#Renewable Energy Technologies

[techtoio]

How Eco-Tech is Transforming the Future of Green Energy

Introduction

Eco-tech encompasses a broad range of technologies that contribute to environmental conservation and the efficient use of resources. From solar panels to wind turbines and smart grids, eco-tech is at the forefront of the green energy revolution. This blog post will delve into the various ways eco-tech is revolutionizing green energy and shaping a sustainable future. Read to continue link

[creative-news-alert]

Renewable Energy Technologies Drive Decarbonisation Efforts

Renewable energy technologies utilize renewable sources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, plants, algae and geothermal heat. Some of the common renewable energy technologies include solar photovoltaics that generates electricity from sunlight through solar panels, wind turbines that convert kinetic energy from wind into electricity, hydropower plants that uses power of falling or flowing water to generate electricity and biofuels such as ethanol and biodiesel that are produced from organic matter or wastes. These technologies are increasingly being adopted for power generation and transportation fuel owing to environmental benefits. The global renewable energy technologies market is estimated to be valued at US$ 1128.08 Bn in 2023 and is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 8.7% over the forecast period 2023 to 2030, as highlighted in a new report published by Coherent Market Insights. Market Dynamics: Increasing environmental concerns across the globe due to climate change is the primary driver accelerating the demand for renewable energy technologies. Significant rise in global temperatures over the past few decades due to greenhouse gas emissions has highlighted the importance of transitioning from fossil fuels to cleaner energy sources. Governments of many countries have implemented strict regulations and policies to reduce carbon emissions and promote adoption of renewable technologies in power generation and transportation sectors. Moreover, intermittent supply of fossil fuels and geopolitical issues related to oil imports have also boosted investments in indigenous renewable energy sources in recent years. However, high initial capital costs of renewable plants remains a challenge along with intermittent nature of some renewable sources like solar and wind. Continuous technological innovations are being made to improve efficiencies and reduce costs to further drive the renewable energy technologies market over the forecast period. SWOT Analysis Strength: Renewable energy technologies like solar, wind, hydro and biomass energy are environment friendly sources of energy. They help reduce dependence on fossil fuels and curb pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Government policies and subsidies in many countries are promoting investments in renewable energy projects. Weakness: High initial capital costs for setting up renewable energy power projects make them less competitive compared to conventional power sources. The intermittent nature of renewable sources like solar and wind require high investments in energy storage technologies. Public opposition can also delay some renewable energy projects. Opportunity: Rising global energy demand along with climate change concerns provides large growth opportunities for renewable energy technologies. Countries are setting ambitious targets to increase the share of renewable energy in their overall energy mix. New and emerging renewable technologies will help harness renewable energy from diversified sources. Threats: Volatility in fossil fuel prices can impact the competitiveness of renewable energy. Government policy changes affecting subsidies and tax incentives can impact investments. Trade barriers and restrictions on exports of key renewable equipment may impact global demand. Dependence on imports of critical minerals required for renewable technologies poses supply vulnerabilities. Key Takeaways The global renewable energy technologies market size is expected to witness high growth over the forecast period driven by supportive government policies and targets set by nations worldwide towards increasing share of renewable energy.

Regional analysis shows Asia Pacific region dominating currently accounting for over 40% share owing to large renewable energy capacity additions planned in key markets like China and India. The region is anticipated to retain lead and grow at fastest pace through 2030 on back of continued strong government thrust on renewable energy in major economies. Key players operating in the renewable energy technologies market are Becton, Dickinson and Company, Abbott, ACCESS BIO, CELLTRION INC., Siemens Healthcare GmbH, ACON Laboratories Inc., ARKRAY, Inc, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., OraSure Technologies Inc., Quest Diagnostics, Bionime Corporation, Btnx Inc., iHealth Labs Inc., InBios International, Inc. USA. And True Diagnostics Inc. The market has witnessed mergers and acquisitions among players to expand geographically and gain technology leadership. Large players are focusing on developing next generation renewable energy technologies through heavy investments in research and development.

