Mean Green

Introduction

Logistics constitute a vital link in the present day transportation systems. They have improved the cost, efficiency and reliability aspects of our delivery systems comprising the end part of supply chain. However, the negative environmental impact of transport movements leading to high fuel consumption emissions, enhanced noise levels, movement vibrations and accident rates have now reached such high proportions that the sustainability issues have inevitably come to the forefront of discussions all the world over. Logistics, including the reverse distribution logistics, have to be made environment friendly. In this context, ‘Green Logistics’ assumes great significance.

Present day transportation owes much to modern technology which has indeed helped develop a high degree of organization and control over freight movements not only within a country but also across the seven seas. Technology could be called the most effective driver of growth of transportation industry today. It is however paradoxical that logistics providers in their eagerness to serve own narrow and commercial interests have lost sight of the objectives of green logistics. The conflict between industry’s self-interest and the much-avowed green objectives therefore deserves serious debate and action.

 The objective of this paper is to discuss the significance of the concept of green logistics, transport industry related green house gas (GHG) emissions, air quality management in urban agglomerations, modal shift issue, use of bio-fuels and sustainability issues in general.

  What is Green Logistics?

  The concept of ‘greenness’ came to be discussed in relation to the transportation industry during the eighties and nineties, especially after the World Commission on Environment and Development Report, 1987 announced environmental sustainability as a goal for international action. The transportation industry was identified as one of the culprits contributing to environmental degradation. Studies and reports had also suggested that environment ought to be incorporated in the logistics framework or supply chain paradigm. The term ‘green logistics’ has since then become a catchword.

 Traditionally, logistics takes care of the forward distribution of products which includes transport, warehousing, packaging, inventory management and information processing starting from the producer to the retailer and end user. Environmental considerations require that, as a corollary, care has also to be taken of ‘reverse logistics’ which involves recycling and disposal of waste and used materials. Reverse flow logistics have, in fact, opened up a new market for the take back (10). In fine, the entire life cycle of a product – production, distribution, consumption and disposal – has to be considered as part of logistics. Since quite a few related operations like inventory, materials handling, packaging etc may be outsourced to other agencies, operational integration assumes great significance in the total supply chain. In other words, the various independent operations linked together on a transactions-to-transactions basis are buffered by inventory.   The focus is on maintaining a continuous flow of desired velocity by synchronizing all the activities which form part of the supply chain.

 The key benefit of establishing an effective connectivity is the minimization of transport costs incurred by firms. The logistics expenditure is comprised of following elements: (a) In-bound logistics cost (operations), (b) Out-bound logistics cost (marketing and sales), (c) Service cost, and (d) Management profit (12). The hallmark of an effective integration in supply chain is (a) Transit time compression, (b) Reliability of service,, (c) Just in time (JIT) delivery  (d) Good information systems support, (e) flexibility in operations (f) Customization and (g) Minimization of ‘back haul’ or empty trucks in return journey. The same criteria apply to reverse logistics which require management of products returned by customers, their recycling or reuse, repair or removal of products and finding alternate channels to sell impaired assets (18). All these have environmental implications.

 Transport administration, as part of supply chain is also of great significance. It involves expertise in vehicles and equipment scheduling, load planning, routing of freight, advance shipment notification, consolidation of cargo, tracing the movement of cargo as part of control and an efficient information system. It also involves documentation in terms of bill of lading and shipment manifest and what is quite important, a competitive pricing strategy (2, 4).

 In modern times international trade has become a bigger part of world’s economic activity. The role of transportation in the global supply chain is now all the more important. Transporters may use a combination of modes like air, road, rail, water, pipelines and inter-modal. Trucking is normally more expensive than rail or water but it provides the advantage of door-to-door shipment and shorter delivery times. It also eliminates the need for transfer or transshipment between pick-up and delivery points. Shippers therefore often prefer road transport over rail for all short distance movements within the country. When it comes to global trade, water transport becomes the dominant mode, although air transport is also preferred for light-weight and perishable cargo.

 Transport Industry and Green House Gas (GHG) emissions

  Transport is certainly an energy- intensive industry involving high levels of direct and indirect GHG emissions. According to Carbon Budget and Trends Annual Report, 2007, global carbon emissions rose rapidly during 2007 with industrializing nations like China and India producing more than half of mankind’s output of carbon dioxide CO2 which happens to be the main cause of global warming (11). The Report states that emissions from burning fossil fuels was the major contributor to CO2 increase and India would soon overtake Russia to become the world’s third largest emitter of CO2. It should be noted that 450 parts per million (ppm) of CO2 leads to two degrees Celsius increase in atmospheric temperature with disastrous consequences in terms of global warming. A wake- up call to industry, business and our wily politicians is given by recent figures of atmospheric CO2 concentration in general which rose to 383 ppm in 2007. This was 37% higher than the mean level. China, India, Russia and Japan are considered as the big players in CO2 emissions and in that the vehicular pollution is the main culprit(6). Country wise figures in the accompanying table 1 illustrate the severity (23). 

.Table 1 : Showing GHG emissions for select countries

Country                  CO2 Emissions              Growth Rate

(In million tones)             (1990-2004)

 

United States                    6,046                              25

China                                5,007                             109

Russia                               1,524                               23

India                                 1,342                               97

Japan                                1,257                               17

Germany                             808                              -18

Canada                                637                               54

United Kingdom                587                                01

Korea                                  465                               93

Italy                                    450                               15

World                            28,983                                28

_________________________________________________-

Note: Share of developed countries is 15% in world population,

                               but 50% in CO2 emissions.

  It is also felt that since Russia is effectively reducing the emission rate, India may soon rank as third greatest polluter after U.S.A. and China.

 Addressing Urban Transport Air Pollution

 Transport no doubt plays a crucial role in the proper and efficient functioning of our cities.\, but it is also responsible mainly for air pollution. Vehicle emissions are considered a serious issue in most metro cities of the world including India. The levels of Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM) is much higher than the standard of 90 (as in 1992) set by the World Health Organization (WHO). A comparison of the SPM concentration in selected Indian Cities with that in other Asian cities is given in Table 2.

 As can be seen, in 1992 each of the three Indian cities of Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata had exceeded many times over the WHO limit of 90 SPM and our national capital was the worst offender.

 Table 2: Figures of Average Annual SPM Concentration in Cities of Asia- During 1990-1999  (WHO SPM limit 90 as in 1992)              _________________________________________________________________________

Bangkok           215                       Hong Kong           55                     New Delhi        490

Beijing              380                       Kolkata                 394                   Seoul                101

Busan               100                       Manila                   198                  Shanghai           250

Chonguing       250                      Mumbai                 252

 The blame for rising pollution levels can be laid at the door of steeply rising vehicle population in Indian cities as show in Table 3.

 Table 3: Total Number of Registered Motor Vehicles in India during 1951-2004

                                                                                                   (Figures in thousands)  

Year         All           Two           Cars, Jeeps         Buses       Goods           Others

              Vehicles     Wheelers     & Taxis                            Vehicles

 

1951         306                 27              159                34               82                 4

1961         665                 88              310                57              168               42

1971        1865               576             682                94              343              170

1981        5391               2618           1160               162            554              897

1991      21374             14200          2954               331           1356            2533

2000      48857             34118          6143               562           2715            5319

2001      54991             38556          7058               634           2948            5795

2002      58924             41581          7613               635           2974            6121

2003      67007             47519          8599               721           3492            6676

2004      72718             51922          9451               768           3749            6829

_______________________________________________________________________-

Source: (19) and Transport Research Wing, Ministry of Road Transport, G.O.I.

 Motor vehicles are prone to emit large quantities of Total Organic Gases (TOG) including hydrocarbon (HC), Carbon Mono oxide (CO), Fine Particulate Matter (PM), Nitrogen Oxide (NOx), and Sulphur Oxides (SOx). These air pollutants cause severe health and environmental effects. The fine Particulate Matter (PM) results in aggravating respiratory and cardio vascular diseases and impairing lung function. Besides, the environment may get degraded by way of acid rain, eutrophication, visibility impairment and, of course, climate change. According to a study published in Current Science (5), while the Indian economy grew by 2.5 times during 1975-1995, the vehicle pollution level increased by 7.5 times. This is disturbing indeed. It shows that transport system and air pollution are directly co-related. The emissions from motorized vehicles in practical terms depend on vehicle kilometers, vehicle speeds, life of vehicles and composition of vehicle fleet. The emission rates of different categories of vehicles are shown in Table 4.

