The Government is still producing 2.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year and is not doing enough to meet its own targets on emissions, MPs will warn today.
The House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) said the Government had cut emissions from its offices – by far the biggest source – by 6.3 per cent on 1999 levels – just half of its target of a 12.5 per cent cut by 2010-11.
The report welcomed improvements in some areas, such as government road vehicles, where emissions have been cut by 10.3 per cent. However, road travel accounts for a relatively small percentage of overall emissions.
The report also claimed that under the new Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) scheme, which begins in April 2010, the Government could have to pay money to private sector firms if it does not improve its performance.
The scheme will require about 5,000 organisations to buy "allowances" costing £12 a tonne for all the CO2 they emit each year, and be judged on how much they are doing to cut their emissions.
The money for purchasing allowances will go into a central pot and those cutting their emissions the most will get their original payment back plus a bonus, while those doing worst will be penalised by getting less back than they paid in.
"The consistent thread is that the Government has talked a good game but when it comes to the actual achievements, the picture is rather more mixed," said the EAC chairman Tim Yeo. "In too many areas, like emissions of carbon dioxide from offices, it [the Government] has made little or no progress and in others it is backsliding.
"What is clear is that, given there has only been a six per cent reduction over nine years, the chances of getting an 80 per cent reduction by 2050 would require a dramatic improvement.
"Our impression is that there is a very patchy approach across government. I have not seen any evidence that we have a change in the Government's thinking yet. We need a strong commitment at the top to drive through a process of change."
Source - The Independent
Showing posts with label emissions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label emissions. Show all posts
Thursday, 6 August 2009
Saturday, 4 July 2009
World's Largest Solar Power Station Officially Inaugurated
On 1 July 2009 the solar-thermal power station Andasol 1, located in the Spanish province of Granada in Andalusia, was officially inaugurated. At the present time, Andasol 1 is the largest solar power station in the world. Researchers at the German Aerospace Centre were heavily involved in the development of key technologies and identified the most suitable location with the help of various tools, including satellite data.
They did this on behalf of Solar Millennium AG, the project development company. In addition, their measuring methods contributed towards the precision design of the parabolic trough collectors.
Climate-compatible power for 200 000 people
Andasol 1 delivers climate-compatible power for 200 000 people. This makes it possible to cut annual emissions of carbon dioxide by 150 000 tons.
There are more than 600 parabolic trough collectors distributed over a total surface area of about two square kilometres, each of which measures 150 metres in length and 5.7 metres in width. These mirrors have a total surface area in excess of 500 000 square metres.
There is also a heat accumulator located in the centre of this gigantic solar field. Here, two giant tanks, measuring 14 metres in height and 36 metres in diameter, are used to store surplus energy during the midday period using liquid salt.
This salt is heated by solar power to temperatures of up to 390 degrees Celsius and this stored heat enables the power station to operate at full power (50 megawatts) for up 7.5 hours after the Sun has set - a key requirement for the future use of solar power stations.
As well as Andasol 1, the first commercially operated power station of its kind, plans are well underway for a further two solar power station at the same location. In the course of this year, Andasol 2 is scheduled to come on stream, also rated for a capacity of 50 megawatts. Andasol 3, also with a 50 MW rating, is expected to follow in the course of 2011.
DLR researchers tasked with finding the ideal location
On behalf of Solar Millennium AG, the project development company, employees in the Solar Research department of the DLR Institute for Technical Thermodynamics (Institut fur Technische Thermodynamik; ITT) at the Plataforma Solar de Almería research station located about 50 kilometres from the Andasol site were tasked with identifying a suitable location for the new solar power station.
One key decision-making indicator took the form of the statistical mean values calculated from many years of sunlight readings taken by the DLR from meteorological measurements at ground stations, and sequential satellite data.
Precision boosts energy yield levels
When setting up this system, it is also possible to use high-speed optical measuring processes developed by the DLR for precision production control of the parabolic collectors. Precise and well-aligned parabolic mirrors are able to boost the energy yield by up to 10%, and this makes a key contribution to the cost-effectiveness of a plant of this kind.
Development of the actual collector technology was aided by the DLR taking a leading role in several projects sponsored by the German Environment Ministry. This meant that the industrial partners were supported during the design and testing of collector prototypes and absorber tubes by DLR employees working at the Spanish test centre of Plataforma Solar de Almería, located in Almeria.
The total cost of this power station is somewhere in the region of euros 300 million. A key form of early assistance for the Andasol 1 power station was also forthcoming from the European Union, which contributed euros 5 million of funding aid for the preparation and accompanying scientific research. Power from concentrated solar energy
Andasol 1 is a solar-thermal power station and what is known as a parabolic trough power station. In this configuration, the concentrating mirrors take the form of a very long trough with parabolic cross section. The individual elements of this trough, the collectors, are rotated to track the Sun as it moves from east to west.
Sunlight falling on the collector is reflected onto a focal line, where the light energy is concentrated by a factor of up to 80. Absorber tubes run down this focal line.
