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Experts predict that solar power will become the planet's dominant energy source during the next 50 years. This is largely driven by the world’s need to reduce greenhouse gases contributing to climate change.
All countries are predicted to greatly benefit from the changes towards harnessing more renewable energy.
However, the poorer countries in the world stand to see the greatest economic growth from the shift to renewable energy. This growth will be driven by the manufacturing, operation and maintenance of many medium, small and micro-renewable energy projects in these countries analysts say.
One of these experts is Earth Day co-founder Denis Hayes who spoke at a lecture at Buffalo USA University. “We have so much sunshine hitting the earth” said Denis Hayes “every time we have doubled the production of solar panels, the cost has come down 20% and we will see strong growth if we can get the production cost down to $1 a watt.” Present Renewable Power Costs (UN Report) Large Hydro 3c-4c per kw hour
Small Hydro 4c-7c "
Wind 4c-6c "
Bio-Mass 5c-12c "
Geo Thermal 4c-7c "
Rooftop Solar Panel 20c-40c "
Solar Thermal (Tower, Dish, Trough) 12c-18c " Water Heating Biomass Heating 1-20MW 1c-6c per kw hour
Solar Hot Water 2c-25c "
Geothermal (Steam Heat Pumps) 0.5c-5c "
Bio-Fuel
Ethanol (Sugarcane/Corn/Wheat/Cellulose) 25c-30c litre
Biodiesel (Rape Seed, Canola, Mustard Seed, Palm Oil, Waste Vegetable Oils) 40c-80c litre Rural Mini Hydro 100kw-1000kw 5c-10c per kw hour
Micro Hydro 1-100kw 7c-20c "
Pico Hydro 0.1-1kw 20c-40c "
Biomass Gasifier 8c-12c " Steadily Declining Costs Small Wind Turbine 15c-30c declining per kw hour
Household Wind Turbine 20c-40c "
Village Size Mini Grid 25c-100c "
Solar Home System40c-60c "
Case Studies from Around The World
Kenya - Solar Oven used by Farmers Mr John Maina from Kenya has won the Energy Globe Award from the European Parliament, a prize for outstanding projects in energy efficiency. Mr Maina has pioneered ways of increasing harvests of small farms by 50% using solar power. John Maina has developed a solar energy oven which allows fruit and vegetables to be dried and thereby preserved. This has permitted higher yields on farms without using more water or pesticides. Australia - Heat Reflective Paint Used in Queensland Government Schools This commercial reflective roof coating can lower the internal heat under a roof by up to 18C according to the supplier Insultec. This can result in considerable power savings of up to 60% in airconditioning usage costs. The lower temperatures inside industrial and commercial buildings results in lower air conditioning power consumption and a higher level of personal comfort. The heat reflective paints are made of a co-polymer compound containing inert pigments and special filters uniquely formulated to re-radiate 90% of solar infrared and 85% of ultraviolet rays back into the atmosphere says the manufacturer. This effectively stops heat transfer through the roof. Examples of use are on the roofs of 431 Queensland schools resulting in a significant increase in comfort for students and staff as well as lower maintenance costs. The Insultec membrane coating has also been used effectively in large scale road construction projects in Saudi Arabia where extreme temperatures caused expansion and contraction gaps on concrete road surfaces. India - Mumbai Introduces Compulsory Energy Audits for Government Buildings and Politicians Homes The Public Works Department in Mumbai now monitors the electricity bills of ministers and helps them bring down power consumption, the Minister for Alternative Energy Vinay Kore told the Mumbai News last week. Vinay Kore said that conference halls in his department have been fitted with split air conditioners and CFL lamps and one wall has been replaced with frosted glass to let in natural light. The Public Works Minister, Chhagan Bhrybal, said that he doesn't leave lights on when nobody is at home and he only uses CFL lamps and one air conditioner at a time. Legislator, Vinod Tawde, said that he arranged to switch off lights in his apartment complex and residents only use the lift sparingly. No one uses it for going down and he only leaves his air conditioner on for one hour, he said. The mayor, Dr Shubha Raul said that he will be installing a solar cooker and CFL lamps and in the office he leaves the lights and air conditioner switched off, also he has installed a solar energy unit in his bungalow. Switzerland - Solar Powered Football Stadium Swiss architect Renato Marazzi has designed the world's biggest solar power installation ever to be incorporated into the roof of a football stadium. The Stade de Suisse at Wankdorf will be hosting the 2008 Football Championships. The stadium has 5,152 solar panels and generates 700,000kw hours of electricity per annum supplying energy to the national power grid. This corresponds to the energy used by 260 households a year, explained Renato Marazzi speaking in Doha, Qatar where his firm Marazzi and Paul was pointing out that Qatar enjoys more sunshine than Switzerland. Marazzi and Paul are currently working on other European solar powered football stadiums and arenas in Belgrade, Vienna, Budapest and Lucerne. USA - Space Solar Power Study Proposed
John Mankins president of the Space Solar Power Association in Washington DC is reported in Washington as proposing a study of satellite based solar power devices for supplying energy to remote areas on earth.