Get more insights on this topic: https://www.newswirestats.com/renewable-energy-technologies-market-size-and-outlook/ Explore more information, Please visit:https://filmik.in/molecular-cytogenetics-the-future-of-genomic-research/

[reasonsforhope]

"A 1-megawatt sand battery that can store up to 100 megawatt hours of thermal energy will be 10 times larger than a prototype already in use.

The new sand battery will eliminate the need for oil-based energy consumption for the entire town of town of Pornainen, Finland.

Sand gets charged with clean electricity and stored for use within a local grid.

Finland is doing sand batteries big. Polar Night Energy already showed off an early commercialized version of a sand battery in Kankaanpää in 2022, but a new sand battery 10 times that size is about to fully rid the town of Pornainen, Finland of its need for oil-based energy.

In cooperation with the local Finnish district heating company Loviisan Lämpö, Polar Night Energy will develop a 1-megawatt sand battery capable of storing up to 100 megawatt hours of thermal energy.

“With the sand battery,” Mikko Paajanen, CEO of Loviisan Lämpö, said in a statement, “we can significantly reduce energy produced by combustion and completely eliminate the use of oil.”

Polar Night Energy introduced the first commercial sand battery in 2022, with local energy utility Vatajankoski. “Its main purpose is to work as a high-power and high-capacity reservoir for excess wind and solar energy,” Markku Ylönen, Polar Nigh Energy��s co-founder and CTO, said in a statement at the time. “The energy is stored as heat, which can be used to heat homes, or to provide hot steam and high temperature process heat to industries that are often fossil-fuel dependent.” ...

Sand—a high-density, low-cost material that the construction industry discards [Note: 6/13/24: Turns out that's not true! See note at the bottom for more info.] —is a solid material that can heat to well above the boiling point of water and can store several times the amount of energy of a water tank. While sand doesn’t store electricity, it stores energy in the form of heat. To mine the heat, cool air blows through pipes, heating up as it passes through the unit. It can then be used to convert water into steam or heat water in an air-to-water heat exchanger. The heat can also be converted back to electricity, albeit with electricity losses, through the use of a turbine.

In Pornainen, Paajanen believes that—just by switching to a sand battery—the town can achieve a nearly 70 percent reduction in emissions from the district heating network and keep about 160 tons of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere annually. In addition to eliminating the usage of oil, they expect to decrease woodchip combustion by about 60 percent.

The sand battery will arrive ready for use, about 42 feet tall and 49 feet wide. The new project’s thermal storage medium is largely comprised of soapstone, a byproduct of Tulikivi’s production of heat-retaining fireplaces. It should take about 13 months to get the new project online, but once it’s up and running, the Pornainen battery will provide thermal energy storage capacity capable of meeting almost one month of summer heat demand and one week of winter heat demand without recharging.

“We want to enable the growth of renewable energy,” Paajanen said. “The sand battery is designed to participate in all Fingrid’s reserve and balancing power markets. It helps to keep the electricity grid balanced as the share of wind and solar energy in the grid increases.”"

-via Popular Mechanics, March 13, 2024

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Note: I've been keeping an eye on sand batteries for a while, and this is really exciting to see. We need alternatives to lithium batteries ASAP, due to the grave human rights abuses and environmental damage caused by lithium mining, and sand batteries look like a really good solution for grid-scale energy storage.

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Note 6/13/24: Unfortunately, turns out there are substantial issues with sand batteries as well, due to sand scarcity. More details from a lovely asker here, sources on sand scarcity being a thing at the links: x, x, x, x, x

[thoughtportal]

Those emissions are also our emissions

[rebeccathenaturalist]

I really hope they can work the bugs out of this solution, because if it's done right, it'll really be a win-win situation. Less evaporation of water, and solar power being generated every day? Yes, please. We are smart, resourceful beings, and this is far from the most difficult problem we've had to address.