These steel tubes, surrounded by an evacuated, insulating glass tube, have a special surface coating which is highly effective at absorbing solar radiation and converting it into heat. In this process, temperatures substantially in excess of 400 degrees Celsius are developed on their surface. An oil known as 'thermo-oil' flows through the centre of each steel absorber tube.
This oil is heated to almost 400 degrees, and the collected heat is then directed to a thermal transfer unit in which steam is generated at high temperature and pressure. As in conventional power stations, this steam is then used to drive a turbine that - linked to a generator - then generates electrical power.
Source - Solar daily
They did this on behalf of Solar Millennium AG, the project development company. In addition, their measuring methods contributed towards the precision design of the parabolic trough collectors.
Climate-compatible power for 200 000 people
Andasol 1 delivers climate-compatible power for 200 000 people. This makes it possible to cut annual emissions of carbon dioxide by 150 000 tons.
There are more than 600 parabolic trough collectors distributed over a total surface area of about two square kilometres, each of which measures 150 metres in length and 5.7 metres in width. These mirrors have a total surface area in excess of 500 000 square metres.
There is also a heat accumulator located in the centre of this gigantic solar field. Here, two giant tanks, measuring 14 metres in height and 36 metres in diameter, are used to store surplus energy during the midday period using liquid salt.
This salt is heated by solar power to temperatures of up to 390 degrees Celsius and this stored heat enables the power station to operate at full power (50 megawatts) for up 7.5 hours after the Sun has set - a key requirement for the future use of solar power stations.
As well as Andasol 1, the first commercially operated power station of its kind, plans are well underway for a further two solar power station at the same location. In the course of this year, Andasol 2 is scheduled to come on stream, also rated for a capacity of 50 megawatts. Andasol 3, also with a 50 MW rating, is expected to follow in the course of 2011.
DLR researchers tasked with finding the ideal location
On behalf of Solar Millennium AG, the project development company, employees in the Solar Research department of the DLR Institute for Technical Thermodynamics (Institut fur Technische Thermodynamik; ITT) at the Plataforma Solar de Almería research station located about 50 kilometres from the Andasol site were tasked with identifying a suitable location for the new solar power station.
One key decision-making indicator took the form of the statistical mean values calculated from many years of sunlight readings taken by the DLR from meteorological measurements at ground stations, and sequential satellite data.
Precision boosts energy yield levels
When setting up this system, it is also possible to use high-speed optical measuring processes developed by the DLR for precision production control of the parabolic collectors. Precise and well-aligned parabolic mirrors are able to boost the energy yield by up to 10%, and this makes a key contribution to the cost-effectiveness of a plant of this kind.
Development of the actual collector technology was aided by the DLR taking a leading role in several projects sponsored by the German Environment Ministry. This meant that the industrial partners were supported during the design and testing of collector prototypes and absorber tubes by DLR employees working at the Spanish test centre of Plataforma Solar de Almería, located in Almeria.
The total cost of this power station is somewhere in the region of euros 300 million. A key form of early assistance for the Andasol 1 power station was also forthcoming from the European Union, which contributed euros 5 million of funding aid for the preparation and accompanying scientific research. Power from concentrated solar energy
Andasol 1 is a solar-thermal power station and what is known as a parabolic trough power station. In this configuration, the concentrating mirrors take the form of a very long trough with parabolic cross section. The individual elements of this trough, the collectors, are rotated to track the Sun as it moves from east to west.
Sunlight falling on the collector is reflected onto a focal line, where the light energy is concentrated by a factor of up to 80. Absorber tubes run down this focal line.
These steel tubes, surrounded by an evacuated, insulating glass tube, have a special surface coating which is highly effective at absorbing solar radiation and converting it into heat. In this process, temperatures substantially in excess of 400 degrees Celsius are developed on their surface. An oil known as 'thermo-oil' flows through the centre of each steel absorber tube.
This oil is heated to almost 400 degrees, and the collected heat is then directed to a thermal transfer unit in which steam is generated at high temperature and pressure. As in conventional power stations, this steam is then used to drive a turbine that - linked to a generator - then generates electrical power.
Source - Solar daily
Thursday, 7 May 2009
Barack Obama's $1.8bn vision of greener biofuel
The Obama administration took on the powerful farming interests in America's heartland today, making clear it does not see corn-based ethanol as part of the long-term solution to climate change.
The new proposals on the biofuel – in the face of intense pressure from agricultural companies and members of Congress from corn-growing states – were seen as the first test of Barack Obama's promise to put science above politics in deciding America's energy future.
Ethanol had once appeared to provide a transport fuel which did not increase carbon dioxide. But studies have suggested that the fuel needed to process the corn meant the ethanol could be more polluting than the fossil fuel it was meant to replace. Furthermore, the use of food crops for biofuel was blamed for a substantial part of the large price rises seen in 2008.
Administration officials set out a $1.8bn (£1.19bn) plan to develop a new generation of more environmentally-friendly biofuels that are not made from food crops and have a lower carbon footprint, while also providing an immediate bail-out of existing corn ethanol producers, which are suffering in the global economic crisis: falling petrol prices have undercut demand for ethanol at the pump.
