Renewable Energy – Imagine powering your entire civilization with renewable energy: wind, sun, water (hydro), natural heat (geothermal) and plants.
There are no coal mines, oil wells, pipelines or coal trains. No greenhouse gas emissions, car emissions or waste streams. There are no oil wars, no dependence on foreign suppliers or shortages of raw materials.
Renewable Energy
More and more activists say it can be achieved. The idea has inspired many cities, including Madison, Wisconsin, San Diego and Salt Lake City, to make ambitious commitments. Advocates pressure countries to support the policy.
The Next Bets For Renewable Energy
Clean energy enthusiasts often say that we can grow, that the whole world can use renewable energy – what we need is “political will”.
Not yet. Not really. Current models strongly suggest that we will need a wide range of low-carbon options, including nuclear power and possibly coal or natural gas with carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) to achieve deep carbon reductions.
However, this is just the current model. There are many reasons to ask what the models tell us about the next three, four and fifty years. They often underestimated renewable energy and probably still do. There is much debate, not just about what models are shown, but what lessons we should learn from them and how we should approach the task of decarbonisation.
But everything is small in the weeds. Before we get to the criminal back and forth – as I’ll explain in the next post – let’s take a step back.
World Heritage Centre
In this post, I want to bring the discussion about 100% renewable energy closer to those who are not familiar with it. Think of it as a basic place to get your bearings.
The most important political divide in the world of climate change concerns those who recognize the urgency of the problem and those who do not. Those who are not are now accountable to the federal government. Their energy systems are a celebration of fossil fuels.
The debate about 100% renewable energy is not that distraction. It is controversial among people who accept the need to rapidly reduce carbon dioxide emissions, enough to keep global average temperatures below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels. Achieving these internationally agreed targets requires “deep decarbonisation” – reducing total carbon dioxide emissions by 80 to 100 percent – globally by mid-century or shortly thereafter.
Both sides of the argument agree that any deep decarbonization scenario will electrify everything. In particular, this will mean two things at once: a) eliminating carbon dioxide emissions from the electricity sector and b) shifting as many other energy resources (transportation, heat and industry) to electricity as possible.
Renewable Energy In The Arctic
(Yes, I realize that “everything” is an overstatement – there will almost always be jobs that involve burning liquid fuels – but this, as my grandfather used to say, is close enough to working for the government .)
Doing so – using electricity to move around, heat buildings and run factories – will increase demand for energy. Different models predict different things, but ultimately we’re talking about an increase in energy demand of 150 percent or more by mid-century.
This means that the power grid must be larger, more complex, more efficient and more reliable –
This is where the conflict arises. On the other hand, those who argue that we should transition to an electricity system powered entirely by renewable energy sources, notably the Solutions Project, based on the work of Stanford’s Mark Jacobson, are supported by high-level administration. vegetables including Van Jones, Mark Ruffalo and Jacobson himself.
How Canadian Manufacturers Can Find Renewable Energy Sources
However, there are those who argue that the main goal should be zero carbon emissions and not 100% renewable energy. They say that in addition to the wind, solar and other technologies favored by the climate hawks, we also need large amounts of nuclear and fossil fuels for CCS.
This is an argument. Some climate hawks oppose nuclear power and CCS. Others – with attitudes ranging from enthusiasm to resignation – believe they will be necessary to reverse deep carbonation.
(If you shrug your shoulders and say “it’s too early to know,” you’re right, but it’s no fun arguing with yourself.)
The whole debate revolves around a simple fact: the vast majority of zero-emission energy sources, wind and solar, are variable. The sun does not always shine; the wind doesn’t always blow.
Renewable Energy In Portugal
– people using the power grid cannot turn them on and off when needed. Power comes when it comes, not when it doesn’t. Phone companies adapt to them, not the other way around.
As more grid power comes from Variable Renewable Energy (VRE), two kinds of problems are starting to emerge.
One set of problems is technical (explained in detail here). As VRE efficiency increases, grid companies increasingly experience large spikes (eg on a windy sunny day), sometimes exceeding 100 percent of demand. If this remaining energy cannot be absorbed, it is “limited”, i.e. she is a waste.