This is also a great example of how we can go back and fix mistakes of the past. We very, very rarely ever come up with technological solutions that take long-term effects on the environment into consideration, and so the way many things are designed often leads to some sort of damage, whether through manufacture, use, disposal, or all of the above. Retrofitting canals (which have been used in agriculture for thousands of years) will have benefits not only in the ways mentioned above, but also gets people thinking more about the impacts we make.

I'm hoping that this will lead to more new technology being developed in ways that already anticipate and account for negative impacts so that they avoid them in the first place, rather than having to engineer new solution many years down the line.

[lily0819]

Clean energy is driving a U.S. manufacturing renaissance: 42 new facilities are online & operating & 119 are under development across America. These domestic manufacturing facilities are spurring the creation of 100,000 good-paying American jobs.

[unbfacts]

[alpaca-clouds]

My Issue with Techno Optimism

I think my least popular opinion within the solarpunk space is, that I do not like Techno Optimism. But there is a good reason for it.

The usual way techno optimists go about it is looking at the state of the world and say: "Well, it is not all bad, technology will save us one day." And this makes me so angry.

It is basically saying like: "One day there is gonna be magic and everything is gonna be okay."

This especially comes into play with the environmental stuff. "Oh, don't worry about clean energy. One day we are gonna have fusion reactors and with that unlimited clean energy." And also: "Oh, don't worry about the CO2 and climate change. One day we are gonna have machines to filter the CO2 from the air."

But actually, what they are saying is: "Let's not change anything right now. It is all gonna work out in the end."

We already have clean energy. We have photovoltaic, we have wind, we have hydro and we have nuclear. (And yes, contrary to what folks might have told you: We do know how to store nuclear waste safely.) We can invest money right now to build a renewable energy grid.

We also do know, how to store some of the CO2. Yes, trees, but also wetlands. Wetlands and especially marshes are AMAZING in storing CO2.

And no, we do not need some weird flying bus. Trains will do just fine.

To me the thing about solarpunk is, that already have all the tools we need to make it happen now. Techno optimists wanna wait for a solution to appear that allows them to not change their behavior. To just keep doing, what they have been doing the entire time. To not degrow. But that is just bullshit.

We need change. We need equity. We it now. Not in 20 years.

[headsupb2b]

Renewable Energy: Powering a Sustainable Future

#Renewable #energy is the cornerstone of a sustainable future, offering a path to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and mitigate climate change. Solar, wind, hydro, and geothermal power harness the natural forces of the Earth to generate electricity without emitting harmful greenhouse gases. Unlike finite fossil fuels, these resources are abundant and renewable, ensuring long-term energy security.

The shift to renewable energy is essential not only for environmental reasons but also for economic growth. Investing in clean energy technologies creates jobs, drives innovation, and fosters energy independence. As countries worldwide set ambitious targets for carbon neutrality, the adoption of renewable energy is accelerating, with solar and wind power leading the charge.

However, challenges remain. The intermittent nature of some renewable sources, like solar and wind, requires advancements in energy storage and grid infrastructure. Despite these challenges, the future of energy is undoubtedly green. By continuing to invest in renewable energy, we can power a sustainable future that benefits both people and the planet.

Click to Check:- https://www.headsupb2b.com/renewable-energy

[orifeenergy]

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[techtoio]

The Future of Renewable Energy: Innovations and Trends

Introduction

The need for sustainable energy solutions has reached an unprecedented level of importance.. As global demand for energy continues to rise, the need for renewable energy sources becomes increasingly urgent. Renewable energy not only offers a cleaner alternative to fossil fuels but also promises to meet our energy needs sustainably. In this article, we at TechtoIO explore the future of renewable energy, focusing on the latest innovations and trends driving this vital sector forward. Read to continue link

[reasonsforhope]

"It may sound surprising, but when times are tough and there is no other food available, some soil bacteria can consume traces of hydrogen in the air as an energy source.

In fact, bacteria remove a staggering 70 million tonnes of hydrogen yearly from the atmosphere, a process that literally shapes the composition of the air we breathe.