Lisa Jackson, head of the Environmental Protection Agency, made clear she does not see corn-based ethanol as a permanent part of America's clean energy mix. "Corn-based ethanol is a bridge... to the next generation of fuels ," she said.
The EPA proposed a new standard for advanced biofuels, ensuring they are at least 50% cleaner than petrol. Jackson said existing bio-ethanol resulted in a 16% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
The agency said it would also take into account the environmental impact of turning land over to biofuel crops, a key demand of the industry's critics.
Environmentalists saw the move as an early indication that the Obama administration would stand its ground against powerful industrial interests.
"For an administration that has already staked so much on restoring science to the process of governing, this was a really critical test," said Nathanael Greene, a renewable energy expert at the National Resources Defence Council. "This was the first big industry where we are starting to see some of the potential changes required by climate policy and the administration is ready to stick to the science and not get rolled by industry."
The country's fuel producers gave a cautious welcome to the announcement, but added that they would continue to challenge the EPA's criteria for measuring the environmental cost of fuel crops.
The impact on the ethanol industry of the agency's proposal, which now undergoes public review, was softened by Obama's decision to put the agriculture secretary, Tom Vilsack, who is from the corn growing state of Iowa, in charge of a new task force that will oversee biofuel development. The officials also said there would be considerable sums available to farmers to make the transition from using corn to make biofuels to using pulp and agricultural waste.
The programme envisages $1.1bn to help ethanol producers market the fuel, and to convert their processing plants from fossil fuels to renewable energy. "There is over $1.1 billion of opportunity here," Vilsack said.
Energy secretary Steven Chu said there would be an additional $786m towards the development of new biofuel refineries and the design of flex-fuel cars.
The administration's move on ethanol comes nearly two years after Congress ordered fuel refineries to increase their use of ethanol, and by 2022 to step up the share of advanced biofuels in the country's fuel mix.
The law ordered all ethanol produced after 2007 to meet a standard 20% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, and for advanced biofuels to meet a 50% reduction target.
Existing ethanol producers will be exempt from those targets, but new plant will be required to make the grade. That represents a big challenge for the production technology.
Source - The Guardian
The new proposals on the biofuel – in the face of intense pressure from agricultural companies and members of Congress from corn-growing states – were seen as the first test of Barack Obama's promise to put science above politics in deciding America's energy future.
Ethanol had once appeared to provide a transport fuel which did not increase carbon dioxide. But studies have suggested that the fuel needed to process the corn meant the ethanol could be more polluting than the fossil fuel it was meant to replace. Furthermore, the use of food crops for biofuel was blamed for a substantial part of the large price rises seen in 2008.
Administration officials set out a $1.8bn (£1.19bn) plan to develop a new generation of more environmentally-friendly biofuels that are not made from food crops and have a lower carbon footprint, while also providing an immediate bail-out of existing corn ethanol producers, which are suffering in the global economic crisis: falling petrol prices have undercut demand for ethanol at the pump.
Lisa Jackson, head of the Environmental Protection Agency, made clear she does not see corn-based ethanol as a permanent part of America's clean energy mix. "Corn-based ethanol is a bridge... to the next generation of fuels ," she said.
The EPA proposed a new standard for advanced biofuels, ensuring they are at least 50% cleaner than petrol. Jackson said existing bio-ethanol resulted in a 16% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
The agency said it would also take into account the environmental impact of turning land over to biofuel crops, a key demand of the industry's critics.
Environmentalists saw the move as an early indication that the Obama administration would stand its ground against powerful industrial interests.
"For an administration that has already staked so much on restoring science to the process of governing, this was a really critical test," said Nathanael Greene, a renewable energy expert at the National Resources Defence Council. "This was the first big industry where we are starting to see some of the potential changes required by climate policy and the administration is ready to stick to the science and not get rolled by industry."
The country's fuel producers gave a cautious welcome to the announcement, but added that they would continue to challenge the EPA's criteria for measuring the environmental cost of fuel crops.
The impact on the ethanol industry of the agency's proposal, which now undergoes public review, was softened by Obama's decision to put the agriculture secretary, Tom Vilsack, who is from the corn growing state of Iowa, in charge of a new task force that will oversee biofuel development. The officials also said there would be considerable sums available to farmers to make the transition from using corn to make biofuels to using pulp and agricultural waste.
The programme envisages $1.1bn to help ethanol producers market the fuel, and to convert their processing plants from fossil fuels to renewable energy. "There is over $1.1 billion of opportunity here," Vilsack said.
Energy secretary Steven Chu said there would be an additional $786m towards the development of new biofuel refineries and the design of flex-fuel cars.
The administration's move on ethanol comes nearly two years after Congress ordered fuel refineries to increase their use of ethanol, and by 2022 to step up the share of advanced biofuels in the country's fuel mix.
The law ordered all ethanol produced after 2007 to meet a standard 20% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, and for advanced biofuels to meet a 50% reduction target.
Existing ethanol producers will be exempt from those targets, but new plant will be required to make the grade. That represents a big challenge for the production technology.