 Table 4:  Emission Rates of Different Categories of Vehicles in Typical Indian City in gms/km

 

Vehicle category               CO            HC         NOx         SO2          Pb            TSP

 

Two- wheeler                   8.3            5.18             -           0.013        0.004            -

Motor car                        24.03          3.57          1.57        0.053        0.012            -

Three-wheeler (autos)     12.25          7.77            -           0.029         0.009            -

Bus                                    4.38          1.33          8.28        1.441           -               0.275

Truck                                 3.43          1.33          6.48         1.127          -               0.450

Light commercial vehicle 1.30          o.50         2.50         0.400           -               0.100

Note: (-) indicates negligible quantity

Source:  (21)

 Here one can see that emission rates in terms of CO and HC for personalized modes of transport like motor car and two wheelers are very high suggesting the need for their substitution by public passenger transport modes lie bus or metro rail. The figures of average efficiency of different categories of motor vehicles as expressed in terms of kilometers per litre are as in Table 5.

 Table 5:

                          Vehicle category          _Fuel type           Kms. per litre__

 

                                   Bus                         Diesel                     4.30

                                Two wheeler              Petrol                    44.40

                                Three wheeler            Petrol                     20.00

                                Motor car                   Petrol                     10.90

Source:  (21)

 An idea of the vehicular emission loads in selected Indian cities can be had from the figures in Table 6.

 Table 6: Estimated Vehicular Emission Load in Selected Metropolitan Cities of India

 Name of city    Vehicular pollution load (tonnes per day)

_________________________________________________________________________                      Particulates   Sulphur    Oxide of       Hydrocarbons   Carbon        Total

                                              Dioxide    nitrogen                                monoxide

________________________________________________________________________ 

Delhi                  10.30             8.96          126.46            249.57          651.01       1046.30

Mumbai               5.59             4.03            70.82             108.21          469.92         659.57

Bangalore            2.62             1.76            26.22               78.51          195.36         304.47

Kolkata               3.25              3.65            54.69               43.88          188.24         239.71

Ahmedabad        2.95              2.89             40.00              67.75          179.14          292.71

Pune                   2.39              1.28             16.20              73.20          162.24          255.31

Chennai              2.34              2.02             28.21              50.46            143.22        226.25

Hyderabad          1.94              1.56            16.84              56.33             126.17        202.84

Jaipur                  1.18              1.25            15.29              20.99                51.28         88.99

Kanpur               1.06              1.08             13.37              22.24               48.42           6.17

Lucknow            1.14              0.95               9.68              22.50               49.22         83.49

Nagpur               0.55              0.41               5.10              16.32                34.99        57.37

Grand Total      35.31            29.84          422.88            809.69             2299.21    3597.20

Source: (3)

 The air pollution levels in our cities are disturbing indeed. The number of motor vehicles moving on Indian roads today is certainly much more than the figure of 7.2 crore in 2004 (See Table  3). What is more alarming is their concentration in metropolitan cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai. Delhi, for instance, which had 1.4 percent of Indian population accounted for 7 percent of total motor vehicles in the country. Another worrying feature is that while the share of mass transport (buses) is quite below the desired range of 60-85 for two million plus cities, the share of personalized transport (cars and two wheelers) and para- transit (autorikshaws and taxis) is above the optimal range of 10-20 in most cities.

 The impact of such a rapid growth of vehicle population in the background of grossly inadequate road space, poor street furniture, illegal encroachment by hawkers, parked vehicles and pavement dwellers can be easily imagined. Most Indian cities today face severe traffic congestion, especially during peak hours when vehicle speeds slow down to 5-10 kms per hour in central business district areas. Vehicular emissions in the form of CO2, HCs and NOx drastically increase the pollution levels.

 Mass transport services like buses and suburban rail systems are generally overcrowded. They are irregular and involve long waiting times. This naturally leads to a massive shift to personalized transport and para-transit modes. In India owning a motor car is still considered a status symbol. As a result the neo-rich are fast joining the car-owners club and it is feared that the situation may worsen after the rupees one-lakh nano car arrives on Indian roads. All this may also lead to a soaring up of accident rates to dizzy heights. It is time we listen to the wake up call and save ourselves from turning into a car-oriented society.

 Air Quality Management – Measures     

   It is obvious that we need to act without delay through effective intervention in the transport sector.  Green transport through green logistics should be our goal. Maintenance of air quality standards is possible through setting an ambient air quality monitoring network for vehicular emissions and simultaneously helping motorists to make the transition. The variety of measures that need to be undertaken can be on following lines:

 

(a) Diesel engines emit carbon particles TSP, heavy hydrocarbons, sulphate and other by-products of combustion, and petrol engines also emit CO, NO and other volatile compounds. However, diesel engines are considered as relatively dirtier and government should discourage their use through suitable policy measures including differential pricing (14).

 

(b) The government should promote the use of alternative cleaner fuels like liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and compressed natural gas (CNG). Thankfully, it is already doing this gradually and effectively. The air quality in Delhi and Mumbai has certainly improved after their use in public transport buses and autorikshaws. It should also take care to establish CNG filling stations along all major roads. Another good news, according to a Research Report by Frost and Sullivan ( ), is that car makers in India are soon likely to roll out models that run on alternative fuels like CNG and LNG. They are also developing a converter kit which will transform an existing petrol and diesel vehicle into a CNG/LPG driven vehicle. Such converter kits for three-wheelers are already in the market. After this conversion India will actually need 10,000 CNG pump stations whereas today their number is less than 5000 across 15 cities.

 

(c) Use of old vehicles should be effectively curbed. Shortage of finance or fear of unemployment should not come in the way of enforcement of government directives. Petitions for judicial intervention should be quickly dealt with. Obsolete models, except those used for vintage car ralleys, ought to be made to retire.

 

(d) Improvement in fuel quality in terms of lower surphur content in diesel and lower benzene and aromatics in petrol should be enforced. The Department of Road Transport of the Government of India has rightly promulgated Rules in April 1995 regarding use of unleaded petrol and fitting of catalytic converters in new petrol-driven cars. Similarly, the norms for sulphur content in petrol have been fixed at 0.1% and for diesel at 0.25%

 

(e) Setting up of emission standards for all kinds of motor vehicles is necessary. Happily, the next generation emission norms for two-wheelers and three-wheelers have been made effective from April 2005. If feasible, the government may start conducting emission testing of motor vehicles prior to their registration. It may be stated that the automotive sector of Indian industry is quite sensitive to environmental risks and safeguards.

 

(f) The local enforcement agencies should launch sustained drives against smoke-belching vehicles which abound in small and medium sized Indian cities. For this purpose they should bring emission testers to roadsides for inspection of vehicles. Forced retirement of older high-polluting vehicles may be resorted to. The government should also bring in pedestrian safety laws and clear footpaths of all encroachments to allow pedestrians their right to walk safely.

 

(g) Better integration between rail transport systems and other ‘feeder’ bus services and water transport facilities should be brought about by linking them together. Common ticketing and information systems to offer seamless connections between different transport modes can also be thought of. Elevated railways integrating LRT and MRT lines may be constructed to discourage private car ownership. (20)

 Modal Shift

 The question of changing the modal split in favour of railways and waterways also needs to be addressed seriously. It is a well-established fact that road freight vehicle movements give out greater carbon emissions per tonne kilometer than rail or water borne freight. The road arteries in India these days are getting more and more congested affecting climate change. The share of rail transport in freight movements, not in absolute but relative terms, has been declining relative to road transport, because of the accessibility and door-to-door delivery advantage enjoyed by road transport. This however does not augur well from the environment and sustainability viewpoint. There is no doubt that Indian rail freight traffic during the last decade has increased in absolute terms thanks to the Container Corporation of India – a subsidiary of Indian Railways- playing a more customer-friendly role in providing ISO containers both at port terminals and inland container depots (ISDs). However, for logistics providers road transport still continues to be the favoured mode for the reason that their criterion of measuring transportation costs differs from that of the government. The costs of environmental degradation for them are external and do not need internalization for business accounting purposes.