We have isolated an enzyme that enables some bacteria to consume hydrogen and extract energy from it, and found it can produce an electric current directly when exposed to even minute amounts of hydrogen.

As we report in a new paper in Nature, the enzyme may have considerable potential to power small, sustainable air-powered devices in future.

Bacterial genes contain the secret for turning air into electricity

Prompted by this discovery, we analysed the genetic code of a soil bacterium called Mycobacterium smegmatis, which consumes hydrogen from air.

Written into these genes is the blueprint for producing the molecular machine responsible for consuming hydrogen and converting it into energy for the bacterium. This machine is an enzyme called a “hydrogenase”, and we named it Huc for short.

Hydrogen is the simplest molecule, made of two positively charged protons held together by a bond formed by two negatively charged electrons. Huc breaks this bond, the protons part ways, and the electrons are released...

The molecular blueprint for extracting hydrogen from air

With Huc isolated, we set about studying it in earnest, to discover what exactly the enzyme is capable of. How can it turn the hydrogen in the air into a sustainable source of electricity?

Remarkably, we found that even when isolated from the bacteria, Huc can consume hydrogen at concentrations far lower even than the tiny traces in the air. In fact, Huc still consumed whiffs of hydrogen too faint to be detected by our gas chromatograph, a highly sensitive instrument we use to measure gas concentrations...

Enzymes could use air to power the devices of tomorrow

It’s early days for this research, and several technical challenges need to be overcome to realise the potential of Huc.

For one thing, we will need to significantly increase the scale of Huc production. In the lab we produce Huc in milligram quantities, but we want to scale this up to grams and ultimately kilograms.

However, our work demonstrates that Huc functions like a “natural battery” producing a sustained electrical current from air or added hydrogen.

As a result, Huc has considerable potential in developing small, sustainable air-powered devices as an alternative to solar power.

The amount of energy provided by hydrogen in the air would be small, but likely sufficient to power a biometric monitor, clock, LED globe or simple computer. With more hydrogen, Huc produces more electricity and could potentially power larger devices.

Another application would be the development of Huc-based bioelectric sensors for detecting hydrogen, which could be incredibly sensitive. Huc could be invaluable for detecting leaks in the infrastructure of our burgeoning hydrogen economy or in a medical setting.

In short, this research shows how a fundamental discovery about how bacteria in soils feed themselves can lead to a reimagining of the chemistry of life. Ultimately it may also lead to the development of technologies for the future."

-via The Conversation, March 8, 2023. Article written by the authors of the study.

[mindblowingscience]

This could be another step towards a clean energy future, if renewables power the process. The new device makes a few chemical modifications to existing technologies, making it possible to extract hydrogen from untreated, unpurified seawater – which could alleviate concerns about using precious water supplies.

"We have split natural seawater into oxygen and hydrogen… to produce green hydrogen by electrolysis, using a non-precious and cheap catalyst in a commercial electrolyzer," explains chemical engineer Shizhang Qiao of the University of Adelaide in Australia.

Traditionally, hydrogen fuel has been made using natural gas, but it can also be made through electrolysis.

Electrolysis is a water-splitting reaction that uses electricity to bump hydrogen atoms out of elbow-shaped water molecules, and an electrolyzer is a device in which that happens.

Right now, this process can be achieved using electricity from fossil fuels or from renewable energy sources, but both systems require fresh water. Finding a way to achieve electrolysis with seawater could make the future of green hydrogen fuel production far more sustainable.

Continue Reading

[rjzimmerman]

What You Want is an S Curve

Excerpt from Bill McKibben's Substack, "The Crucial Years."

Regular readers of this column know that I think we’re engaged in the most desperate race in human history—a race between a rapidly unraveling climate, and a rapid buildout of renewable energy. The outcome of that race will determine just how many people die, how many cities drown, how many species survive. Pretty much everything else—efforts to restore corals, say, or worries about how exactly we’ll power long-haul aircraft—is noise at the margins; the decisive question is how those two curves, of destruction and construction, will cross. Oh, and the relevant time frame is the next half-decade, the last five or six “crucial years.”