Source - The Guardian
Tuesday, 7 April 2009
Empire State Building gets a green makeover to cut CO2 emissions
The Empire State Building, the symbol of New York's pre-eminence that held the title of the world's tallest skyscraper for 41 years, is seeking to pierce through the pall of economic gloom that has descended on Manhattan by turning itself green.
The owners of the building announced yesterday they were investing an additional $20m to reduce its carbon footprint and energy consumption. The retrofit is being added to a renovation of the art deco structure that starts this summer already costing half a billion dollars.
It takes a certain pluck to announce such a substantial investment in the middle of a recession. But then the Empire State Building was born in hard times.
Work on the site in midtown Manhattan began in January 1930, months after the Wall Street crash. It went up as the New York and US economies went down.
Now the current owners of the 102-storey office block, Wien & Malkin, hope to buck the economic trend again by improving the building and charging higher rents. Part of the hard sell to potential new clients will be its "greenness" once the work is completed in 2013.
The plan aims to cut the use of energy by almost 40%, which would in turn reduce the emissions of CO2 from the building by some 105,000 metric tonnes a year. That is no easy feat, bearing in mind that the Empire State has some 6,500 windows, 73 elevators and a total floorspace of 2.6 million square feet.
All the windows will have an extra layer of insulation added by secreting a coated film between two glass panes - done in situ to avoid pollution caused by transporting the glass from an outside destination. Insulation will be added behind radiators, and the cooling system in the basement will be replaced with new more efficient machines.
Individual workers in the office spaces will be encouraged to take responsibility for their own emissions by being given access through their computers to monitors which will tell them how much energy is being expended in their part of the building.
None of the changes though will be visible to the outside world. The owners have decided that the famous coloured lights - the top of the Empire State turns green, for instance, on St Patrick's day and was a patriotic red, white and blue for several months after 9/11 - will remain intact, arguing they are responsible for relatively little energy consumption.
Source - The Guardian
The owners of the building announced yesterday they were investing an additional $20m to reduce its carbon footprint and energy consumption. The retrofit is being added to a renovation of the art deco structure that starts this summer already costing half a billion dollars.
It takes a certain pluck to announce such a substantial investment in the middle of a recession. But then the Empire State Building was born in hard times.
Work on the site in midtown Manhattan began in January 1930, months after the Wall Street crash. It went up as the New York and US economies went down.
Now the current owners of the 102-storey office block, Wien & Malkin, hope to buck the economic trend again by improving the building and charging higher rents. Part of the hard sell to potential new clients will be its "greenness" once the work is completed in 2013.
The plan aims to cut the use of energy by almost 40%, which would in turn reduce the emissions of CO2 from the building by some 105,000 metric tonnes a year. That is no easy feat, bearing in mind that the Empire State has some 6,500 windows, 73 elevators and a total floorspace of 2.6 million square feet.
All the windows will have an extra layer of insulation added by secreting a coated film between two glass panes - done in situ to avoid pollution caused by transporting the glass from an outside destination. Insulation will be added behind radiators, and the cooling system in the basement will be replaced with new more efficient machines.
Individual workers in the office spaces will be encouraged to take responsibility for their own emissions by being given access through their computers to monitors which will tell them how much energy is being expended in their part of the building.
None of the changes though will be visible to the outside world. The owners have decided that the famous coloured lights - the top of the Empire State turns green, for instance, on St Patrick's day and was a patriotic red, white and blue for several months after 9/11 - will remain intact, arguing they are responsible for relatively little energy consumption.
Source - The Guardian
Tuesday, 17 March 2009
UK government carbon targets 'too weak' to prevent dangerous climate change, scientists say
Official advice being used to set Britain's first carbon budget is "naïvely optimistic" and will not stop dangerous climate change, experts from the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research say
Proposed government carbon targets are too weak to prevent dangerous levels of global warming, according to a new analysis by leading scientists. Ministers are poised to introduce strict limits on UK carbon pollution when they announce Britain's first carbon budget next month. But experts from the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research warn today that official advice used to set the budget is "naïvely optimistic" and will not stop dangerous climate change.
It comes after scientists at a global warming conference in Copenhagen last week warned that emissions are rising faster than expected, and that climate change could strike harder and faster than predicted.
The Tyndall Centre report analyses the conclusions of the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), which said in December that ministers should aim to cut UK carbon emissions 34% by 2020, as part of worldwide efforts to limit temperature rise to 2C.
The Tyndall scientists say the committee's report is "inevitably and significantly compromised" because it focuses on limiting temperature rise to 2C above pre-industrial levels, which the EU defines as dangerous. The committee was forced to use "highly optimistic and sometimes unclear assumptions" to hit the 2C target, they say.
Chief among these, they say, was that global emissions of greenhouse gases would peak in 2016, despite little evidence that such a U-turn in soaring emisions within seven years is "in any way viable". A peak of emissions in 2020, which the Tyndall Centre says is more realistic, would leave governments facing an impossible challenge to hit the 2C target, it adds.
