World Running Out of Time for Oil Alternatives
By Anna Mudeva
Reuters
Thursday 18 August 2005
Petten, Netherlands - The world could run out of time to develop cleaner alternatives to oil and other fossil fuels before depletion drives prices through the roof, a leading Dutch energy researcher said on Thursday.
Ton Hoff, manager of the Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands, said it could take decades to make alternatives affordable to the point where they can be used widely, although high oil prices were already stimulating such research.
"If we run out of fossil fuels - by the time the oil price hits 100 dollars or plus, people will be screaming for alternatives, but whether they will be available at that moment of time - that's my biggest worry," Hoff said.
"That's why we need to use fossil fuels in a more efficient way to have some more time to develop these alternatives up to a level where the robustness is guaranteed and their price has come down ... This could take decades for some technologies."
Stubbornly high oil prices have renewed worldwide interest in sustainable energy sources, such as solar, wind and biomass as well as biofuels.
But the world currently covers just some two percent of its energy needs with renewables as high costs and mixed policy initiatives hinder a wide-spread usage.
"The high oil price makes people at least think about alternatives ... For us it's a definitely a stimulus to work even harder than before," Hoff said.
Lowering Costs
ECN, one of Europe's leading energy research institutes, is working to improve or develop new technologies to boost efficiency and lower the costs of power production from wind, solar and biomass, he said.
ECN researchers are trying to raise the energy conversion efficiency of solar panels to above 20 percent from the current 17 percent, while reducing costs.
"In 10-15 years, I expect that solar energy conversion could be in competition with electricity produced from coal," Hoff said. He believes the Netherlands has the potential to cover a large part of its power needs with solar energy.
ECN is also researching to increase the size of wind power turbines from the 3 megawatt a turbine produces now to 5 or 6 MW. This could be done by raising the height to 100 metres from 70 now and enlarging wings span to 120 metres from 90, he said.
ECN is also part of the $225 million "Global Climate and Energy Project" led by the U.S. University of Stanford and financed by General Electric, Toyota, Schlumberger and ExxonMobil.
The project aims to crack new technologies on fuel cells, which make electricity from hydrogen and emit only water vapour, energy production from biomass and separation and storage of carbon dioxide (CO2). The greenhouse CO2 gas is released when burning fossil fuels and is blamed for global warming.
Under the project, ECN will develop a new type of membrane reactor, which will separate CO2 during the process of producing hydrogen from fossil fuels, Hoff said. The CO2 could later be stored by companies in depleted gas or oil fields.
Hoff and other researchers say a transition to the so-called hydrogen economy could take decades as the cost of building new hydrogen-burning cars and power plants and storing CO2 are huge.
To test hydrogen usage in real life, ECN is in talks with the northern Dutch island of Texel to install hydrogen-based facilities, which would supply electricity to homes and offices.
"The idea is to see the pitfalls, fix them ... and prepare for the future. My hopes are that this will stimulate the usage of this type of new technology because it is extremely important to have it in real life rather than in laboratories," Hoff said.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Go to Original
DOE Touts Solar Energy Potential
Renewable Energy Access
Friday 19 August 2005
"Sunlight is a compelling solution to our need for clean, abundant sources of energy in the future."
- DOE's recent solar report
Washington, DC - The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Science has released a report describing the basic research needed to produce "revolutionary progress in bringing solar energy to its full potential in the energy marketplace." The report resulted from a workshop of 200 scientists held earlier this year.
"This report demonstrates the important contribution the entire scientific community can make to the development of new sustainable energy resources," said Raymond L. Orbach, Director of DOE's Office of Science. "Science and basic research can and must play a key role in addressing the energy security needs of our nation."
"The tax credits contained in the historic energy bill signed by President Bush will greatly help expand the use of renewable energy," said Orbach. "This research will help improve a critical component of renewable energy, solar technology, in the future. Increasing the use of renewable energy is a clear way to help meet our growing energy needs using environmentally-friendly power sources."