Mr Mankins reported to Fox News that space based solar power generation could offer a massive improvement over earth based collectors because the sun shines 24 hours a day in space. Australia - Outback Queensland Is Getting a 40MW Hot Rocks Zero Emissions Energy Supply - Thanks To A Russian Inventor and Geo Dynamics It is now economic to convert to low grade heat from hot materials such as underground geothermal hot rocks and other waste heat sources into renewable energy, mechanical power and electricity. A thermodynamic process known as the Kalina Cycle now makes this clean energy source commercially possible. The Kalina Cycle is named after its Inventor the Russian Engineer Aleksander Kalina. Kalina showed that when the ratio of a mixture of a working fluid of ammonia and water is varied at constant pressure, then heat transfer in a power cycle can be increased considerably more than if the working fluid was just water and steam. Improved Efficiency in Turbines Using the Kalina Cycle
When this improved thermodynamic fluid process is used in conventional power generation gas and steam turbines, then considerably more heat, energy and power can be extracted than if ordinary water and steam was used as the working fluid in the system.
Also, the required power plant size is much smaller when using the Kalina Cycle. At the Outback Power Station site near Innaminka in the Cooper Basin, Queensland, Geo-Dynamics is now drilling down to reach hot granite rocks located over 3km underground. The company will extract heat from the hot rocks, then transfer the heat by circulating naturally occurring 250 degree superheated water through the hot rocks acting as an underground heat exchanger. Another heat exchanger on the surface then transfers the heat from the high pressure underground water supply to the working fluid in the power generation system. Conventional power generation equipment operating with ammonia-water working fluid mixtures in the Kalina Cycle then produces the electric power supply. Potentially The Biggest Hot Rocks Resource in The World – Says CEO Williams. Geo-Dynamics expects to be economically supplying 40MW of additional base load electricity from hot rocks to the national grid by 2010. Geo-Dynamics CEO Adrian Williams said “We are absolutely excited. We will have completed a drilling and circulation test by the end of this year and once we launch into the 40MW commercial development, there is no stopping us.” Talking on the ABC Television’s 4 Corners Program, Adrian Williams said that the Cooper Basin Hot Rocks Geothermal resource was potentially the biggest in the world equal to 15 large Snowy Mountains Hydro Schemes. He added that the resource could be rapidly exploited by 2020 and would be capable of generating 10% of Australia’s power supply with zero emissions by 2030. But What About the Power Transmission Infrastructure? Can the Geo-Dynamics Project Pass the Test? United Nations figures show that the cost of electricity production from geo-thermal plants around the world is comparatively low and the proposed Geo-Dynamics power plant is expected to be no exception. Logically, this means that low cost electricity will also be produced at the Geo- Dynamics power station site. However, outback Queensland is a long way from the bulk of its potential consumers and that means that major transmission infrastructure will be needed to link this electricity supply into its main consumer grid. Now if Geo-Dynamics had to provide a major transmission system as well as produce the power it would not be a viable proposition for them. Now it would seem to be in the national interest for its government to invest at least in part in providing the country’s electricity infrastructure network. However, it is believed that neither Federal nor State Governments will commit to construct, guarantee or underwrite any major new electricity transmission infrastructure project until the Geo-Dynamics pilot plant is proven, up and running and a strong case is presented for such a project. With that caveat, Geo-Dynamics, and other alternative energy observers, are quite confident that Australia will be getting an important zero emissions major energy supply from Queensland's geothermal hot rocks in the future. Possibly, this will become the biggest hot rocks electricity scheme in the world. This Month’s Energy Saving Tips from Australia Five Easy Ways to Save Water - from Sydney Water Select plants most suitable for the climate and soil in your area. Talk to your local nursery.
Apply a layer of mulch 7cm-10cm deep around plants. This reduces evaporation by up to 70%.
Add water crystals to soil to enhance water retention by up to 40%.
Keep container of water in the fridge. That way you won’t waste water by running taps until it's cool enough to drink.
Spend one minute less in the shower.
Robert's Questions & Answers
Q. How does not using an elevator to go down save energy? A. If a number of empty up trips are saved, then this saves energy. Q. How can you transmit electricity from satellites to earth? A. Solar collectors, prisms, lenses and mirrors can feasibly be used on satellites to intensely focus the suns rays on to solar energy equipment on earth to produce the electricity. Bear in mind that it is only proposed to conduct a study at this time before a practical experiment is carried out to use satellite based devices to produce electricity on earth. Q. Why should I bother switching off my computer? A. Everthing counts, big and small. If millions of people individually save small amounts of energy, then collectively it adds up to a huge amount of energy saved. If you think of energy saved as money saved and you are making a small contribution towards saving the planet, then it should be something to feel good about.
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