"The CCC's first report is therefore inevitably and significantly compromised by its implicit need to deliver demanding but nonetheless politically palatable conclusions in line with the 2C threshold," the scientists say. "Peaking in 2020 would recast the agenda as much more radical and urgent, and well beyond the ability, even if applied stringently, of orthodox policies to deliver the necessary mitigation and adaptation."
The government should aim to cut emissions 42% by 2020 - the most stringent scenario in the CCC report - the Tyndall Centre says, and must make the cuts at home rather than buying offsets abroad. These proposals are backed by more than 90 Labour MPs – including four ministerial aides – in a parliamentary petition.
Kevin Anderson of the Tyndall Centre said: "At a time when the message from Copenhagen is for urgent action and leadership, paying poorer communities elsewhere to make the reductions for the UK risks undermining seriously the government's hard-earned reputation as leading the international climate change agenda."
The findings of the report, commissioned by Friends of the Earth, will be presented at a special meeting of the Environmental Audit Committee today.
Andy Atkins, Friends of the Earth's executive director, said: "This advice from one of the world's leading climate research centres cannot be ignored. If we are to play our part in avoiding dangerous climate change, the government must commit the UK to cutting its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 42 per cent by 2020 without buying pollution 'offsets' from abroad. The UK has one of the best renewable energy potentials in Europe. Investing in green power and cutting energy waste can create tens of thousands of jobs and help lead this country out of recession."
The CCC said: "The choice of peaking year was more determined by what we thought might be possible if a global deal was achieved in 2009. The CCC analysis drew upon, and cited, a number of studies which suggested that global emissions could peak around 2016 if the world dedicated sufficient intellectual and material resources towards solving the problem."
Source - The Guardian
Proposed government carbon targets are too weak to prevent dangerous levels of global warming, according to a new analysis by leading scientists. Ministers are poised to introduce strict limits on UK carbon pollution when they announce Britain's first carbon budget next month. But experts from the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research warn today that official advice used to set the budget is "naïvely optimistic" and will not stop dangerous climate change.
It comes after scientists at a global warming conference in Copenhagen last week warned that emissions are rising faster than expected, and that climate change could strike harder and faster than predicted.
The Tyndall Centre report analyses the conclusions of the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), which said in December that ministers should aim to cut UK carbon emissions 34% by 2020, as part of worldwide efforts to limit temperature rise to 2C.
The Tyndall scientists say the committee's report is "inevitably and significantly compromised" because it focuses on limiting temperature rise to 2C above pre-industrial levels, which the EU defines as dangerous. The committee was forced to use "highly optimistic and sometimes unclear assumptions" to hit the 2C target, they say.
Chief among these, they say, was that global emissions of greenhouse gases would peak in 2016, despite little evidence that such a U-turn in soaring emisions within seven years is "in any way viable". A peak of emissions in 2020, which the Tyndall Centre says is more realistic, would leave governments facing an impossible challenge to hit the 2C target, it adds.
"The CCC's first report is therefore inevitably and significantly compromised by its implicit need to deliver demanding but nonetheless politically palatable conclusions in line with the 2C threshold," the scientists say. "Peaking in 2020 would recast the agenda as much more radical and urgent, and well beyond the ability, even if applied stringently, of orthodox policies to deliver the necessary mitigation and adaptation."
The government should aim to cut emissions 42% by 2020 - the most stringent scenario in the CCC report - the Tyndall Centre says, and must make the cuts at home rather than buying offsets abroad. These proposals are backed by more than 90 Labour MPs – including four ministerial aides – in a parliamentary petition.
Kevin Anderson of the Tyndall Centre said: "At a time when the message from Copenhagen is for urgent action and leadership, paying poorer communities elsewhere to make the reductions for the UK risks undermining seriously the government's hard-earned reputation as leading the international climate change agenda."
The findings of the report, commissioned by Friends of the Earth, will be presented at a special meeting of the Environmental Audit Committee today.
Andy Atkins, Friends of the Earth's executive director, said: "This advice from one of the world's leading climate research centres cannot be ignored. If we are to play our part in avoiding dangerous climate change, the government must commit the UK to cutting its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 42 per cent by 2020 without buying pollution 'offsets' from abroad. The UK has one of the best renewable energy potentials in Europe. Investing in green power and cutting energy waste can create tens of thousands of jobs and help lead this country out of recession."
The CCC said: "The choice of peaking year was more determined by what we thought might be possible if a global deal was achieved in 2009. The CCC analysis drew upon, and cited, a number of studies which suggested that global emissions could peak around 2016 if the world dedicated sufficient intellectual and material resources towards solving the problem."
Source - The Guardian
Monday, 2 February 2009
DuPont Installs Its Largest Solar Panel Array
DuPont has announced the installation of its largest photovoltaic solar energy facility at its Pioneer Hi-Bred Waimea Research Center in Kauai, Hawaii.
The Waimea photovoltaic installation is comprised of 1,500 panels - made from several DuPont photovoltaic materials - produced by Evergreen Solar and installed by REC Solar. The one-acre array is capable of generating about 85 percent of the energy needs of the research facility.
It is expected to generate 706,205 kilowatt hours (kwh) annually, or enough power for 64 average-size homes.
