Solar cells commonly used in spacecraft are highly efficient but too expensive to be used commercially down here on Earth. Two methods, HVPE (hydride vapour phase epitaxy) and the preferred MOVPE (metalorganic chemical vapour phase epitaxy), have been used to make these super-cells, reaching efficiencies of 29.1%. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) says its scientists have discovered a method, D-HVPE, that should achieve those … [Read more...]
Peak Energy by 2030: Efficiency gains will make the Transition affordable
We can’t afford the energy transition? Next time you hear that from someone, perhaps you can show them this. Sverre Alvik at DNV GL explains that, according to their latest Energy Transition Outlook, although annual global energy expenditure will have to increase from $4.6tn in 2017 to $5.5tn in 2050, its share of growing world GDP will almost halve from 3.6% to 1.9%. That’s because continuing energy efficiency gains are making sure that total … [Read more...]
Next generation Wind rotors: because “supersizing” is reaching its limit
A great deal of the cost reductions in wind energy have come, pure and simply, from bigger turbines. Their rotors have a greater swept area and access higher wind speeds at elevated heights. But there are practical limits to the size these blades can reach. Challenges include weight, fatigue, manufacturing, reliability, transport and logistics. To push the boundaries of design, teams from the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy … [Read more...]
The search for “thin film” solar PV: stable, efficient, non-toxic, abundant
Around 95% of the world’s solar modules are made with silicon. It’s stable against temperature and humidity fluctuations and we’ll never run out of it. But it’s quite inefficient at absorbing sunlight, and very brittle. So the silicon layers in PV have to be quite thick to capture sunlight and resist cracking, leading to heavy and bulky solar panels. The remaining 5% of solar modules are “thin film”, opening the way for game-changing lightweight … [Read more...]
Decarbonising light duty vehicles globally: consumer choice, technology, policy pathways
The MIT Energy Initiative (MITIE) has completed a 3-year study of “Mobility of the Future” to plot a decarbonised pathway for light duty vehicles (i.e. cars) globally. Wide in scope and detail, it covers government policies, consumer choices and technologies, combining their multiple and complex impacts to make their assessments. Kathryn Luu at MITIE reviews the final 220-page report. For consumers, cost, convenience, and — increasingly — carbon … [Read more...]
Grid-Interactive Buildings solutions: U.S. govt is looking for you
According to U.S. figures, up to 80% of peak electricity demand comes from buildings. So designing them to be energy efficient, with their own generation (e.g. rooftop solar), storage, and load-flexibility – and making it a cost effective industry standard – would be a game changer. It’ll make the grid more resilient, and take pressure off utilities investing in expanding the underlying infrastructure. Sneha Ayyagari and Matt Jungclaus at Rocky … [Read more...]
Decarbonising industry: how much policy-driven adoption is needed to let the market take over
Decarbonising industry is one of the world’s greatest challenges. The costs, today, are huge and therefore the technology adoption required has hardly started. But several technologies already exist. Gbemi Oluleye at Imperial College (UK) explains the first step is to measure the market size for each sub-sector, then estimate how much policy-driven adoption is required to achieve the cost reductions that make the change viable. After that, no … [Read more...]
DNV-GL: energy’s shrinking share of growing global GDP shows how we can afford Transition
At the current rate of progress higher energy efficiency, more renewables, and carbon capture will not be enough to keep the global temperature rise to well below 2°C. So to point the way, DNV-GL has condensed its Energy Transition Outlook 2019 into 10 ways technology can meet the COP21 targets. This article gives figures on how much solar and wind we really need, battery production, annual investment in grids, and energy efficiency. It further … [Read more...]
India: coal plummets, renewables stepping in
In 2018, 80% of India’s total energy lending went to renewables. Coal got the rest, a major fall compared to 2017. No wonder, given coal plants have been running at below 60% utilisation for two years with the operators suffering huge losses. Renewables are now undercutting coal and getting cheaper. And shortages in water – needed for plant cooling – just add to their woes. Vibhuti Garg at IEEFA catalogues the problems, then describes the … [Read more...]
Non-Wires Alternatives for grid expansion: what the U.S. can teach Europe
Grid expansion usually means more power stations and wires. Far from simple, and very expensive. Non-Wires Alternatives (NWA) solve the problem differently by reducing net demand. Modern methods of energy efficiency, demand response, storage, and distributed generation are coordinated and used instead, under the banner of Distributed Energy Resources (DER). Crucially, it can cast utility firms in the role of market makers, not just generators and … [Read more...]
Energy security v Transition in Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Turkey
Like most developing countries, the challenge of growing economies, increasing population and rapid urbanisation puts energy security above emissions reductions. So it is for Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and Turkey, says Duygu Sever in her report for IFRI Centre for Energy & Climate. In this article she explains that all four countries nevertheless have high renewables deployment potential, and have already embraced wind and solar. To accelerate … [Read more...]
New solar cell allows a photon to release two electrons, not just one
In conventional silicon-based solar cells, each photon of light can only knock loose a single electron, creating electricity. That’s even if the photon carries more than enough energy to do so. One hammer, one nail. Now, for the first time researchers at MIT and Princeton University in the U.S. have got high-energy photons to strike silicon and kick out two electrons instead of one, opening the door for a new kind of solar cell with greater … [Read more...]
District Heating: heat-as-a-service and sector coupling
Space heating and hot water account for around 70% of energy consumption in residential buildings. Any progress in buildings efficiencies will see overall energy consumption decline. But that presents a serious challenge to the existing business model: why invest in a sector that’s selling less energy? The answer is to change that business model, says Oskar Kvarnström, Energy Policy Analyst at the IEA. In doing so new doors are opened. At the … [Read more...]
Energy Efficiency should target inefficient use, not all use
Energy efficiency should not just be a matter of reducing energy consumption. As renewables grow pricing and profits should encourage renewable consumption. After all, renewables aren’t a problem. And greater renewables consumption means less fossil fuels. Yet consumer pricing models with a low fixed price + high variable rate are designed to discourage all consumption, warns James Bushnell of the Energy Institute at Haas. He says we must … [Read more...]
China’s industry: Deep decarbonisation progress and challenges
Across the world, industry is regarded as a hard-to-decarbonise sector, and an emissions priority. In China it’s responsible for over 65% of its energy consumption and 70% of carbon emissions. Ji Chen and Shuyi Li of the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) look at the highlights of China’s efforts, and reference them against the RMI’s Reinventing Fire: China analysis. Efficiency, electrification, CCUS, hydrogen and “recycle and reuse” all play an … [Read more...]
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