 It is here that policymakers should use their ingenuity in evolving such fiscal, regulatory and organizational measures which will bring about a modal shift from road to rail and water transport. Unfortunately, there is no evidence yet of serious thinking on the part of policymakers to bring about such environmentally desirable modal shift from road to rail and water. The reason is not far to seek. The decision about mode choice by shippers of freight involves many complex issues. It depends upon a variety of factors influencing performance of rail freight movements and the costs in terms of money and time that is to be borne ultimately. It is therefore necessary to identify the barriers that prevent the desired modal shift and evolve suitable measures to achieve the objective. It is the logistics managers who can really enlighten us on the eco-friendly way of influencing mode choice.(   )

  Switch to Bio-fuels           

Due to soaring prices in the world oil market during the last few decades, need arose to break free from oil and use alternative energy sources like bio-fuels which would cut oil demand, provide energy security and prevent climate changes. Simultaneously, efforts were begun to promote research and development in clean alternative energy options like wind, water, solar and hydrogen resources. However, a switch to bio-fuels- specifically ethanol – was looked upon as the easier way to achieve the objective (7)

  The question often being asked is whether reliance on bio-fuels would prove a good strategy. Researches undertaken by International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) reveal a different story (17). During the period 2000-2007 there was a boom in ethanol production. Brazil and USA controlled the market producing 90% of ethanol. European Union (EU) also followed suit. Large tracts of land were diverted towards production of palm and soya-bean to produce bio-diesel and towards corn and sugarcane to produce ethanol. This led to a surge in commodity prices throughout the period. According to IFPRI, if this trend continues, by 2020 prices of corn are estimated to rise from present 26% to 72%, of sugar from 12% to 277% and of oilseeds from 18% to 44%. This scenario is bound to have a serious impact on the poor strata of society with diet quality getting reduced and malnutrition spreading to large parts of Asia and Africa.

  In this situation, rich countries may continue to emit majority of green house gases (GHGs)  and the poor countries will bear the burden of climate change in terms of hotter climate, lesser rain, and deforestation, and also low incomes, malnutrition and greater dependence on agriculture and natural resources for living.

 It is feared that the risks in switching to agro-based fuels are real. The switch may trigger further deforestation and destruction of the ecosystem. Warnings are therefore being given that agro-fuel policies should not be pursued further without a proper risk analysis. (1). According to a UNIDO document, “the key concern here is the competition between land use for bio-energy production and food and animal food production.” The fuel versus food issue is really enigmatic. The document further states that “the coupling of energy market with food market can increase food prices and hence worsen the access to affordable food for many” (25). This warning can be ignored only at our peril.

  It should be clearly understood that increased prices may result in increased incomes for farmers and give them their food security, but the overall effect would depend upon the distribution of increased incomes. In the opinion of the Food and Agriculture Organization (2006) the food versus fuel issue needs detailed analysis of the possible outcomes of bio-fuels policy. The Stanford University’s Wood’s Institute for Environment claims that reliance on bio-fuels as part of America’s new energy plan is not a good strategy. It is a fact that USA’s Ethanol-from-Corn Program has led to a rise in prices of food crops due to farmland diversion. (23) This can happen anywhere and in India too. Lands can be diverted for production of soya-bean and sugarcane. The decision to switch from fossil fuels to crop-based fuels has therefore to be taken with extreme caution. Scientists state that agro-fuels production from oilseeds and corn has the potential to damage our climate catastrophically.

  Researches are being carried out to produce liquid bio-fuels for transport as such. Here the ‘first generation fuels refer to bio-energies made from sugar, starch, vegetable oils or animal fats using conventional technologies. ‘Second generation’ fuels refer to those from lingo-cellulose biomass feedback using advanced technologies. In India, we have resorted to gasification of solid bio-mass through setting up small scale plants mainly in rural areas which produce heat and energy. We should upgrade the technology so as to feed the gases into pipelines or alternatively compress them for use in transport vehicles. In this respect Brazil has a success story to report. The production of sugarcane ethanol has reduced that country’s dependence on fossil fuels and also ‘cleaned’ the industry. (   )

   In fine, as long as the thrust is on producing ‘clean’ energy and on scaling down petroleum consumption, bio-fuels can be considered as welcome. But we must carefully assess the fall outs of switching to bio-fuels. President Obama’s New Energy Plan for USA supports greater use of ethanol produced from maize. This has led to increase in food prices, especially of wheat. If we in the same way produce sugar ethanol in India, it may deplete our water levels and degrade soil quality. Bio-fuels may not prove to be so ‘green’ after all. (23) The sustainability of bio-fuels does not seem to be as strong as it appeared earlier.

 References

  

1. Almuth Ernsting, Deepak Rughani, Dr. Andrew Boswell (2007): “Agro Fuels Threaten to Accelerate Global Warming”, UNFCCC, Bali Version, www.biofuelwatch.org.uk 2. Bowersox, Closs, & Cooper (2008), Supply Chain Logistics Management, McGraw Hill, 2nd edition 3. Central Pollution Control Board: National Ambient Air Quality Statistics of India, different years 4. Chopra Sunil and Peter Meindl (2007) : Supply Chain Management- Strategy, Planning and operation, Prentice Hall of India 5. Current Science (1999): “Urban Air Pollution- Commentary”, Vol.77, No.3, August 10, 1999. 6. Financial Express, November 3, 2008, Emerging Ventures India 7. John Browne (1997): “Bio fuels – A Solution for Climate Change- Our Changing Earth Climate”, A Presentation in the Council of foreign Relations, New York, Nov.13, 1997. 8. John Pucher, Nisha Korattyswaropan, Neha Mittal, Ninu Ittyerah (2005): “Urban Transport Crisis in India”, Transport Policy 12, Elsevier, pp. 185-198. 9. Prodosh Mitra (2009): “Biofuels are not so green- Counter view”, Times of India, February 17, 2009 10. Rodrigue Jean-Paul, Brian Slack, Claude Comtois (2001): “Green Logistics (The Paradoxes of)”, in The Handbook of Logistics and Supply Chain Management, Brewer et al (eds.), Pergamon/Elsevier publishers, London Greening Business Survey 2008 11. Financial Express, September 22 & 29, 2009: “Global Carbon Emissions Rise Despite Abatement Steps” – Carbon Budget and Trends Report, 2007 12. G. Raghuram and N. Rangaraj (2005): Logistics and Supply Chain Management- Cases and Concepts, Macmillan, Delhi 13. Hindustan Times, December 19, 2007: “India is on an eco drive”. 14. House of Representatives, Phillipines Policy Advisory No.2004-03 (2004): Addressing Urban Transport Pollution. 15. Indian Express, November 16, 2007:International Energy Agency (IEA) Report on World Energy Outlook 16. Jain, A.K. (2009): ” Retrofitting Cities and Built Form to Meet the Challenges of Climate Change and Carbon Emission”, Akruti Journal of Infrastructure, Vol. II, No. 2, pp. 101-121 17. Joachin von Braun (2008): “Food Prices, Biofuels, and Climate Change”, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) 18. Sahay B.S. (Ed.) (2004): Energy Issues in Supply Chain Management, Akruti Journal of Infrastructure, Vol. II, No. 2, pp. 122-1 19. Sanjay K. Singh (2005): “Review of Urban Transportation in India”, Journal of Public Transportation, Vol. 8, No. 1, pp. 79-97 20. Warwick J. McKibbin (2009): “Climate Change Policy for India”, 21. Sibal and Sachdeva (2001), “Urban Transport Scenario in India and Its Linkage with Energy and Environment”, Urban Transport Journal, Vol.2, No.1, pp.34-55 22. Sudarsanam Padam & Sanjay K. Singh (2002), “Urbanization and Urban Transport in India- The Sketch for a Policy, Central Institute of Road Transport, Pune 23. Times of India, November 28, 2007, “Global Warming- Earth on Fire”- Subodh Varma 24. Tiwari Geeta (2007), “Urban Transport in Indian Cities”, Urban Age, Newspaper Essay, L.S.E. 25. UNIDO (2007): Bio Energy Strategy- Sustainable Industrial Conversion and Productive Use of Bio Energy – Report

 e-mail: shankermodak@yahoo.co.in

Agriculture – methane, ethanol and biodiesel Introduction

In this chapter we shall discuss the importance of recent developments in agriculture upon the world’s energy resources and the impact on the world population and environment. We shall focus mainly on  agriculture producing fuel as this is currently controversial. We will briefly discus the historic link between agriculture and petroleum then we will explore aspects of methane, biodiesel and ethanol production before a brief summary on the strategic importance of a strong agricultural sector.