By using renewable energy, the facility will avoid the emissions (equivalent carbon dioxide) from approximately 100 cars annually, saving Pioneer about $200,000 per year in avoided purchased electricity costs. The installation was completed and fully operational in December 2008.
DuPont has already installed photovoltaic solar power systems for its R and D and business facilities in Wilmington, Del., and Taoyuan, Taiwan.
"This installation is a great example of our commitment to be both a key materials and technology supplier to the photovoltaic industry, and also a leader of solar power use," said Marc Doyle, global business director - DuPont Photovoltaic Solutions.
"Our products can help make clean renewable energy a reality while also powering our facilities as part of DuPont's sustainability goals."
DuPont offers the broadest portfolio in the solar energy market with eight essential products. DuPont is a leading material and technology supplier to the photovoltaic industry with more than 25 years of experience in photovoltaic materials development.
DuPont technologies enable higher power output with improved productivity and increased solar module lifetime. The company offers a broad and growing portfolio of materials solutions for both crystalline silicon and thin film cells and modules including:
- DuPont Elvax EVA resins for the encapsulant sheet: cushions individual cells from impact and enables the transmission of sunlight to the cells;
- DuPont PV Encapsulant Sheets: Ranging from soft to structural, clear DuPont PV5200 and PV5300 Series encapsulant sheets offer proven safety and laminating performance, and deliver long-term protection for the most sensitive portions of photovoltaic modules;
- DuPont Teflon fluoropolymer film for front sheets and flexible panels: offers mechanical strength and durability against cracking and abrasion, flexibility and nearly 100 percent transparency;
- DuPont Tedlar polyvinyl fluoride films: delivers long-lasting UV and weather-resistant back sheets;
- DuPont Solamet thick film metallization pastes: increases the efficiency and yield of solar cells;
- DuPont Rynite PET thermoplastic resins: increases safety, eliminates corrosion, and provides long-lasting performance for junction boxes and structural supports in harsh environments;
- DuPont Kapton polyimide film for thin film substrates: provides excellent electrical and thermal properties to thin film modules;
- DuPont Teijin Films (Mylar, Melinex and Tetoron polyester films) for backsheet interlayers: provides added protection from the environment;
- Kalrez perfluoroelastomer parts from DuPont Performance Elastomers: provides excellent resistance to aggressive chemicals and high temperatures to help reduce the risk of unplanned maintenance.
DuPont - one of the first companies to publicly establish environmental goals 19 years ago - has broadened its sustainability commitments beyond internal footprint reduction to include market-driven targets for both revenue and research and development investment.
The goals are tied directly to business growth, specifically to the development of safer and environmentally improved new products for key global markets.
DuPont is a science-based products and services company. Founded in 1802, DuPont puts science to work by creating sustainable solutions essential to a better, safer, healthier life for people everywhere. Operating in more than 70 countries, DuPont offers a wide range of innovative products and services for markets including agriculture and food; building and construction; communications; and transportation.
Source - Solardaily
The Waimea photovoltaic installation is comprised of 1,500 panels - made from several DuPont photovoltaic materials - produced by Evergreen Solar and installed by REC Solar. The one-acre array is capable of generating about 85 percent of the energy needs of the research facility.
It is expected to generate 706,205 kilowatt hours (kwh) annually, or enough power for 64 average-size homes.
By using renewable energy, the facility will avoid the emissions (equivalent carbon dioxide) from approximately 100 cars annually, saving Pioneer about $200,000 per year in avoided purchased electricity costs. The installation was completed and fully operational in December 2008.
DuPont has already installed photovoltaic solar power systems for its R and D and business facilities in Wilmington, Del., and Taoyuan, Taiwan.
"This installation is a great example of our commitment to be both a key materials and technology supplier to the photovoltaic industry, and also a leader of solar power use," said Marc Doyle, global business director - DuPont Photovoltaic Solutions.
"Our products can help make clean renewable energy a reality while also powering our facilities as part of DuPont's sustainability goals."
DuPont offers the broadest portfolio in the solar energy market with eight essential products. DuPont is a leading material and technology supplier to the photovoltaic industry with more than 25 years of experience in photovoltaic materials development.
DuPont technologies enable higher power output with improved productivity and increased solar module lifetime. The company offers a broad and growing portfolio of materials solutions for both crystalline silicon and thin film cells and modules including:
- DuPont Elvax EVA resins for the encapsulant sheet: cushions individual cells from impact and enables the transmission of sunlight to the cells;
- DuPont PV Encapsulant Sheets: Ranging from soft to structural, clear DuPont PV5200 and PV5300 Series encapsulant sheets offer proven safety and laminating performance, and deliver long-term protection for the most sensitive portions of photovoltaic modules;
- DuPont Teflon fluoropolymer film for front sheets and flexible panels: offers mechanical strength and durability against cracking and abrasion, flexibility and nearly 100 percent transparency;
- DuPont Tedlar polyvinyl fluoride films: delivers long-lasting UV and weather-resistant back sheets;
- DuPont Solamet thick film metallization pastes: increases the efficiency and yield of solar cells;
- DuPont Rynite PET thermoplastic resins: increases safety, eliminates corrosion, and provides long-lasting performance for junction boxes and structural supports in harsh environments;
- DuPont Kapton polyimide film for thin film substrates: provides excellent electrical and thermal properties to thin film modules;
- DuPont Teijin Films (Mylar, Melinex and Tetoron polyester films) for backsheet interlayers: provides added protection from the environment;
- Kalrez perfluoroelastomer parts from DuPont Performance Elastomers: provides excellent resistance to aggressive chemicals and high temperatures to help reduce the risk of unplanned maintenance.
