Analysis & Features – Page 3

Algeria discovered solar thermal just one year ago

Algeria is the fourth biggest exporter of natural gas worldwide, the second biggest producer of liquefied petroleum gas and the tenth biggest producer of mineral oil.

The consequence is clear: renewable energies are not in the focus of the government.

The administration of the country only talks about photovoltaic and wind energy.

During a conference in Algeria in January, the state-owned electricity and gas utility Sonelgaz had 20 minutes to talk about projects in the field of renewable, and the speaker did not once mention the words ‘solar water heating’.

Algeria still remains in a deep slumber when it comes to heating water with the sun.

So far, annual market volume is estimated at around 50 residential systems per year.

Solar thermal market is decreasing

A new report has been released focusing on two renewable energy technologies: solar thermal energy for hot domestic water heating and concentrating solar power (CSP) for electricity generation.

The EurObserv’ER Solar Thermal Barometer shows different fortunes for the two solar thermal technologies.

It seems the recession threw black spots over the European solar thermal market throughout 2010.

For the second year running, new installations for hot water production and space heating (collectors) decreased.

According to the EurObserv’ER survey the newly-assigned surface area was 3.8 million square meters in 2010, down from 4.2 million square meters in 2009 and 4.6 million square meters in 2008.

Total EU solar thermal collectors at the end of 2010 was 25 135.6 MWth.

Five EU countries, mostly Mediterranean, intend to develop the sector.

According to experts the solar thermal market will pick up again in 2011 because the European markets have recovered maybe except the Spanish market.

The key to future growth will be driven by future conventional energy price trends.

Corsica started to become attractive for the solar sector

Corsica, the fourth largest Mediterranean island enjoys a high degree of autonomy.

This island has a high solar radiation levels, between 1,750 and 1,900 kWh/m2, they are the highest in all of Europe.

Local authorities have a strong influence on the licensing of solar parks.

The island offers feed-in tariffs comparable to the French overseas departments and territories.

In France is a rule that wind or solar parks cannot feed in more than 30% of the electricity consumed in the region where they are installed.

The rule is applied to all systems with a capacity of more than 3kW.

Corsica is for most part mountainous and covered with forests, which makes it difficult to find suitable locations for solar parks.

One success story comes from White Owl Capital AG based in Berlin, Germany.

The company, which has specialized on renewable energy investments, and recently obtained licenses for the construction of two solar power plants with a total annual capacity of 5 MW.

The projects will incorporate 21.800 polycrystalline modules supplies by Trina Solar and be built on a surface of 11 hectares.

One of the first solar companies that became active in Corsica is juwi Solar.

In 2009 the company starts the construction of a new solar park on the island.

With a nominal capacity of 7, 7 MW the system was built on a surface of more than 30 hectares.

World’s first solar powered town in Japan

Japan will have the fist solar powered town in Fujisawa City.

Japan has learned its lessons from relying too much on nuclear energy after all the dark hours the nation has spent since the

Fukushima plant disaster and is now turning to solar energy instead to power up the lives of the people there.

Japan will built a smart town which will work with nine private sector firms to build a sustainable urban town which will see solar systems and battery storage technology installed in all homes and town facilities.

The project can become a model town that can be replicated in Japan’s earthquake-damaged areas.

This will be the first completely solar powered town in the world and it will have a thousand homes, playing residence to a population of about 3,000 people.

The project, which costs US$742 million and spans 19 hectares, will be completed in 2014.

Switzerland stops nuclear power

We all know how dangerous nuclear power is after the disaster in Japan.

Many countries have begun protest to give up nuclear energy and Switzerland is one of them.

The last reactor in Switzerland will finally go offline in 2034 because the Swiss government just voted on Wednesday to abandon nuclear power in their country.

No reactors will be built and the last five reactors will slowly be phased out.

People’s confidence in the feasibility of nuclear energy has collapsed since the nuclear meltdown disaster in Japan.

Germany also decided to reject nuclear, and has accelerated the shuttering of a number of its aged reactors.

Over 20,000 people protested against nuclear power in Switzerland; the demonstration was the largest anti-nuclear power march since the eighties.

Google invest $55 million in Mojave Desert

The wind power industry of California received a boost when Google Inc. announced its decision to invest $55 million in a large Mojave Desert wind farm.

By this investment the state made an important step to regain its number one position in the world in field of wind power energy production.