Link between Agriculture and Petroleum

Since the 1940’s agriculture has dramatically increased its productivity. This is due in part to the use of petrochemical derived pesticides and fertilizers and increased mechanization. The vast majority of energy used to produce food in addition to sunlight comes from fossil fuel sources. Because of modern agriculture’s heavy reliance on petrochemicals there are signs that decreases in oil supply will inflict damage on the world’s modern agricultural system and cause long term food shortages. Oil shortages mean that organic agriculture and sustainable farming are now of more importance than ever. However, the current controversy  is due to the fact that farmers have increasingly been raising crops such as corn for non-food use in an effort to help mitigate peak oil. This is turn has contributed to a 60% rise in wheat prices recently and may cause serious social unrest. Increased interest in food commodities from the world’s financial markets has also increased the cost of food worldwide.

Let us look at several main areas of agricultural fuel production. First  methane production.

Methane

Methane is the principal component of natural gas. The relative abundance of methane and its clean burning process makes it a very attractive fuel. Methane is usually now transported in its natural gas form by pipeline or LNG carriers. Methane is very important for electrical generation when burned as a fuel in a gas turbine or steam boiler and compared to other hydrocarbon fuels burning methane produces less carbon dioxide for each unit of heat released. Methane in the form of compressed natural gas can also be used in vehicles and NASA is looking to methane’s potential as rocket fuel as it is abundant in many parts of the solar system ! In addition methane has industrial uses, especially in industrial chemical processes and may be transported as refrigerated LNG.

The link between agriculture and methane occurs because apart from gas fields an alternative method of obtaining methane is via biogas generated by the fermentation of organic matter, including manure, wastewater sludge, municipal solid waste or any other biodegradable feedstock under anaerobic conditions. As an aside methane hydrates, which are basically icelike combinations of methane and water on the sea floor  are also a potential future source of methane. Back to agriculture ! Cattle belch methane accounts for 16% of the world’s annual methane emissions and the livestock sector in general is responsible for 37% of all human influenced methane production. In fact lets take a look at some of the statistics on anthropogenic methane. This accounts in total for approximately 55% of all methane emissions. Of this 18% is due to our energy use, 7% due to landfills, 19% due to livestock, 4% waste treatment, and 7% biomass burning. We can this see the links between agriculture and methane production but of course so far very little of this is harnessed for fuel.

Ethanol

 The fermentation of sugar into ethanol is one of the earliest organic reactions known to humanity. Ethanol is also produced from by-products of petroleum refining but here we are concerned at the links between agriculture and fuel production. The largest single use of ethanol is as a motor fuel and fuel additive. The largest national fuel ethanol industries exist in Brazil. Thanks to advances in engine design today almost half of Brazilian cars are able to use 100% ethanol as fuel via ethanol only engines and flex-fuel engines.. In the US flex-fuel engines can run on 0% to 85% ethanol since higher ethanol blends are not allowed. Brazil produces ethanol from domestically grown sugar cane which has a greater concentration of sucrose than corn but is also easier to extract.

In addition the bagasse generated by the process is not wasted but is used in power plants to produce electricity. In contrast in the USA the fuel ethanol industry is based on corn. According to the Renewable Fuels Association in October 2007 there are 131 grain ethanol bio-refineries in the USA with another 72 under construction. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 required that 4 billion gallons of renewable fuel be used in 2006 and this increases thereafter. However there is a controversy arising concerning this as it is disputed whether ethanol as an automotive fuel made from corn results in a net energy gain or loss. The case is clear in sugar cane ethanol as this produces 8 joules for each joule used to produce it. Sugar cane is therefore a far, far better source of ethanol for fuel. Recent research shows that other crops such as switchgrass are also ore efficient than corn. It is likely that cellulosic crops will displace corn as a main fuel crop in the future. There are in fact many controversial side effects of using corn to produce ethanol. According to one estimate a person could be fed for an entire year on the corn used to fill an ethanol fueled SUV. In fact the use of corm almost certainly increases global warming, destroys forests and inflates fuel prices.

Many environmentalists and livestock farmers are against the use of corn for ethanol production and the work also attracts controversial subsidies. In 2007 the UN’s expert on the right to food called for a 5 year moratorium on biofuel production from food crops to prevent a catastrophe for the poor as food prices escalate. The effects of increasing food prices due to the ripple effect of a rise in corm prices have been felt worldwide. A February 2007 Associated Press article stated “The widespread use of ethanol from corn could result in nearly twice the greenhouse gas emissions as the gasoline it would replace because of expected land-use changes”. However, it is not all doom and gloom because as we said earlier the case for ethanol from sugar cane has been made so agriculture has a huge contribution to make to fuel production in an efficient manner in fact if we move away from corn.

Biodiesel

 This refers to the non-petroleum based diesel fuel made by transesterification of vegetable oils or animal fats, which can be used alone or blended in unmodified diesel engine vehicles. Biodiesel use and production is increasing rapidly and fueling stations are making biodiesel available across Europe and increasingly in Canada and the USA.  At the moment biodiesel is relatively expensive to purchase but the economies of scale of production and agricultural subsidies versus the rising costs of petroleum may make biodiesel more attractive. Biodiesel production continues to grow rapidly with an average annual growth rate from 2002 to 2006 of over 40% according to Renewables 2007 Global Status Report. For 2006 total world biodiesel production was 5-6 million tonnes with 4.9 million tonnes processed in Europe – mainly in Germany.  It can be seen that agriculture has an enormous role to play in the creation of alternative fuels. A variety of oils can be used to produce biodiesel.

Virgin oil feedstocks such as rapeseed and soybean oils can be used. Soybean is a major feedstock in the US for example. Other feedstocks can include field penny-cress, Jatropha, mustard, flax, sunflower, palm oil, and hemp. Waste vegetable oil (WVO) can also be used as feedstocks. Farms also produce animal fats including tallow, lard and yellow grease. Chicken fats and by-products of the production of Omega 3 fatty acids from fish oil can be used. Another form of farming can also contribute, namely algaculture. Algae which can be grown using waste materials such as sewage can also be used as feedstock.

 However, it should be noted that currently worldwide production of vegetable oil and animal fat is not yet sufficient to replace liquid fossil fuel use. Also there would be objections to the vast amount of farming expansion needed to produce sufficient quantities – especially from relative low yield feedstocks like soybean. Lets take a quick look at the various yields because feedstock yield efficiency per acre affects the feasibility of ramping up agriculture required to power a significant percentage of world vehicles.

Here are some examples of yields quoted in US gallons of biodiesel per acre. Algae 1800 gpa or more, Palm oil 508 gpa, Coconut 230 gpa, Rapeseed 102gpa, Soy 59 gpa, Peanut 90 gpa, Sunflower 82 gpa. The case is being made strongly for algae fuel as according to the DOE algae yield 30 times more energy per acre than land crops such as soybeans. Algae production has another great advantage in that it does use up existing farmland. The Jatropha plant is also cited as being relatively high yield with about 200 gpa. This is grown in the Philippines, Mali and India, is drought resistant and can share space with other crops such as coffee. Overall the efficiency and economic arguments continue. Does it make sense to convert more farmland into feedstocks for  biodiesel production ?

Additional factors need to be taken into consideration such as the fuel equivalent of energy required for processing, the yield of fuel from raw oil, the return on cultivating food, and effects on food prices and the relative cost of biodiesel versus petrodiesel.

A note on energy security

 In reality one of the main drivers for adoption of biodiesel, ethanol and agriculture based methane production is energy security. This means that the country’s dependence on oil should be reduced and substituted with locally available sources such as coal, gas or other renewable resources. In effect this means that there are significant benefits for a country quite apart from reduction of greenhouse gasses. It is clear that initiatives in agriculture to produce methane, biodiesel and ethanol do reduce our dependence on oil , even if the total energy balance is controversial in some cases. The diversification of energy sources is a vital security factor and the development of a strong agricultural sector to meet this demand is therefore of long term and short term strategic interest. However, this must be balanced with initiatives in food production especially in the developing world to offset the effects of conversion of arable land to biofuel feedstock production.

 Dr Simon Harding

www.thinkoil.net

www.chronosconsulting.com

Algae is a major renewable fuel which can be used to manufacture Biodiesel. One of the companies in New Zealand successfully developed a system for using sewage waste as a substrate for algae and then it produce bio-diesel. An alga is considered as the highest yield feedstock for biodiesel that can produce more enough oil compared to soybeans when grew in an acre.