They also have to deal with huge dips in VRE. This occurs every day at sunset, but fluctuations in VRE availability can occur weekly, monthly, seasonally, or even annually.
How Replacing Coal With Renewable Energy Could Pay For Itself
Finally, grid companies have to deal with peaks, which means that VRE goes from almost no capacity to producing tons or vice versa in a short period of time. This requires fast and flexible temporary resources that can be scaled up or down in response.
Much discussed (among electrical geeks) is the “duck curve” – the demand for grid power in a single day in CA with the increase of VRE. CAISO
As each new megawatt (MW) of VRE comes online, the value of the network gradually decreases
MW VRE. A new MW of wind power will only produce power if the other wind power produces power. Same with solar energy.
What Is Renewable Energy?
As more wind and solar energy enters the grid, the number of resources that can provide energy there is VRE
Productivity will increase; accordingly, the marginal value of the next unit of VRE will decrease. This means that especially solar energy must overcome high efficiency.
Now, to be clear: there are tools to solve these technical and economic problems. Many, many tools every day. There is a thriving, vibrant body of research and innovation in this field. (More on that here.)
Much can be achieved by replacing coal-fired power plants with gas-fired power plants. During this time, you develop renewable energy sources and maintain your existing nuclear and hydropower fleets. This is how the United States has reduced carbon emissions in recent years.
Investing In Renewable Energy
The strategy works well for a while. Natural gas plants are more flexible than coal-fired power plants and are therefore well suited to VRE, which measures variability.
But when it comes to deep carbon emissions, the trend eventually bottoms out. Natural gas is cleaner than coal (about half, depending on how methane emissions are measured), but it’s still a fossil fuel. At least without CCS, it is not compatible with carbon emissions of more than 60 percent.
Resistance. This is just one example of a path dependent on power – a choice once made is often reinforced by inertia. Heavy reliance on natural gas over the next 20 years will make it difficult to phase out over the next 20 years.
Avoiding this impasse means thinking, from now on, about how to replace all that natural gas with other, non-carbon-emitting metering resources.
Indigenous Role In Renewable Energy Landscape Continues To Grow
As we noted earlier, “unauthorized” means VRE – onshore and offshore wind, photovoltaics, solar thermal, river water, depending on the weather – that can be turned on and off.
VRE can be made more flexible by pooling resources over a large area with multiple transmission lines. It is usually sun or wind for a large enough area. However, in a constrained network, unmanaged resources often need to be balanced with available resources.
Disposable is a broad (and increasingly broad) category – it means anything that grid companies can use to fully manage the balance of electricity supply and demand.
Within these three categories, resources range from high capacity (enough power to meet demand for weeks or months) to low (hours or minutes) and from fast (response or seconds) to slow (hours or days).
How To Invest In The Supercharged Renewable Energy Sector
Each service offered will have a slightly different price from the carrier, depending on the situation and time of day.
Demand is still in its infancy, growing rapidly, and at least for now it is slow and yielding little, but that will change; it will be done soon, although the question of how big is still open.
The largest energy storage currently in use (pumped hydro) can typically cover only a few hours of demand, while smaller storage can cover hourly or minute fluctuations in VRE.
This is where we come into conflict. Do we need nuclear power and CCS in balance or can we do without them?
