Energy News

Monday 16 April 2012

Are Denmark's renewable energy goals wishful thinking?

Are Denmark's renewable energy goals wishful thinking?: Can Denmark run entirely on renewables by 2050?

What is the future of nuclear power in the UK? | Rob Edwards

What is the future of nuclear power in the UK? | Rob Edwards:

News that RWE and E.ON have ditched plans for two nuclear plants in Britain is a setback but the industry is not doomed

What is the problem with Britain's nuclear power programme?

The German energy companies RWE and E.ON have abandoned plans to build two new nuclear power stations at Wylfa on the island of Anglesey in north Wales and at Oldbury on the Severn estuary. Depending on the interpretation, this is either a "total train wreck" or just a "disappointing" setback for the government's nuclear ambitions. The truth, of course, is somewhere in between. A combination of last year's Fukushima nuclear disaster, the German government's subsequent decision to phase out nuclear power and the general economic downturn has long made investments in new reactors look shaky. The sums of money are so large, the potential liabilities so daunting and the financial paybacks so uncertain, that investors have always been wary about nuclear power. Expect more setbacks.

So is nuclear power doomed?

Unlikely. The industry is politically very powerful and has successfully raised itself from the dead several times in the past. It has prevailed upon successive UK governments to take a series of "facilitative actions" to remove barriers to nuclear development. Last November, the pro-nuclear Department of Energy and Climate Change helped set up a high-powered programme management board with nuclear companies to try to prevent the nuclear project going off the rails. Britain's nuclear industry had "lost its international edge", the board said, yet it was now embarked on the UK's "most challenging infrastructure programme".

Why doesn't Britain have its own nuclear energy supplier?

It did, before it was denationalised by the Conservative prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, in the 1980s. That ultimately led to the creation of British Energy to run nuclear stations, which then had to be bailed out by taxpayers to the tune of more than £3bn. In 2008 British Energy was sold lock, stock and barrel to the French government's nuclear company EDF, which now runs Britain's nuclear generating stations. It is also leading the efforts to build new nuclear plants, starting at Hinkley Point in Somerset.

But isn't France losing faith in nuclear power?

There are certainly problems. Two reactors like the ones EDF wants for England are under construction in France and Finland and they are four years late and costing nearly twice as much as predicted. The former head of EDF, François Rousseley, has recently suggested that the reactor design should be dropped, and the French National Audit Office has agreed, saying it is complex and expensive. The replacement of president Nicolas Sarkozy at the elections later this month could also see a shake-up on nuclear policy.

Could there be power cuts without nuclear?

That is a threat the nuclear industry has made in the past, but it has never materialised. There are issues with future energy supplies that need to be resolved as power stations approach the ends of their lives, but there are several sources other than nuclear, including gas and renewables such as wind, though each has its drawbacks. The problem with nuclear is that it is cumbersome, capital-intensive and relatively inflexible. Not everyone agrees with the British government's insistence that nuclear has to be the way forward. The Scottish government, for example, believes it can avoid replacing its two nuclear stations by rapidly developing renewable energy instead. This week, Scottish ministers said they had already beaten their target to provide more than 30% of Scotland's electricity from renewable sources.
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Rob Edwards

A guide to carbon capture technologies – interactive

A guide to carbon capture technologies – interactive:
Carbon capture and storage encompasses a range of technologies that may cut CO2 emissions by up to 90%

Paddy Allen

Sunday 4 March 2012

Amid U.S.-China Energy Tension, "Clean Coal" Spurs Teamwork

Amid U.S.-China Energy Tension, "Clean Coal" Spurs Teamwork:

China's next president visits the White House amid tension on energy. But U.S.-China collaboration is emerging on projects to clean up coal.

Philippines reignites row with China over oil exploration rights

A GOOD EXAMPLE OF GEOPOLITICAL CONFLICT OVER OIL RESOURCES. AWJ

Philippines reignites row with China over oil exploration rights:

Energy secretary José Almendras has invited foreign companies to explore offshore area, despite Chinese claims to the territory

The Philippines has asserted a right to invite foreign companies to explore for oil and gas in waters located between its western coast and the South China Sea, dismissing China's claim to the area.