Actual Biomass algae produced from field trials, which is conducted during the NREL’s aquatic species program. It is being converted using the actual oil content of the algae species grown in the specific program.

There are various advantages of producing biodiesel from algae, which include rapid growth of the plant. Using Algae Biodiesel gives high per acre yield. Algae biodiesel does not used to contain sulfur, toxic materials and it is highly biodegradable. There are some species, which are ideally suited for algae biodiesel production, because their high oil contents in some species.

Algae used to develop from small, singled celled organisms to cellular organisms, some algae have complex distinguished form. Algae can be easily seen at places like damp, bodies of water. Algae are common in terrestrial as well as aquatic environments. Like any other plants algae require three elements to spring up sunlight, carbon-di-oxide and water. Plant algae and some other bacteria convert sunlight to chemical energy, which process call as photosynthesis. Algae used to contain 2% and 40% of lipids or oils by weight. If algae have greater oil, it may results in lower yield annual food crops such as soybeans. Currently only 0.3% of the land of the US, it is getting utilized to produce enough biodiesel.

Species of algae with up to 50% oil content have conclude that only 28000km land getting used to produce biodiesel. Unused desert land could be used for effective growing of algae.

Following is the productions which obtained in an entire year. In the winter months algae productivity used to drop.

Metric Tons / Hectare/ Year

M. minutum alage 1989 35.8

M. minutum alage 1989 30.3

M. minutum alage 1990 38.3

Algae 1978 43.8

Sugarcane 79.2

Oil Palm 50

Arundo Donax 50

To cultivate Algae for Liquid Fuel production requires,

Gallons of Oil per Acre per year

Corn required 15

Safflower required 48

Sunflower required 83

Rapessed required 127

Oil Palm required

Micro Algae required 1850

Micro Algae required 5000-15000

Company, which produces Biodiesel from Algae

The Enhance Biofuels and Technology generate algae process which combines a bioreactor with an open pond. Here both using waste co2 from coal fired power plant flue gases as a fertilizer. Biodiesel and ethanol can be used an alternative fuel and also it is being sold.

GreenFuel Technology, where emissions to Biofuels process, photosynthesis which grows algae, it capture CO2 and it produce high energy biomass. The algae can be economically converted to solid fuel, methane or liquid transportation fuels like biodiesel and ethanol.

Great strides are being made in the biofuel industry with a very exciting development in Australia in the search for a viable second generation solution with a biocrude that has been produced from green waste and paper.

The development of an extremely stable biocrude by the CSIRO and Monash University in Australia by using green waste such as forest thinnings, household waste and crop residues has made the prospect of biofuel production that significantly reduces carbon emissions possible. Dr Steven Loffler of CSIRO Forest Biosciences says, “the oil that we’ve made is both stable and also PH neutral, so the advantage of that is that it can be held in storage for as long as it needs to before further processing”.

The plant wastes being targeted for conversion into biofuels contain chemicals known as lignocellulose, which is increasingly favoured around the world as a raw material for the next generation of bio-ethanol as they are renewable and potentially greenhouse gas neutral. Materials such as lawn clippings, tree trimmings and other materials that households already put in their green bins for removal by local councils. When you consider that these wastes are already being collected on a weekly or fortnightly basis, then the fact that they will not end up as landfill is an immediate bonus. Currently there is between 1 and 2 million tonnes going into landfill in Australia alone.

The first generation biofuels come with so many negatives with destructive rainforest clearing and long distance haulage threaten to prove more harmful than the fuel they’re replacing. Biocrude production addresses many of these problems.

The plan is to operate from small regional facilities close to the source of the bio-material converting it into the crude oil and then shipping the crude which would be much more efficient and would produce much less greenhouse gas emissions than moving the bulkier solid material to a large central facility.

It’s still very early days in this process and one of the unanswered questions that will be a huge factor towards the success or failure of the project is how much the biocrude will cost to produce. At this stage no cost analysis has been performed although Dr Loffler believes that it will at least be as competitive as current crude production.

The prospects look very promising for the creation of a greenhouse gas friendly biofuel as long as the creation of local refining facilities acutally become reality.

Something big is going on throughout the energy business. It’s a great bubbling of innovation in every part of the industry. This bubbling is the brew of many different ingredients-from the impact of high prices and geopolitical uncertainty to the growing focus on “clean tech” and climate change. Will Innovation Transform Energy?

Though invisible to the consumer, an enormous amount of technological advance is embedded in every gallon of gasoline. Less than 30 years ago, the absolute “deep water” frontier for drilling was 600 feet of water.

Today, companies are working in what is called ultra-deep water, drilling through as much as 12,000 feet of ocean. Explorers can now use a new technology called WAZ-wide azimuth seismic-to “see” deep resources previously not visible through salt barriers thousands of feet below the seabed.

Companies are integrating a wide variety of information

technology capabilities to turn the “digital oilfield of the future” into the digital oilfield of the present, increasing efficiency and output. The large-scale conversion of natural gas into high-quality, diesel-like fuel is getting closer.

What is very visible today in the public’s eye is the innovation in renewables of every sort. Renewables received much attention in the 1970s and early 1980s, but faded away in the face of falling fuel prices and ample supplies. Their rebirth is partly the result of market forces. But it is also driven by continuing technology improvements and by mandates and subsidies from federal and state governments in the United States and the European Union, and by similar programs in countries like India, China and a growing number of other nations.

This year will certainly see the incentives and mandates expanded in the United States, as is already evident with the higher target for ethanol in the State of the Union speech.

The effects of the surge in alternatives are being felt in unexpected ways. Growth in renewables is going so fast that it is straining capacity in people, materials and supplies. If you want to order turbines and blades for windmills or silicon for solar photovoltaic cells today, you may have trouble finding supply. Livestock raisers and dairy farmers in the United States-along with Mexicans for whom tortillas are a staple are complaining about the sharp rise in the price of corn being fueled by rapid growth in corn-based ethanol production.

Renewables may be called “alternatives,” but they already constitute a considerable business. The one is that is well on the way to becoming conventional is wind power, which has gone through a considerable evolution over the last two decades. Along the way, costs have declined by a factor of ten.

Last year’s worldwide investment in wind and solar is estimated at over $40 billion. Yet, while the prospects for renewables are very large, they also need to be seen in context. In this case, the context is the huge scale of the overall system and the long lead times that are needed to develop any form of energy.

Moreover, these sources eventually have to establish themselves as economically competitive in the marketplace on a large scale. Even with all the advances, they are still a very small part of the overall energy mix. In the United States, wind is 1 percent of total electric generating capacity. But wind and the other renewables will continue to grow.

Underpinning the “great bubbling” is the rapidly growing spending on energy innovation.

A decade ago, I chaired a task force on energy research and development for the U.S. Department of Energy. That was a time of low interest in energy; and, not surprisingly, interest in the subject of our task force was also relatively low. After all, in the aftermath of the First Gulf War, there was little concern about the availability of future supplies. Climate change was hardly on the horizon as an issue. It’s a very different situation today. The reasons are multiple.

Prices and worry about supplies and energy security are important. So is the prospect of the vast growth in energy demand in Asia, which will change the global energy balance. Also looming large are environmental worries and the growing quest to reduce carbon emissions because of climate-change concerns.

All these factors mean that energy is now a major focus for technology investment. Governments and companies continue to be big players, and they are stepping up their investment. Research-and-development spending by the U.S. Department of Energy was $1.8 billion last year and is currently expected to grow by at least 25 percent in 2007-and could be even more with the new Congress.

And now there are new players: venture capitalists. The funding sources that brought immense innovation in information technology and life sciences-and created Silicon Valley along the way-are now honing in on the energy industry. To be sure, some prominent venture firms are standing back, saying that venture capital does not fit the longer time horizon and larger capital requirements of the energy business. But many others see this as their next frontier.

“Clean tech” is the new rubric under which much of this money is flowing, and the flows are increasing significantly. In North America, venture-capital investment in energy reached $2.1 billion in 2006-four times what it was in 2004, according to the Cleantech Venture Network. Venture capital is not merely a source of money; it is also a source of focused, results-driven discipline. This also means a wide diversity of ideas and technologies will be explored.

Inevitably, many of the new initiatives will end up being venture’s version of dry wells. That’s the character of research and development- and venture investing. The kind of surge we’re seeing today comes not only with hope but also with hype. This will remind some of the Internet boom. That boom left many deflated hopes and even more deflated valuations. But it also initiated a transformation of the way the world works.