Canada’s Race To Net Zero And The Role Of Renewable Energy
The people in the solution project say that we can – and with full reason
Renewable energy courses online, renewable energy degree, commercial renewable energy, best renewable energy etf, solar renewable energy credit, solar renewable energy credits, transition to renewable energy, renewable energy funds, renewable energy etf, texas renewable energy, renewable energy degree programs, masters in renewable energy
Introduction To Renewable Energy
READ
Author by : Vaughn C. Nelson
Languange Used : en
Release Date : 2011-04-25
Publisher by : CRC Press
ISBN :
Description : As the world population grows and places more demand on limited fossil fuels, renewable energy becomes more relevant as part of the solution to the impending energy dilemma. Renewable energy is now included in national policies, with goals for it to be a significant percentage of generated energy within the coming decades. A comprehensive overview, Introduction to Renewable Energy explores how we can use the sun, wind, biomass, geothermal resources, and water to generate more sustainable energy. Taking a multidisciplinary approach, the book integrates economic, social, environmental, policy, and engineering issues related to renewable energy. It explains the fundamentals of energy, including the transfer of energy, as well as the limitations of natural resources. Starting with solar power, the text illustrates how energy from the sun is transferred and stored; used for heating, cooling, and lighting; collected and concentrated; and converted into electricity. A chapter describes residential power usage—including underground and off-grid homes—and houses that are designed to use energy more efficiently or to be completely self-sufficient. Other chapters cover wind power; bioenergy, including biofuel; and geothermal heat pumps; as well as hydro, tidal, and ocean energy. Describing storage as a billion-dollar idea, the book discusses the challenges of storing energy and gives an overview of technologies from flywheels to batteries. It also examines institutional issues such as environmental regulations, incentives, infrastructure, and social costs and benefits. Emphasizing the concept of life-cycle cost, the book analyzes the costs associated with different sources of energy. With recommendations for further reading, formulas, case studies, and extensive use of figures and diagrams, this textbook is suitable for undergraduates in Renewable Energy courses as well as for non-specialists seeking an introduction to renewable energy. Pedagogical Features: End-of-chapter problems Numerous case studies More than 150 figures and illustrations A solutions manual is available upon qualifying course adoption...
The Science Of Renewable Energy
READ
Author by : Frank R. Spellman
Languange Used : en
Release Date : 2016-04-19
Publisher by : CRC Press
ISBN :
Description : As time goes forward, the availability of affordable and accessible petroleum products decreases while the negative environmental impact increases. If we want to sustain our current way of life, which includes massive energy consumption, it is necessary to find alternatives to fossil fuels to prevent fuel shortages and to preserve and repair the environment around us. The Science of Renewable Energy presents a no-nonsense discussion of the importance of renewable energy, while adhering to scientific principles, models, and observations. The text includes in-depth discussions of emerging technologies, including biomass and fuel cells, and major sources of renewable energy, such as ocean, hydro, solar, and wind energy. To provide a fundamental understanding of the basic concepts of renewable energy, the book also offers an extensive discussion on the basics of electricity, since it is applied to and produced from all forms of renewable energy. While emphasizing the technical aspects and practical applications of renewable sources, the text also covers the economic, social, and policy implications of large-scale implementation. The main focus of the book is on methods of obtaining energy from self-replenishing natural processes while limiting pollution of the atmosphere, water, and soil, as this is a critical pathway for the future. Exploring the subject from a scientific perspective highlights the need for renewable energy and helps to evaluate the task at hand. The book is written for a wide range of readers, including students of diverse backgrounds and individuals in the energy industries, and presents the material in a user-friendly manner. Even individuals can have an impact on the quest to develop renewable energy sources. The concepts and guidelines described provide critical scientific rationale for pursuing clean and efficient energy sources as well as the knowledge needed to understand the complex issues involved. Woven with real-life situations, the text presents both the advantages and challenges of the different types of renewable energy....
Environmental Impacts Of Renewable Energy
READ
Author by : Frank R. Spellman
Languange Used : en
Release Date : 2014-12-02
Publisher by : CRC Press
ISBN :
Description : Renewable Energy Has a Good Side and a Bad Side Evaluate BothAll energy sources affect the environment in which we live. While fossil fuels may essentially do more harm, renewable energy sources can also pose a threat to the environment. Allowing for the various renewable energy sources: solar, wind, hydro, biomass, and geothermal, Environmental I...
Renewable Energy
READ
Author by : Martin Kaltschmitt
Languange Used : en
Release Date : 2007-06-03
Publisher by : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN :
Description : The utilisation of renewable energies is not at all new; in the history of mankind renewable energies have for a long time been the primary possibility of generating energy. This only changed with industrial revolution when lignite and hard coal became increasingly more important. Later on, also crude oil gained importance. Offering the advantages of easy transportation and processing also as a raw material, crude oil has become one of the prime energy carriers applied today. Moreover, natural gas used for space heating and power provision as well as a transportation fuel has become increasingly important, as it is abundantly available and only requires low investments in terms of energy conversion facilities. As fossil energy carriers were increasingly used for energy generation, at least by the industrialised countries, the application of renewable energies decreased in absolute and relative terms; besides a few exceptions, renewable energies are of secondary importance with regard to overall energy generation....