DuPont - one of the first companies to publicly establish environmental goals 19 years ago - has broadened its sustainability commitments beyond internal footprint reduction to include market-driven targets for both revenue and research and development investment.
The goals are tied directly to business growth, specifically to the development of safer and environmentally improved new products for key global markets.
DuPont is a science-based products and services company. Founded in 1802, DuPont puts science to work by creating sustainable solutions essential to a better, safer, healthier life for people everywhere. Operating in more than 70 countries, DuPont offers a wide range of innovative products and services for markets including agriculture and food; building and construction; communications; and transportation.
Source - Solardaily
Monday, 26 January 2009
Barack Obama 'to reverse Bush policies on climate change'
President poised to let states issue tougher rules on emissions and order car makers to boost fuel efficiency.
President Barack Obama is expected to issue new environmental regulations today, reversing the Bush administration's climate change policies by allowing several states to set tougher car emission and fuel efficiency standards.
Granting California and 13 other states the right to regulate emissions is a sharp departure from President George W Bush's line on the environment and has been opposed by car makers.
According to The New York Times, Mr Obama will order the US Environmental Protection Agency to begin work immediately on granting the so-called California waiver, which allows the state - long in the vanguard on environmental matters - to set its own standards for car emissions.
In his White House announcement, Mr Obama is also expected to direct federal agencies to make all government buildings more energy efficient. The new administration hopes to achieve energy savings of up to $2 billion (£1.5 billion) per year, as well as a reduction in emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases blamed for global warming.
The presidential orders will require vehicle manufacturers to speed efforts to make and sell cars and trucks that get higher mileage than the national standard, congressional officials said.
"If we don't put a price on carbon," said Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer of California, the chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, "we'll never get these clean energy sources online."
Mr Obama also will direct the Department of Transportation to begin drafting automobile fuel-economy regulations to comply with a law enacted in December 2007. President Bush delayed implementing the law and left office saying there was not sufficient time to write the rules.
Source - Thetimes
President Barack Obama is expected to issue new environmental regulations today, reversing the Bush administration's climate change policies by allowing several states to set tougher car emission and fuel efficiency standards.
Granting California and 13 other states the right to regulate emissions is a sharp departure from President George W Bush's line on the environment and has been opposed by car makers.
According to The New York Times, Mr Obama will order the US Environmental Protection Agency to begin work immediately on granting the so-called California waiver, which allows the state - long in the vanguard on environmental matters - to set its own standards for car emissions.
In his White House announcement, Mr Obama is also expected to direct federal agencies to make all government buildings more energy efficient. The new administration hopes to achieve energy savings of up to $2 billion (£1.5 billion) per year, as well as a reduction in emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases blamed for global warming.
The presidential orders will require vehicle manufacturers to speed efforts to make and sell cars and trucks that get higher mileage than the national standard, congressional officials said.
"If we don't put a price on carbon," said Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer of California, the chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, "we'll never get these clean energy sources online."
Mr Obama also will direct the Department of Transportation to begin drafting automobile fuel-economy regulations to comply with a law enacted in December 2007. President Bush delayed implementing the law and left office saying there was not sufficient time to write the rules.
Source - Thetimes
IPPC challenges Obama to further cut CO2 targets
The head of the world’s pre-eminent organisation of climate scientists said yesterday that US President Barack Obama’s stated emissions targets need to be strengthened to deal with the climate threat.
Dr Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, says, “President Obama’s goal for reducing emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 falls short of the response needed by world leaders to meet the challenge of reducing emissions to levels that will actually spare us the worst effects of climate change.”
These comments were made at an event held by the Worldwatch Institute yesterday afternoon in Washington to discuss its recently-released report, State of the World 2009: Into a Warming World, which finds the world will have to reduce carbon dioxide emissions more drastically than has been widely predicted, even going into negative emissions by 2050 to avoid catastrophic disruption to the world’s climate.
“The world is desperately looking for US leadership to slow emissions and create a green economy,” said Christopher Flavin, President of the Worldwatch Institute. “With the Copenhagen climate conference rapidly approaching, this will be a crucial early test for President Obama.”
Source - Worldwatch
Dr Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, says, “President Obama’s goal for reducing emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 falls short of the response needed by world leaders to meet the challenge of reducing emissions to levels that will actually spare us the worst effects of climate change.”
These comments were made at an event held by the Worldwatch Institute yesterday afternoon in Washington to discuss its recently-released report, State of the World 2009: Into a Warming World, which finds the world will have to reduce carbon dioxide emissions more drastically than has been widely predicted, even going into negative emissions by 2050 to avoid catastrophic disruption to the world’s climate.