And, by contrast, in the Internet boom there was often no clear idea of how to make money. It was about “firstmover advantage” and “land grabs.” This time, the opportunity is clear and can be measured against costs and prices in the marketplace.

The innovation frontier in energy is very broad. The systematic application of biology to energy is new, and could end up having a big impact. Ethanol is already being called a “firstgeneration” biofuel, and there is a growing debate as to the biology driven “second-generation” fuels.

Another area that will receive much greater focus is energy efficiency. This is building on a more solid foundation than may be recognized. It’s often said that the United States has made little progress on energy conservation or energy efficiency. In fact, the United States, along with countries like Japan, is twice as energy efficient as it was in the 1970s.

Much technological effort will go into the effort to double once again. This push is not limited to the United States. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has made energy efficiency the centerpiece of her agenda as chairman of the G-8 nations and president of the European Union.

This “great bubbling” represents what is the broadest drive ever for energy innovation. It has the potential over a period of 10 or 15 years to work major transformations in how energy is produced, transported and consumed. But it is not a sure thing.

Two ingredients will likely be required if it is to have this effect. One is consistency-maintaining the level of financial commitment and stability over the cycles. And that gets to the second ingredient: Prices, and what people expect of them, will also be an important part of this brewing future. One way or the other, they will likely add much spice over the coming years.

As November 1st 2008 approaches and the end to UK Red Diesel derogation, yacht owners are sharing an interest in alternative fuels one being Biodiesel. What are the benefits for boat owners and who will supply it?

Biodiesel refers to a non-petroleum-based diesel fuel made vegetable oils or animal fats.

There are many advantages of marine biodiesel as a marine fuel



Biodiesel serves as a drop-in replacement for petro diesel — no conversion necessary.

Biodiesel when used in boats causes less water pollution – there is less smoke and it is safer to store.

Biodiesel production uses a third less energy than petroleum diesel production.

High lubricity extends engine life

Higher cetane rating (46-62) almost always smoothes engine operation

Biodiesel can be blended with petroleum-based diesel at any ratio

Biodiesel contains essentially no sulfur or aromatics. Blends as low as B20 have reduced soot exhaust by 83%. Biodiesel removes deposits in tanks and fuel systems left by petro diesel.

Cheaper than the current red diesel prices of 88pence per litre even before the additional 54.94p in duty to be added from 1st Nov 2008.



Disadvantages



Doesn’t store as well as petro diesel

Possibility of blocked filters as it cleans the lines out and failed rubber seals as Biodiesel is a better solvent than mineral diesel

Blends of more than 5% (B5) to 95% (B95) may invalidate engine warranties

No Bio Diesel suppliers and blending facilities in marinas or boatyards at present.



Conclusion

Whilst at present there are no direct suppliers of marine biodiesel for boat owners, there are plans for the 2009 Portland Marina in Dorset to supply biodiesel and several marinas advise they have spare tank capacity to store another grade of oil.

A recent farm-based bio-diesel plant in North Wales has been reported as receiving interest from yacht and boat owners already. BML Biofuels, based at Llanfihangel GM, near Corwen is the first plant in Wales – and only the second in Britain – to extract oil by cold pressing oilseed rape (OSR). At the resulting cost 45p-55p/litre for the first 2,500 litres plus tax, it’s then no surprise BML Biofuels has already received maritime inquiries as far afield as Portsmouth since its official June opening.

With the higher cost or red diesel and a government under pressure to meet renewable fuel targets Biodiesel is likely to become a key ingredient in the refueling of motor yachts over the next decade.

1.0 Introduction

This 21st century has become an age of recycling where a lots of emphasize is placed on reuse of material to curb current environmental problems and maximize use of depleting natural resources and energy conservation. Modern day sustainable use and management of resource recommend need to incorporate recycling culture in our ways of life including technological process. Biomass is not left behind in this; the use of biomass energy resource derived from the carbonaceous waste of various natural and human activities to produce electricity is becoming popular. Biomass is considered as one of the clean, more- efficient and more-stable means of power generation. And it has become imperative for marine industry to tap this new evolving power generation mode especially the use of micro generation approach considering the mobile nature of ships.

 

Biofuels exist in solid, liquid or gas form thereby potentially affecting three of our core markets. Solid biofuels or biomass tend to be used in external combustion, however its use in the shipping industry has been limited to liquid biofuel due to lack of appropriate information economics forecasts, Sources of biomass include by-products from the timber industry, agricultural crops, raw material from the forest, major parts of household waste, and demolition wood, all things being equal using pure biomass that do not affect human and ecological chain make it suitable energy source. Biomass has low sulfur content means biomass combustion therefore considered much less acidifying than with coal, for example. Also, the ashes from biomass consumption, which are very low in heavy metals, can be recycled.

One advantage of biomass compared to other renewable-based systems that require costly advanced technology (such as solar photovoltaics) is that biomass can generate electricity with the same type of equipment and power plants that now burn fossil fuels. Many innovations in power generation with other fossil fuels may also be adaptable to the use of biomass fuels. Various factors have hindered the growth of the renewable energy resource, however. Most biomass power plants operating today are characterized by low boiler and thermal-plant efficiencies; both the fuel’s characteristics and the small size of most facilities contribute to these efficiencies. In addition, such plants are costly to build.

Biomass remains potential renewable energy contributor to net reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by offsetting CO2 from fossil generation. The current method generating biomass power is biomass fired boilers and Rankine steam turbines. Recent research work in developing sustainable, and economic biomass focus on high-pressure supercritical steam cycles , use of feedstock supply system, and conversion of biomass to a low or medium gas that can be fired in combustion turbine cycles, resulting in efficiencies one-and-a-half times that of a simple steam turbine. biofuels has potential to influence marine industry, and it as become importance for designers and ship owners to accept their influence on the world fleet of the future especially the micro generation concept with co generation for cargo and fuel for  ships.

 

The paper discuss conceptual work, trend , sociopolitical driver, economic, development, and future of biomass with hope to bring awareness to local, national and multinational bodies making biofuels policies as well as maritime multidisciplinary expertise in regulation, economics, engineering, and vessel design and operation. The paper also discusses how the shipping industry can take advantage of growing tide to tap benefit promised by waste use power generation system.

 

 

2.0 Biomass developmental trend

 

The concept of use of Biofuels for energy generation has has been existing concept, and in the face of challenges posed by environmental need, its growth is likely to dominate renewable energy market. Following the advent of peanut oil diesel engines developed by Rudolf Diesel in 1911 the production and use of biofuels worldwide has grown significantly in recent years. The current world biofuels market is focused on: Bioethanol blended into fossil motor gasoline (petrol) or used directly and biodiesel or Fatty Acid Methyl Ester diesel blended into fossil diesel. However the use of The Fischer-Tropsch model that involve catalyzed chemical reaction to produce a synthetic petroleum substitute, typically from coal, natural gas or biomass, for use as synthetic lubrication oil or as a synthetic fuel seem promising and negate risk posed by food based biomass. This synthetic fuel runs only in diesel engines and some aircraft engines. Oil, product and chemical tankers being constructed now are likely to benefit much more from use of biomas. However use on gasoline engines ignites the vapors at much higher temperatures, which pose limitation to inland water craft.

 

Biomass generation and growing trend can be classified into 3 generation types:

first generation’ biofuels relate to biofuels made from sugar or starch, producing bioethanol, and vegetable oil or animal fats producing biodiesel. First generation biofuels provoke increasing criticism through their dependence on food crops and issues over biodiversity, land use and human rights. Hybrid technology for percentage blending is being employed to mitigate food production impact. Second generation biofuels mitigate problem posed by the first generation biofuels. They do not affect food crops because they are made from waste biomass from agricultural and forestry, fast-growing grasses and trees specially grown as so-called “energy crops”. With technology, sustainability and cost issues to overcome, second-generation biofuels are still several years away from commercial viability and many second generation mass produced biofuels are still under development including the biomass to liquid. Fischer-Tropsch production technique. third generation biofuels are green fuels like algae biofuel made from energy and biomass crops that have been designed in such a way that their structure or properties conform to the requirements of a particular bioconversion process. They are made from such as sewage, and grown on ponds.

 

Just like tanker revolution influence on ship type, demand for biomass will bring, will bring capacity, bio -material or completed product from source to production area and then to the point of use, will bring technological, environmental change will require ships of different configuration, size and tank coating type. As well as impact on the tonne mile demand will change accordingly.