Every hour, more energy from sunlight strikes the Earth than is consumed on the planet in a year. Yet today solar electricity provides only approximately one thousandth of the total electricity supply. The report notes that a "huge gap between our present use of solar energy and its enormous undeveloped potential defines a grand challenge in energy research" and that "sunlight is a compelling solution to our need for clean, abundant sources of energy in the future."
The report notes that progress in the proposed research could lead to: artificial "molecular machines" that turn sunlight into chemical fuel; "smart materials" based on nature's ability to transfer captured solar energy with no energy loss; self-repairing solar conversion systems; devices that absorb all the colors in the solar spectrum for energy conversion, not just a fraction; far more efficient solar cells created using nanotechnologies; and new materials for high-capacity, slow-release thermal storage.
The report further notes that revolutionary breakthroughs come only from basic research and that, "We must understand the fundamental principles of solar energy conversion and develop new materials that exploit them."
Solar energy conversion systems fall into three categories: solar electricity, solar fuels and solar thermal systems. Workshop participants considered the potential of all three approaches. They identified 13 priority research directions with the "potential to produce revolutionary, not evolutionary, breakthroughs in materials and processes for solar energy utilization."
Cross-cutting research directions include: coaxing cheap materials to perform as well as expensive materials; developing new solar cell designs that surpass traditional efficiency limits; finding catalysts that enable inexpensive, efficient conversion of solar energy into chemical fuels; and developing materials for solar energy conversion infrastructure, such as transparent conductors and robust, inexpensive thermal management materials.
The Office of Basic Energy Sciences in DOE's Office of Science organized the 2005 workshop on solar energy research needs. Two hundred scientists from the U.S., Europe and Asia examined the challenges to developing solar energy as a competitive energy source and identified the basic research directions that show promise to overcome these challenges. The workshop was the second in a series following the 2002 Basic Energy Sciences Advisory Committee study "Basic Research Needs to Assure a Secure Energy Future." The first workshop examined basic research needs for the hydrogen economy.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For Further Information:
The Basic Research Needs for Solar Energy Utilization report can be viewed and downloaded at the following link: DOE Solar Report (pdf).
Reuters
Thursday 18 August 2005
Petten, Netherlands - The world could run out of time to develop cleaner alternatives to oil and other fossil fuels before depletion drives prices through the roof, a leading Dutch energy researcher said on Thursday.
Ton Hoff, manager of the Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands, said it could take decades to make alternatives affordable to the point where they can be used widely, although high oil prices were already stimulating such research.
"If we run out of fossil fuels - by the time the oil price hits 100 dollars or plus, people will be screaming for alternatives, but whether they will be available at that moment of time - that's my biggest worry," Hoff said.
"That's why we need to use fossil fuels in a more efficient way to have some more time to develop these alternatives up to a level where the robustness is guaranteed and their price has come down ... This could take decades for some technologies."
Stubbornly high oil prices have renewed worldwide interest in sustainable energy sources, such as solar, wind and biomass as well as biofuels.
But the world currently covers just some two percent of its energy needs with renewables as high costs and mixed policy initiatives hinder a wide-spread usage.
"The high oil price makes people at least think about alternatives ... For us it's a definitely a stimulus to work even harder than before," Hoff said.
Lowering Costs
ECN, one of Europe's leading energy research institutes, is working to improve or develop new technologies to boost efficiency and lower the costs of power production from wind, solar and biomass, he said.
ECN researchers are trying to raise the energy conversion efficiency of solar panels to above 20 percent from the current 17 percent, while reducing costs.
"In 10-15 years, I expect that solar energy conversion could be in competition with electricity produced from coal," Hoff said. He believes the Netherlands has the potential to cover a large part of its power needs with solar energy.
ECN is also researching to increase the size of wind power turbines from the 3 megawatt a turbine produces now to 5 or 6 MW. This could be done by raising the height to 100 metres from 70 now and enlarging wings span to 120 metres from 90, he said.
ECN is also part of the $225 million "Global Climate and Energy Project" led by the U.S. University of Stanford and financed by General Electric, Toyota, Schlumberger and ExxonMobil.
