltaic units. In all, less than two percent of these various renewable energy operations are installed and operational.

They know for certain that their idea is achievable, what is not so certain is the collective will of those responsible for making it happen.

It will be a gargantuan job revamping the whole earth’s energy markets in twenty years time, it is classic understatement, and the report’s authors are pragmatic regarding the obstacles looming with such a plan. They agree there would need to be political willingness to take the leap forward by instigating feed in tariff or [FIT] programs, taxes placed on fossil fuel use, and essential investment in extended distance transmission mechanisms. All this and the supply of certain materials could result in delays or problems over the programs distance.

It simply boils down to political will since the technology exists. Current subsidies need to be adjusted to clean energy programs as a place to start. It does not make any sense to invest in pollution generating projects rather than in programs that are clean.

Just the thought of turning off the world’s coal and nuclear power generating facilities and building thousands of acres of wind farms and solar plants is contentious at best. Forget the political, social, and economical barriers, the issue of baseload power – what is accessible 24-7, rain or shine, that keeps things operating – that right now is being supplied from nuclear and fossil fuel burning operations. Those who favor nuclear power dispute that a lack of major storage structures for wind and solar power, alternative energy supplies will destine these green energy resources to a supplemental standing as far as energy usage is concerned.

The Stanford University profs make note of this problem in their study by claiming sporadic availability issues can be alleviated by intelligently balancing sources of power, like producing a base supply from the stable resources like tidal energy and/or geothermal. They could also count on wind in the nighttime when it is habitually more common and using solar in daylight hours. In addition, hydroelectric resources or other steady forms of power could be used since they could be turned on and off rapidly to balance supply or meet climactic requirements.

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Great Britain’s John Prescott Takes On Wind Power ‘Nimbys’

Richard Nelson — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 06:31:54 +0000

England’s former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, unloaded a furious assault on “property owners and nimbys” who he believes are stalling the setting up of wind farms all about Britain and in doing so, are hindering the battle for climate change. In pure warrior mode, Mr. Prescott blasted those against wind power who had effectively blocked proposals for wind turbines because they would blemish their ”chocolate box view”.

He intends to inform the British Wind Energy Association or [BWEA] during their yearly gathering that they must not allow the squires and gentry thwart them from achieving their ethical responsibilities to hand the world over to their children and grand children in a better situation than it is now.

Prescott has played a prominent position in binding together the Kyoto protocol, the present world climate pact back in 1997. He has now found a new role as the pseudo secretary for climate change for the Council of Europe, visiting schools speaking of the dangers presented by global warming.

His discussion at BWEA was to announce that Great Britain’s wind power capacity now stands at four Gigawatts, capable of powering 2.3 million residences in Scottish territory. One Gigawatt is approximately the output of a single coal fired power plant.

After nearly fourteen years, they achieved their first gigawatt of energy thanks to the wind and their installed facilities but the next GW only took twenty months and the third, eighteen months. Wind industry pundits forecast that by next year we should see the construction of the fifth and sixth GW in rapid sequence due to the UK’s desire to meet its objective of thirty GW’s of wind power by 2020.

The problem is that there are currently nine GW’s of wind power potential presently delayed in the planning phase, while approvals for these wind farm projects are only happening at twenty five percent of submissions.

According to Prescott, time and again determined and commendable wind turbine submissions are defeated by an outspoken and marginally based group of landowners and Nimbys. They recruit experts who impede, frustrate and in the end overwhelm the bids.

Prescott goes onto say that it is all well and good to debate that wind operations may blot the chocolate box view for a few homeowners but wonders if the same complainers fought back against cell phone towers that enable them to make the local calls to arrange their griping protests. He wondered if they complained the structures that transmit electricity into their towns and villages, powering their computers, allowing them to email and lobby the committees against wind farms submissions. Of course the answer is no. They relented since these conditions were a requirement.

The government has worked out tactics for Great Britain’s participation in a worldwide resolution to climate concerns. It has national and world policies in place but the local level development is what is required to deliver as promised. He thinks it is scandalous that seventy five percent of all application for wind power installations are being declined, the highest it has been to date.

Prescott makes the suggestion that what is required is for local leaders try and assign certain regions for wind farm projects. Governments should be encouraging the use of renewable energy targets at the grass roots of government. It may work similar to recycling rules when the planning council faces a penalty if it misses the targets.

Mr. Prescott is fanning the flames of a fight that reared up once again last spring when Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Multiband claimed that wind farm antagonists should become as socially unacceptable as not wearing your seatbelt or driving through a Zebra crossing. He was rowdily harangued by anti wind activists who stated that his verbiage was tantamount to fascism and an erosion of free will.

Unscathed by the comments, Prescott continued the discourse by claiming that the squires and gentry have been getting away with their brand of tactics for much too long and they should be told in no uncertain terms that it is not their back yard any longer but ours! The supercharged debate will continue world wide as wind turbine technology becomes more popular.

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Taiwan Proud Owner Of Largest Solar Powered Stadium

Richard Nelson — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 05:58:08 +0000

A newly completed stadium in Taiwan is a fine example of renewable technology and contemporary design with the environment in mind. It is the showpiece as the Taiwanese welcomes people from around the globe to the 2009 world games.

When you see it from the air, the “green” stadium has a dragon shaped appearance and in Taiwanese culture, this is a hope for good fortune. Take a closer look at this dragons scales and you will see eight thousand eight hundred and forty four solar panels! The solar panels account for all of the energy necessary to power the stadium. The roof has an area measurement of 14,155 square meters and the panels will produce approximately 1.14 Gigawatt hours of electrical power each year. This quantity of electricity is adequate enough to up to eight percent of the surrounding area neighbors when the stadium is quiet. The stadium itself features two huge TV screens and thirty three hundred stadium lights.

The stadium cost one hundred fifty million dollars to build and holds fifty five thousand viewers. Japanese architect Toyo Ito created the design; he is accountable for its unique and fashionable statement.

The Taiwanese solar stadium was constructed in the city of Kaohsiung. These solar powered stadiums are becoming popular as the country of Switzerland also has a stadium of parallel profile in Bern, which can seat thirty two thousand people, and it generates seven hundred thousand Kilowatt hours every year. Beijing National Indoor Stadium also boasts solar power integration within its design. With one thousand one hundred twenty four solar panels and seating for nineteen thousand spectators, it is a tidy little investment into the future. All the same, Taiwan still has the title of owning the largest solar powered stadium anywhere in the world today. It is thought by experts that the solar production in the facility will save on about 660 tons of CO² per annum.

There is more to the Taiwan stadium legacy. The design people have done much to avoid the impact the stadium may have on the environment. The building materials are all home grown, acquired within the country itself and all are one hundred percent recyclable or reusable. Surrounding the stadium are nineteen hectares of barren space, seven hectares kept for incorporating public green space, bicycle pathways, sports parks and even an ecological pond. Before the project even broke ground, the contractor began with environmental thoughts in mind by transplanting all the plants, which were on the site beforehand.

Obviously, it is a monumental task to build a stadium of this size. Quite a job of massive proportion and costing many millions dollars. There are also enormous numbers of workers required not to mention a large power supply necessary during construction. Keeping all this in mind, it is amazing that it only took them two years to finish the environmentally friendly project. To generate the power needed the roof panels capture the sun’s rays and powers the entire facility. When it was initially tested, all were nicely surprised when it only took six minutes to fully power the entire lighting system within the stadium.

The Taiwanese have done a marvelous job building this renewable energy showpiece and the world will have an opportunity to see it in person at the games. What a conversation piece it will make.

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