Google is involved in many projects related to renewable energy because it needs huge amount of electricity to run its vast datacenters.

The internet search giant has taken up the above mentioned project in partnership with Citibank which is also investing an equal amount, i.e. $55 million.

The wind farm will produce 1.5 gigawatts which will power 450.000 homes.

This initiative will create green jobs in Kern County which is struggling with 17.5 percent unemployment.

Japan wants a solar powered nation

After all the disasters, Japan is still optimistic to achieve a nuclear free eco-system.

Japan has a new plan for a solar powered nation by 2030.

Japan is soon going to begin a universal solar panel initiative for all their structures in the time frame of 20 years.

There are plans to make solar panels for all residential and commercial buildings in the country.

We hope that Japan’s ambition to become reality.

Top 10 clean energy states in U.S.

Promoting green technology is on the rise.

An extensive study released Wednesday by consulting firm Clean Edge offers some results.

The survey used more than 3,500 data points to evaluate all 50 states in the U.S.

Factors for evaluating each state included: the amount of green-tech related patent activity; the amount of green-tech venture capital being invested; the number of alternative fuel, electric, and hybrid vehicles registered in the state; and the percentage of electricity produced from clean sources.

The following states are ranked in the Top 10 for leading in green tech:

1.   California
2.   Oregon
3.   Massachusetts
4.   New York
5.   Colorado
6.   Washington
7.   New Mexico
8.   Minnesota
9.   Connecticut
10. Vermont

California has the most money for backing up all those green-tech projects and has some of the most progressive environmental policies.

The state attracts more green-tech venture capital than all the other states in the U.S. combined.
California is also leading in clean-energy:

1.   California
2.   Massachusetts
3.   Oregon
4.   Colorado
5.   New Jersey
6.   Connecticut
7.   New York
8.   Maryland
9.   Washington
10. Minnesota

All you need to know about eco-houses

Today, everyone wants go green to save the world.

The eco-houses are designed in such a way that the energy consumption per house will be 20-30% lesser than a regular home.

Also, an eco-house meets certain guidelines for energy effectiveness standard.

On the market the eco-house demands are increasingly.

The eco-houses not only save energy but also help in the improvement of the environment by avoiding the excess usage of the non-renewable energy and the burning of fossil fuels.

If you choose an ecological house you’ll use less energy and avoid causing excess air pollution.

In U.S. the green homes for sale have a blue Energy Star mark, which is the government-backed symbol for energy efficiency, to ensure that a new home is energy efficient.

Eco-homes are effectively insulating with advanced insulating systems installed in various parts of the house.

These houses maintain the same level of temperature throughout the house while using less energy than regular houses.

The windows need to have protective coatings and newly improved frames that help to keep the house warm during cold days and dissipate it out during the summer time and fluorescent bulbs.

If you are lucky maybe the house will have solar thermal panels for hot water and heat.

These homes really do consume 20-30 % less energy than regular homes.

All you need to know about geothermal energy

Geothermal energy can be defined as a sort of renewable energy derived from the heat generated deep in the earth’s crust.

The temperature of the earth crust rises one degree Celsius for every 30-50 meters and the heat is brought to the surface by thermal conduction.

This clean renewable energy is used in some countries for cooking and heating for thousands of years.

Geothermal resources can be harnessed into electricity, for hot water and for heating your homes.

Electricity generation technology consist of three methods: dry steam method that uses steam as it comes from the underground source to drive the turbines, flash steam method which makes use of the underground hot water (360 degrees F) is pumped to the surface where it flashes to steam and drives the turbines and binary method that makes use of heated underground water and runs it through a heat exchanger where it heats a fluid with a lower boiling point that flashes to steam and drive the turbine.

In the top producers of electricity from geothermal energy are United States, Philippines and Indonesia.

Currently only 24 countries have geothermal power stations.

Finding a suitable build location is a major drawback to geothermal energy because to trap geothermal energy must provide hot rocks in the layer of the Earth’s crust that would heat the water pumped into the well at suitable level and not all the locations are completely reliable.

Investment costs in geothermal energy are very high.
Drilling is more than half the cost.

The other ugly part of geothermal energy is the hazardous gasses and minerals such as mercury, hydrogen sulphide, ammonia and arsenic come upon the surface along with hot water.

In conclusion geothermal power in the long run is seen to be very cheap, but the initial cost of installing the power will definitely be high and has some risks.