The project aims to crack new technologies on fuel cells, which make electricity from hydrogen and emit only water vapour, energy production from biomass and separation and storage of carbon dioxide (CO2). The greenhouse CO2 gas is released when burning fossil fuels and is blamed for global warming.
Under the project, ECN will develop a new type of membrane reactor, which will separate CO2 during the process of producing hydrogen from fossil fuels, Hoff said. The CO2 could later be stored by companies in depleted gas or oil fields.
Hoff and other researchers say a transition to the so-called hydrogen economy could take decades as the cost of building new hydrogen-burning cars and power plants and storing CO2 are huge.
To test hydrogen usage in real life, ECN is in talks with the northern Dutch island of Texel to install hydrogen-based facilities, which would supply electricity to homes and offices.
"The idea is to see the pitfalls, fix them ... and prepare for the future. My hopes are that this will stimulate the usage of this type of new technology because it is extremely important to have it in real life rather than in laboratories," Hoff said.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Go to Original
DOE Touts Solar Energy Potential
Renewable Energy Access
Friday 19 August 2005
"Sunlight is a compelling solution to our need for clean, abundant sources of energy in the future."
- DOE's recent solar report
Washington, DC - The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Science has released a report describing the basic research needed to produce "revolutionary progress in bringing solar energy to its full potential in the energy marketplace." The report resulted from a workshop of 200 scientists held earlier this year.
"This report demonstrates the important contribution the entire scientific community can make to the development of new sustainable energy resources," said Raymond L. Orbach, Director of DOE's Office of Science. "Science and basic research can and must play a key role in addressing the energy security needs of our nation."
"The tax credits contained in the historic energy bill signed by President Bush will greatly help expand the use of renewable energy," said Orbach. "This research will help improve a critical component of renewable energy, solar technology, in the future. Increasing the use of renewable energy is a clear way to help meet our growing energy needs using environmentally-friendly power sources."
Every hour, more energy from sunlight strikes the Earth than is consumed on the planet in a year. Yet today solar electricity provides only approximately one thousandth of the total electricity supply. The report notes that a "huge gap between our present use of solar energy and its enormous undeveloped potential defines a grand challenge in energy research" and that "sunlight is a compelling solution to our need for clean, abundant sources of energy in the future."
The report notes that progress in the proposed research could lead to: artificial "molecular machines" that turn sunlight into chemical fuel; "smart materials" based on nature's ability to transfer captured solar energy with no energy loss; self-repairing solar conversion systems; devices that absorb all the colors in the solar spectrum for energy conversion, not just a fraction; far more efficient solar cells created using nanotechnologies; and new materials for high-capacity, slow-release thermal storage.
The report further notes that revolutionary breakthroughs come only from basic research and that, "We must understand the fundamental principles of solar energy conversion and develop new materials that exploit them."
Solar energy conversion systems fall into three categories: solar electricity, solar fuels and solar thermal systems. Workshop participants considered the potential of all three approaches. They identified 13 priority research directions with the "potential to produce revolutionary, not evolutionary, breakthroughs in materials and processes for solar energy utilization."
Cross-cutting research directions include: coaxing cheap materials to perform as well as expensive materials; developing new solar cell designs that surpass traditional efficiency limits; finding catalysts that enable inexpensive, efficient conversion of solar energy into chemical fuels; and developing materials for solar energy conversion infrastructure, such as transparent conductors and robust, inexpensive thermal management materials.
The Office of Basic Energy Sciences in DOE's Office of Science organized the 2005 workshop on solar energy research needs. Two hundred scientists from the U.S., Europe and Asia examined the challenges to developing solar energy as a competitive energy source and identified the basic research directions that show promise to overcome these challenges. The workshop was the second in a series following the 2002 Basic Energy Sciences Advisory Committee study "Basic Research Needs to Assure a Secure Energy Future." The first workshop examined basic research needs for the hydrogen economy.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For Further Information:
The Basic Research Needs for Solar Energy Utilization report can be viewed and downloaded at the following link: DOE Solar Report (pdf).
posted by T. Scott Brineman at 10:03 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home