 

Effect on shipping is likely to follow shipping large scale growth on exports and seaborne trade from key exporting regions, particularly South America. Brazil has a key role. Brazil has already been branded to be producing en-mass ethanol from sugar cane since the 1970s with a cost per unit reportedly the lowest in the world. And it is currently exploring ethanol

 

Table 1 – World ethanol consumption 2007

Consumption

 

World ethanol consumption -

51 million tones, 2007

Us and brazil

68%

EU and China –

17% – surplus of 0.1 million tones

US deficit –

1.7mt

EU deficit -

1.3 mt

World – deficit

1mt

 

Recent year is also witnessing  emerging trade on biofuel product between the US, EU, and Asia and whilst Brazil exports the most ethanol globally at about 2.9 million tonnes per year, the top importers of the US, EU,Japan and Korea have increasing demand that will have to be satisfied by increased shipping capacity. Seaborne vegetable oil supply is increasingly growing

 

 

Table 2 – Biofuel growth

 

 

 

Vegetable oil

33 mt in 2000 to 59 mt in 2008

 

Palm oil

13 mt in 2000 to 32 mt forecast in 2008.

 

a 7.5% p.a growth rate

Soya bean

7 mt to some 11.5 mt in 2008,

 

EU

imports – 5.7 mt in 2001 to an expected 10.3 mt for 2008

8.9%.

 

3.1 mt in 2001 to 5.2 mt forecast for 2008

39%

 

Production capacity- 1.9 mt in 2002 to 11 mt in 2007, with 2007.

 

50% of total capacity.

 

 

Recently biofuel is driving a new technology, Worldwide; the use of biofuels for cars and public vehicles has grown significantly. With excess capacity waiting for source material it seems inevitable that shipping demand will increase.

 

3.0 Inter industry Best Practice

 

3.1 Land based use - 

 

UK pumps mandate at least 2.5% biofuels. This target will rise to 5% by 2010. Also in the UK, the first train to run on biodiesel went into service in June 2007 for a six month trial period. The train uses a blended fuel, which is 20% biodiesel and the operator, Virgin Trains, is confident the mix can be increased to at least a 50% mix with the further possibility to run trains on fuels entirely from non-carbon sources. On January 15, 2006- Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA lunch a program to test a 20% blend of biodiesel (B20) in its buses. In two months they used approximately 45,000 gallons of B20. As a result of the test, in April 2006 they began using biodiesel fleet-wide. In addition to using B20 in the winter months, COTA has committed to using 50-90% biodiesel blends (B50 – B90) during the summer months. This is projected to decrease regular diesel fuel consumption by over one million gallons per year. 26th of October 2007. buses in the UK running on B100 was launched on  In a pilot project. Argent Energy (UK) Limited is working together with Stagecoach to supply biodiesel made by recycling and processing animal fat and used cooking oil. For power stations, B&W have orders in the EU for 45 MW of two-stroke biofuel engines with a thermal efficiency of 51-52%. Specifically, these operate on palm oil of varying quality, and in the future, it is expected that more engines, whether stationary or marine, will be developed to run on biofuels.

·         US DOE has funded five new advanced biomass gasification research and development projects beginning in 2001(Vermont project)

·         2008 – Ford announced a £1 billion research project to convert more of its vehicles to new biofuel sources. The first trial oft, Last year. BP Australia has now sold over 100 million liters of 10% ethanol content fuel to Australian motorists, and Brazil sells both 22% ethanol petrol nationwide and 100% ethanol to over 4 million cars, It is a trend that is gathering momentum.

In a program initiated by the Swedish National Board for Industrial and Technical Development in Stockholm, several Swedish universities, companies, and utilities are collaborating to accelerate the demonstration of the advanced EVGT for natural-gas firing, especially in small-scale units. A natural-gas-fired EVGT pilot plant (0.6 megawatts of power output for a simple gas-turbine cycle) should start operation in Lund, Sweden, in 1998.

·         AES Corporation is a leading company in biomass conversion internationally. At AES Kilroot in Northern Ireland, the team recently completed a successful trial to convert the plant to burn a mixture of coal and biomass. With further investment in the technology, nearly half of Northern Ireland’s 2012 renewable target could be met from AES Kilroot alone.

3.2 Aero industry–

 

Virgin Atlantic – Air transport is receiving increasing attention because of environmental concerns linked to CO2 emissions, air quality and noise. Virgin Atlantic in collaboration with Boeing and General Electric aircraft alternative fuels project for aircraft. A successful test flight from London to Amsterdam flight took place on 24th February of this year, running one of the four jumbo jet engines on a mixture of 20% coconut oil and babassu nut oil, with 80% conventional jet fuel. This fuel was specifically chosen due to its performance at low operating temperatures. The test was successful, with no noticeable difference in performance. Except that; imitation that biofuel mix used was in no way sustainable in the quantities required by the demands of the aviation industry. In a way to mitigate this Virgin is looking to us use of Algae based fuels as it is predicted that they may be suitable for use at low temperature.

 

3.3  Maritime industry 

 

The use of land based transportation, is growing, however the use for sea based transportation need to be explored. Biofuels  for ship will be advantageous. In recent UK pilot project where Buses are run on B100 Argent Energy (UK) Limited is working together with Stagecoach to supply biodiesel made by recycling and processing animal fat and used cooking oil. Marine engines with their inherent lower speed and more tolerant to burning alternative fuels than smaller, higher speed engines tolerance will allow them to run on lower grade and cheaper biofuels. Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines (RCCL) unveiled a palm oil-based biodiesel since 2005.Optimistic outcome of the trial made RCCL confident enough to sign a contract in August 2007 for delivery of a minimum 15 million gallons and for the four years after, a minimum of 18 millions gallons of biodiesel for its cruise ships fleet. The contract marked the single largest long-term biodiesel sales contract in the United States. In early 2007, United States Coast Guard indicated that their fleet will augment increase use of biofuels by 15% over the next four years. In the marine industry, beside energy substitute advantage, biolubricants and biodegradable oil  are particularly advantageous from an environmental and pollution perspective. Bio lubrication also offer higher viscosity, flash point and better technical properties such as increased sealing and lower machine operating temperature advantageous use in ship operation.

 

Time has gone when maritime industry could afford nitty gritty in adopting technology, other industry are already on a fast track preparing themselves technically for evitable changes driven by environmental problem, Global energy demands and political debate add further pressures to find alternative energy especially bio energy  because of hybridization of old and new system advantage it offer. The implication is that shipping could be caught ill prepared for any rapid change in demand or supply of biofuel. Thus this technology is in the early stages of development but the shipping industry need top be prepared for the impacts of its breakthrough because Shipping will eventually required be at the centre of this supply and demand logistics chain again. Table 3 shows the projection for the main present players.

 

Table3  – projection

 

Region

Growth (1990-1994)

Projection (2020)

United states

7%

15%

Europe

2%

15%

 

4.0 Sources of biomass

North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC) region. Supply has classified biofuel into the following four type’s vizs: agricultural residues, energy crops, forestry residues, and urban wood waste/mill residues. A brief description of each type of biomass is provided below:

Agricultural residues from the remaining stalks and biomass material left on the ground can be collected and used for energy generation purposes this include residues of wheat straw and corn stover. Energy crops are produced solely or primarily for use as feedstocks in energy generation processes. Energy crops includes hybrid poplar, and switchgrass, grown on idled, or in pasture, and in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). Forestry residues are composed of logging residues, rough rotten salvageable dead wood, and excess small pole trees. Urban wood waste/mill residues are waste woods from manufacturing operations that would otherwise be landfilled. The urban wood waste/mill residue category includes primary mill residues and urban wood such as pallets, construction waste, and demolition debris, which are not otherwise used.

The most important agricultural commodity crops being planted in the United States are listed in Table 4. Corn, wheat, and soybeans represent about 70 percent of total cropland harvested.

 

 

Table 6 shows representative characteristics for different subcategories of urban wood waste and mill residues.