“The world is desperately looking for US leadership to slow emissions and create a green economy,” said Christopher Flavin, President of the Worldwatch Institute. “With the Copenhagen climate conference rapidly approaching, this will be a crucial early test for President Obama.”
Source - Worldwatch
Monday, 12 January 2009
Perpetual Energy Systems Activates Largest Solar Energy Installation At US Winery
Perpetual Energy Systems (PES), comprehensive financier and developer of solar powered renewable energy systems, and Foster's Wine Estates Americas (Foster's), a subsidiary of Foster's Group in Australia, today announces the activation of four solar installations including the largest solar energy system hosted by a United States winery.
Beringer Vineyards hosts a 1,341,200 W DC solar energy system, the largest operational solar installation at a winery in the country. Additionally, Beringer's sister winery at Asti, home to brands Souverain and Cellar No. 8, hosts the third largest system of its kind, producing 1,152,144 W DC. All four active rooftop installations, including Etude and Stags' Leap Winery, will generate 3.85 million Kilowatt hours (KWh AC) of energy annually.
PES combined conventional financing, construction and permanent debt and equity, with the federal energy tax credits program to fund the entire installation without capital investment from Foster's. As the financier, PES retains ownership of the solar panels as well as the renewable energy certificates and carbon credits determined by the system's actual kilowatt hour output.
"Partnering with Foster's to host the largest solar energy project at a U.S. winery is an honor for us," says Laurance Friedman, co-chair of Perpetual Energy Systems. "The importance of renewable energy is gaining momentum in the corporate arena. Through this collaboration, Foster's gains a reduction in energy costs and elevates its role as a responsible corporate citizen."
Foster's will host the system for a 25-year term and will have access to renewable energy at a reduced rate for each of the sites for the duration of the relationship.
"This is a smart way for us to do the right thing for the environment," commented Scott Weiss, Managing Director of Foster's Americas. "By hosting the solar energy systems at our wineries, we're helping to leverage the beautiful climate that grows world-class wine grapes to also generate clean energy. This is a great example of Sustainability at work - it's good for the environment, our community, and our business."
The combined system occupies 400,000 square feet of total rooftop structures and will eliminate 2.0 million pounds of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions per year from the environment equating to:
+ The removal of 183 passenger cars from the roads each year (per www.pge.com).
+ More than 150,000 trees needed to eliminate this amount of CO2 from the environment per year (www.coloradotrees.org).
In conjunction with Perpetual Energy Systems, The Bright Group, Inc. and Stellar Energy Solutions served as co-developers for planning and construction of the project. The Bright Group, which specializes in integrated solar energy generation and innovative roof applications, founded Foster's Wine Estates solar initiative in March of 2007. The company conducted pre-development engineering, system design including building allocation and roofing specifications.
Source - Solardaily
Beringer Vineyards hosts a 1,341,200 W DC solar energy system, the largest operational solar installation at a winery in the country. Additionally, Beringer's sister winery at Asti, home to brands Souverain and Cellar No. 8, hosts the third largest system of its kind, producing 1,152,144 W DC. All four active rooftop installations, including Etude and Stags' Leap Winery, will generate 3.85 million Kilowatt hours (KWh AC) of energy annually.
PES combined conventional financing, construction and permanent debt and equity, with the federal energy tax credits program to fund the entire installation without capital investment from Foster's. As the financier, PES retains ownership of the solar panels as well as the renewable energy certificates and carbon credits determined by the system's actual kilowatt hour output.
"Partnering with Foster's to host the largest solar energy project at a U.S. winery is an honor for us," says Laurance Friedman, co-chair of Perpetual Energy Systems. "The importance of renewable energy is gaining momentum in the corporate arena. Through this collaboration, Foster's gains a reduction in energy costs and elevates its role as a responsible corporate citizen."
Foster's will host the system for a 25-year term and will have access to renewable energy at a reduced rate for each of the sites for the duration of the relationship.
"This is a smart way for us to do the right thing for the environment," commented Scott Weiss, Managing Director of Foster's Americas. "By hosting the solar energy systems at our wineries, we're helping to leverage the beautiful climate that grows world-class wine grapes to also generate clean energy. This is a great example of Sustainability at work - it's good for the environment, our community, and our business."
The combined system occupies 400,000 square feet of total rooftop structures and will eliminate 2.0 million pounds of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions per year from the environment equating to:
+ The removal of 183 passenger cars from the roads each year (per www.pge.com).
+ More than 150,000 trees needed to eliminate this amount of CO2 from the environment per year (www.coloradotrees.org).
In conjunction with Perpetual Energy Systems, The Bright Group, Inc. and Stellar Energy Solutions served as co-developers for planning and construction of the project. The Bright Group, which specializes in integrated solar energy generation and innovative roof applications, founded Foster's Wine Estates solar initiative in March of 2007. The company conducted pre-development engineering, system design including building allocation and roofing specifications.
Source - Solardaily
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