Renewable
READ
Author by : Jeremy Shere
Languange Used : en
Release Date : 2013-11-26
Publisher by : Macmillan + ORM
ISBN :
Description : Where does the energy we use come from? It's absolutely vital to every single thing we do every day, but for most people, it is utterly invisible. Flick a switch and the lights go on. It might as well be magic. Science writer Jeremy Shere shows us in Renewable: The World-Changing Powerof Alternative Energy that energy is anything but magical. Producing it in fossil fuel form is a dirty, expensive—but also hugely profitable— enterprise, with enormous but largely hidden costs to the entire planet. The cold, hard fact is that at some point we will have wrung the planet dry of easily accessible sources of fossil fuel. And when that time comes, humankind will have no choice but to turn—or, more accurately, return—to other, cleaner, renewable energy sources. What will those sources be? How far have we come to realizing the technologies that will make these sources available? To find the answers, Shere began his journey with a tour of a traditional coal-fueled power plant in his home state of Indiana. He then continued on, traveling from coast to coast as he spoke to scientists, scholars and innovators. He immersed himself in the green energy world: visiting a solar farm at Denver's airport, attending the Wind Power Expo and a wind farm tour in Texas, investigating turbines deep in New York City's East River, and much more. Arranged in five parts—Green Gas, Sun, Wind, Earth, and Water—Renewable tells the stories of the most interesting and promising types of renewable energy: namely, biofuel, solar, wind, geothermal, and hydropower. But unlike many books about alternative energy, Renewable is not obsessed with megawatts and tips for building home solar panels. Instead, Shere digs into the rich, surprisingly long histories of these technologies, bringing to life the pioneering scientists, inventors, and visionaries who blazed the way for solar, wind, hydro, and other forms of renewable power, and unearthing the curious involvement of great thinkers like Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and Nicola Tesla. We are at an important crossroads in the history of renewable technologies. The possibilities are endless and enticing, and it has become increasingly clear that renewable energy is the way of the future. In Renewable, Jeremy Shere's natural curiosity and serious research come together in an entertaining and informative guide to where renewable energy has been, where it is today, and where it's heading....
Renewable Energy Resources
READ
Author by : John Twidell
Languange Used : en
Release Date : 2015-01-26
Publisher by : Routledge
ISBN :
Description : Renewable Energy Resources is a numerate and quantitative text covering the full range of renewable energy technologies and their implementation worldwide. Energy supplies from renewables (such as from biofuels, solar heat, photovoltaics, wind, hydro, wave, tidal, geothermal, and ocean-thermal) are essential components of every nation’s energy strategy, not least because of concerns for the local and global environment, for energy security and for sustainability. Thus in the years between the first and this third edition, most renewable energy technologies have grown from fledgling impact to significant importance because they make good sense, good policy and good business. This Third Edition is extensively updated in light of these developments, while maintaining the book’s emphasis on fundamentals, complemented by analysis of applications. Renewable energy helps secure national resources, mitigates pollution and climate change, and provides cost effective services. These benefits are analysed and illustrated with case studies and worked examples. The book recognises the importance of cost effectiveness and efficiency of end-use. Each chapter begins with fundamental scientific theory, and then considers applications, environmental impact and socio-economic aspects before concluding with Quick Questions for self-revision and Set Problems. The book includes Reviews of basic theory underlying renewable energy technologies, such as electrical power, fluid dynamics, heat transfer and solid-state physics. Common symbols and cross-referencing apply throughout; essential data are tabulated in appendices. An associated eResource provides supplementary material on particular topics, plus a solutions guide to Set Problems. Renewable Energy Resources supports multi-disciplinary master degrees in science and engineering, and specialist modules in first degrees. Practising scientists and engineers who have not had a comprehensive training in renewable energy will find it a useful introductory text and a reference book....
100 Clean Renewable Energy And Storage For Everything
READ
Author by : Mark Z. Jacobson
Languange Used : en
Release Date : 2020-10
Publisher by : Cambridge University Press
ISBN :
Description : Textbook on the science and methods behind a global transition to 100% clean, renewable energy for science, engineering, and social science students....