So even amidst all the desperate news from climate science, I have some legitimately good numbers to update you on this morning. They come from the veteran energy analyst Kingsmill Bond and colleagues at the Rocky Mountain Institute, and they demonstrate that the world has moved on to the steep part of the S curve, which will sweep us from minimal reliance on renewable energy to—we must hope and pray— minimal dependence on fossil fuel. The angle of that curve may prove to be the most significant geometry of our time on earth, competing only with the slope of the Keeling Curve which documents the growing accumulation of co2 in the atmosphere above Mauna Loa.

It seems pretty clear, according to Bond’s team, that last year or this we will hit peak fossil fuel demand on this planet—the advent of cheap solar and wind and batteries, combined with rapidly developing technologies like heat pumps and EVs, has finally caught up with the surging human demand for energy even as more Asian economies enter periods of rapid growth: the question is whether we’ll plateau out at current levels of fossil fuel use for a decade or more, or whether we can make fossil fuel use decline enough to begin to matter to the atmosphere. 

And the numbers in the new report give at least some reason for hope: sun and wind are now growing faster than any other energy sources in history, and they are coming online faster that anyone had predicted, even in the last few years. In the last decade, “solar generation has grown 12 times, battery storage by 180 times, and EV sales by 100 times.” This charge has been led by China, where “solar generation up 37 times and EV sales up 700 time.” and which as a result is “poised to be the first major electrostate.” Europe, and indeed the whole OECD group, are now seeing rapid growth too, and the best news is that there are increasing signs that countries like India and Vietnam, where growth in demand will be fastest over the rest of the decade, are figuring out how to electrify their economies. Fossil fuel for generating electricity has peaked in Thailand, South Africa, and in all of Latin America.

Solar power in particular is about to become the most common way to produce electricity on this planet, and batteries will this year pass pumped-hydro as the biggest source of energy storage; the supply chain seems to be in place to continue this kind of hectic growth, as there are enough factories under construction to produce the stuff we need, and investment capital is increasingly underwriting cleantech (though a treacherously large supply of money continues to flow to fossil fuels). Pick your metric—the number of cleantech patents, the energy density of batteries, the size of wind turbine rotors—and we’re seeing rapid and continuing progress; the price of solar power is expected to drop by half again in the course of the decade, reinforcing all these trends. The adoption curves for cleantech look like the adoption curves for color tv, or cellphones—that is to say, from nothing to ubiquitous in a matter of years. 

A big reason for the ongoing change—and for ongoing optimism—is the simple efficiency of the technologies now ascendant.

A second report from Bond’s Rocky Mountain Institute, this one published last week, focused on these numbers, and they’re equally astounding. By their calculations, we waste more than half of the energy we use:

Out of the 606 EJ (an exajoule is roughly the annual energy consumption of New York City) of primary energy that entered the global energy system in 2019, some 33% (196 EJ) was lost on the supply side due to energy production and transportation losses before it ever reached a consumer. Another 30% (183 EJ) was lost on the demand side turning final energy into useful energy. That means that of the 606 EJ we put into our energy system per annum, only 227 EJ ended up providing useful energy, like heating a home or moving a truck. That is only 37% efficient overall.

We’ve invested mostly in increasing the volume of energy we use, not its efficiency—because that was what made big money for Big Oil. But cleantech is inherently more efficient: when you burn fossil fuel to make power, you lose two-thirds of the power to heat, which simply doesn’t happen with wind and sun. An EV translates 80-90% of the power it uses into propulsion, compared with well less than half for a car that runs on gas. A gas boiler is 85 percent efficient, which isn’t bad—but a heat pump is 300% efficient, because its main “fuel source” is the ambient heat of the atmosphere, which it translates into heating and cooling for your home. That means that the higher upfront costs of these technologies quickly translate into serious savings. And these kind of numbers bend curves fast

[learnwithmearticles]

Technology's Use of Water

While water is renewable, it is finite. Its renewability depends on us using and managing our water resources responsibly.