The verbal tussle erupted after the Philippines' energy secretary, José Almendras, said in Manila this week that the Philippine government has invited major foreign oil companies to invest in fuel exploration in two offshore areas north-west of Palawan province that fall within the country's 200-mile exclusive economic zone.

The Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, Hong Lei, said in Beijing that the offshore areas belonged to China. "It is illegal for any country, government or company, without the Chinese government's permission, to develop oil and natural gas in waters under Chinese jurisdiction," Hong said, when asked to comment on the Philippine plan.

Rejecting China's position, the Philippines' foreign secretary, Albert del Rosario, said the offshore areas being opened to foreign investors "are well within our sovereignty" based on the UN convention on the law of the sea.

Philippine officials separately accused China in 2011 of repeatedly intruding into its territorial waters, and at least once trying to disrupt a Philippine oil exploration in another offshore area called the Reed Bank, also off Palawan.

Palawan province, about 510 miles (820km) south-west of Manila, faces the South China Sea. The sea, which surrounds potentially oil and gas-rich islands and reefs, is claimed entirely by China but the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam have made competing claims.

The Philippines has invited companies to explore for oil and gas in 15 areas nationwide, including in the offshore areas lying 49 miles (79km) and 76 miles (123km) from Palawan.

Almendras said the Philippine government would start awarding exploration contracts to investors next month. He did not say whether the first batch of permits would cover the two areas also being claimed by China.

New device heralds potential to turn sewage plants into power stations

New device heralds potential to turn sewage plants into power stations:

Breakthrough that combines fuel cell with other technologies could provide power for entire water grids, scientists say

Sewage can be used to generate electricity using a new device revealed by scientists on Thursday. It combines a fuel cell with other technologies to convert waste water treatment stations into power plants, which the researchers believe could provide the power for entire water grids.

"We certainly could take care of the whole water system: the treating and pumping of water, which currently requires substantial amounts of power," said Prof Bruce Logan at Pennsylvania State University in the US. "We also treated the organic matter much faster."

His team's work is published in the journal Science and is "the proof of concept", Logan said. "Our hope now is to optimise the electricity generation as much as possible."

Switching sewage plants from users to generators of electricity would be especially useful in developing countries, said Logan, an environmental engineer specialising in water systems. "There are 2 billion people in the world who need sanitation, including 1 billion who need access to clean water," he said. "If you go into a country and give them a waste treatment system - the World Bank and others have done this - they do not keep it going, as it needs power and maintenance. It is a drain on the community. But if you can also provide electricity for lighting, or charging mobile phones, that's a game-changer."

The new device combines two types of energy-producing technology: a microbial fuel cell, in which bacteria consume organic matter to produce a current, and a reverse electrodialysis system, in which positive and negative ions are separated by a series of membranes, also creating a current. Microbial fuel cells are relatively inefficient while reverse electrodialysis requires many specialised membranes, making it expensive.

"By combining the two technologies, we overcame the limitations of the fuel cell and synergistically generated energy for the reverse electrodialysis system," said Logan. A crucial factor was using ammonium bicarbonate as the fuel for reverse electrodialysis, which performs better than the seawater typically used. Lastly, said Logan, the combination of technologies meant it was possible to use just five membrane pairs rather than the 20 pairs typically needed to generate electricity.

The device produced 0.9 kilowatt-hours of electricity per kilogram of organic waste. In contrast, sewage treatment usually consumes 1.2kWh per kilogram.

"There were a lot of people looking at fuel cells and a completely different group looking at reverse electrodialysis," said Logan. "We brought the technologies together."

The scientists said broths of other organic material, such as crop waste or other sources of cellulose, could be used to generate power in their device. They also said it could be used to produce electricity from the 7-17% of energy used in the US that is lost as waste heat.

In 2011, British water company Thames Water said it would produce 16% of its electricity by burning sewage flakes. Another company, Wessex Water, has launched a trial running a car on methane gas derived from the sewage treatment process at its Bristol works.

Damian Carrington

Thursday 9 February 2012

Billions of tons of water lost from world's glaciers, satellite reveals

Billions of tons of water lost from world's glaciers, satellite reveals:

The total volume of water that has melted from all of the world's polar ice sheets, ice caps and mountain glaciers over the past decade would repeatedly fill Britain's largest lake, Windemere, more than 13,000 times, according to one of the most comprehensive studies of the Earth's frozen "cryosphere".