Previous articles on this page have discussed hydropower and how it produces less waste and costs less than other resources. We have also briefly discussed how other energy sources consume water as a coolant or receptacle for waste. Entire university courses are dedicated to human uses of water.

Water Scarcity

Only 3% of water on Earth is freshwater. Of course, we need this to drink, but we need it for many more services beyond that.

Many plumbing fixtures are made of copper, which saltwater severely corrodes, same as lead and, over a longer time, PVC. Toilets on average use 1-5 gallons of water per flush. If we want to preserve freshwater by switching to saltwater plumbing, we would have to rethink and re-pipe entire plumbing systems.

We lose safe water in rain, as well. Supported by a study in Environmental Science and Technology, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in 2022 stated that rainwater is not safe to drink. Chemicals known as per-/poly-fluoroalkyl substances break down extremely slowly, and have leached from many products like cleaners, fabrics, and shampoo into the water cycle. Removing PFAS from water requires filters of activated carbon or reverse osmosis membranes, which also require frequent maintenance.

A lot of water is also not available to us because it is in ice caps and glaciers, which are estimated to be about 68% of Earth’s freshwater. This water is also being lost, because as glaciers melt at increasing rates, that freshwater becomes saltwater in the ocean.

These limitations mean that water is not necessarily renewable yet, especially because treating water produces its own waste and pollution. We have to be responsible with the small percentage of water we have access to.

Irresponsible Use

There are a ridiculous amount of ways in which we waste water. Leaks, watering lawns, and leaving taps running are some of the big household wastes of water. While individual accountability and changes can still make a big difference, I want to focus on bigger impacts.

One example is in nuclear power production. Nuclear power plants use water to cool down used fuel when it is done being used in the reactor. This results in radioactive and thermal water pollution.

Agriculture is another common cause of water pollution. Excess water from rain or artificial watering runs off of agricultural fields and flows towards streams and bodies of water. This runoff often includes amounts of fertilizers and pesticides ranging from minimal to extremely harmful. This leads to improper levels of oxygen, nitrogen, and hydrogen within the water. Like water contaminated by pharmaceuticals, this is not safe to drink, and something not safe for skin contact.

Technology is also a major factor of water demands. Artificial Intelligence and cryptocurrency are heavy water consumers.

AI is beneficial within waste management, as it is able to quickly analyze information and identify issues, potential problems, and potential areas of improvement. Unfortunately, AI training requires a large amount of water. One study states that training GPT-3 alone can evaporate 700,000 liters of freshwater. In 2027, AI is predicted to consume 4.2 to 6.6 billion cubic meters of water. In comparison, Denmark nationally consumes around one billion cubic meters in a year.

Cryptocurrency is even worse. It goes through a process called mining in which transactions are verified and new ‘coins’ are generated into the system. This process is extremely water-demanding. For example, in 2021, mining of Bitcoin consumed more than 1,600 gigaliters of global water. On average, each cryptocurrency transaction consumes 16,000 liters of water in cooling down the computer equipment and the power plants that provide the electricity.

Saltwater as an alternative in these situations does exist; however, this process has the disadvantages of one-time use, large water intake, sewage discharge, and ocean pollution. Technology has begun to improve on this method with seawater circulation cooling technology, which reduces sewage discharge and water intake, but remains an imperfect solution.

Technology has the potential to drastically improve environmental management and restoration, but still has a long way to go before we offset the huge impacts we have made. Freshwater is taken for granted by many people, and the systems that disproportionately consume the most of it are not held accountable. This cycle must stop if we want to make water a truly renewable resource.

Additional Resources

1. Water Renewability

2. Corrosion on Plumbing

3. Treating PFAS

4. Household Water Waste

5. Nuclear Water Waste

6. AI Helping Water Management

7. AI Water Consumption

8. Crypto Mining Water Consumption

9. Seawater cooling technology