 

5.0 Risk and Uncertainties

Although a significant amount of effort has gone into estimating the available quantities of biomass supply, the following risk and uncertainties that need to be incorporated into design and decision work on biodiesel use are:

Risk to land use – Our planet only have 295 land, for example Brazil has some 200 million acres of farmland available, more than the 46 million acres of land,  required to grow the sugarcane needed to satisfy the projected 2022 Evolving competing uses of biomass materials, the large market consumption, pricing and growing need. In agricultural waste, the impact of biomass removal on soil quality pose treat to agricultural residues that need to be left on the soil to maintain soil quality could result in significant losses of biomass for electric power generation purposes. Impact of changes in forest fire prevention policies on biomass availability could cause vegetation in forests to minimize the potential for forest fires could significantly increase the quantity of forestry residues available. Potential attempt to recycle more of the municipal solid waste stream might translate into less available biomass for electricity generation. \ Impact on the food production industry as witness in recent food scarcity crisis

5.1 Regulatory impact

 

The EU has stated that by 2020 a target of 20% of community wide energy will be renewable. Further to this, all member states are to achieve a mandatory 10% minimum target for the share of biofuels in transport petrol and diesel consumption by 2020.. The legislation provides a phase-in for biofuel blends, including availability of high percentage biofuel blends at filling stations.  The United States Congress passed the Renewable Fuels Standards (RFS) in February 2008, which will require 35 billion gallons of renewable and alternative fuels in 2022. In parallel to this, work is continuing to reduce emissions further in vehicles. Political drivers in Asia vary according to region. In Southeast Asia, the centre of world production for palm oil, coconut oil, and other tropical oils, political support for farming is the key driver.

 

The issue affecting shipping is whether to refine and use biodiesel locally, or export the unrefined oil for product production elsewhere. In the short term the economics have favored the exports of unrefined oil – which is good news for us. Over the next ten years, with the cost of oil rising, and strict emission reductions in place, the need for increased biofuel production is likely to increase. as well as creating a net positive balance fuel. According to the IEA, world biofuels demand for transport could increase to about 3% of overall world oil demand in 2015 and double by 2030 over the 2008 figure. This does not sound so significant but as we show later it has a significant impact on the specialist fleet capacity demand. As we said before, predicting the trade pattern of biofuels adds a layer of complexity to the overall  nergy supply picture and our oil distribution system.

 

We also believe that this forecast will be the minimum seen as the political pressures will cause the level to rise beyond 3%. To put the scale in context, the current oil tanker fleet of vessels 10,000 dwt or larger comprises of some 4,600 vessels amounting to 386 million dwt. These include about 2,560 Handysize tankers. Additionally, there are some 4,400 more small tankers from 1,000 to 10,000 dwt accounting for 16 million dwt. Our projections show a significant role for seaborne transport, even using conservative bases with high proportions of locally supplied biofuels. This is a significant fleet segment that poses technical and regulatory challenges. As we have discussed, the requirements cannot be fully defined because many market factors remain uncertain, but ship owners who are building new vessels or operating existing vessels should consider this future trade through flexible design options that we will introduce later.

 

 

5.3  Potential Impacts to Shipping

 

The key political drivers for biofuels are environmental concerns, energy security and agricultural policy. The tonne mile demand for future tankers will be greatly affected by national, regional or global policy and political decision making in these areas. There is a greater flexibility in the sourcing of biofuels than there is in hydrocarbon energy sources and this may be attractive to particular governments. Once the regulatory framework is clear, economics will determine how the regulations will best be met and seaborne trade will be at the centre of the outcome. In many parts of the world, environmental concerns are the leading political driver for biofuels. Reflecting these concerns, the global Kyoto Protocol, was negotiated in 1997, and this further provides a driver for the use of biofuels.

 

 

 

 

5.4  Shipping Routes and Economics Impacts

 

The above trend analysis discussed indicate potential capacity requirement from shipping, so far  North America, Europe and South East  Asia are the key importing regions where this growth is concentrated. This includes the Latin American counties of Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, and Paraguay and Southeast Asia’s Indonesia and Malaysia will remain key suppliers for the palm oil, Philippines and Papua New Guinea have potentials for vegetable oil and agricultural while Thailand has potential for sugarcane. This trade potential will determine future trade route from Malacca Straits to Europe, ballast to Argentina, to load soybean oil to China, and then make a short ballast voyage to the Malacca Straits, where the pattern begins again, a typical complicated fronthaul / backhaul combinations that can initiate, economies of scale need top reduce freight costs and subsequent push for bigger ship production and short sea services like recent experience of today’s tankers.  According to plateau case study the following regional impact can be deduced for shipping.

 

 

 

Biofuel

Demand

North America

ethanol

33 million tons

Europe

ethanol and biodiesel.: 50:50

30 million tons

Asia

ethanol and biodiesel.: 50:50

18 million tons

 

North America demand – policy work support biofuel use in the us and 32 Handysize equivalent tankers will be needed to meet US demand in 2015. with technological breakthrough there will be need for 125 vessel 2030.

 

European demand – Due to environmental requirement and energy security believed to be politically acceptable in the EU but economics may drive a different outcome.80 Handysizes with some due to the growth in trade and longer voyage distance.  With technological breakthrough for 2nd and 3rd generation biofuel growth will need growing to 145 in 2030 Aframax vessels if the technical issues can be overcome.

 

Asia demand  - In plateau case  50 Handysize equivalents are required in 2015 and 2030 with forecast vessel sizes being Handysizes with some Panamax vessels 162 vessels total in the three regions.

 

By adding up all the regions, with biofuels as only 3% of world transport demand, we are looking at a fleet of about 400 Handysize vessels to accommodate the demand and supply drivers by 2030 and 162 by 2015. The total vessel forecast for 2030 could means 2,560 vessels of 81 million deadweight tons.

 

As regions identify these growth markets and recognize the economies of $/tonne scale that can be achieved, as shown here, with bigger tonnage, we are seeing natural investment occurring. New port developments in concerned trade rout will be required to accommodate large Panamax vessel and parcel size for palm oil exports. on the long haul routes.

 

5.5  Biomass  Ship Technologies Impacts

Generation

A variety of methods could turn an age-old natural resource into a new and efficient means of generating electricity. biomass in large amounts is available in many areas, and is being considered as a fuel source for future generation of electricity. Biomass is by its nature both bulky and widely distributed and electricity from conventional, centralized power plants requires an extensive distribution network. Traditionally power is generated through centralized, conventional power plant, where biomass is transported to the central plant, typically a steam or gas turbine power plant, and the electricity is then distributed through the grid to the end users. Costs include fuel and transportation, power plant construction, maintenance, and operation, and distribution of the electric power, including losses in transmission.

 

 

Electrical efficiency

capacity

 biomass

thermal efficiency -40 %

$2,000 per kilowat

 

coal

45 %

$1,500 per kilowatt,

 

However, micro-biomass power generators located at the site of end-use seem to offer a path for new solution for energy. Recent development in towards use of micro biomass will equally offer best practice adaptation for marine power. Biomass is used at or near the site of end-use, with heat from external combustion converted directly to electricity by a biomass fired free-piston genset . Costs include fuel and acquisition and maintenance of the genset and burner. Since the electricity is used on site, both transmission losses and distribution costs are minimal. Thus, in areas without existing infrastructure to transmit power, there are no additional costs. In this case it is also possible to cogenerate using the rejected heat for space or hot water heating, or absorption cooling. Previously, option two has not been feasible, since there have been no small (less than ~50 kW) devices for directly and efficiently converting biomass energy to electricity. Micro-biomass power generation is a more cost-effective means of providing power than central biomass power generation. In particular, areas where there is a need for both power and heat – domestic hot water and space heat and absorption chilling – are attractive for cogeneration configurations of this machine. Biomass can be generated using single or ganged free-piston Stirling engines gensets. These micro-biomass generators offer a number of advantages over centralized biomass fueled power plants. They can be placed at the end-user location taking advantage of local fuel prices and do not require a distribution grid. They can directly provide electrical output with integral linear alternators, or where power requirements are larger they can be ganged and drive a conventional rotary turbine. They are hermetically sealed and offer long lives through their non-contact operation.

Biomass for electricity generation is treated in four ways in NEMS: (1) new dedicated biomass or biomass gasification, (2) existing and new plants that co-fire biomass with coal, (3) existing plants that combust biomass directly in an open-loop process,18 and (4) biomass use in industrial cogeneration applications. Existing biomass plants are accounted for using information such as on-line years, efficiencies, heat rates, and retirement dates, obtained through EIA surveys of the electricity generation sector.

Emissions offsets and waste reduction could help enhance the appeal of biomass to utilities  An important consideration for the future use of biomass-fired power plants is the treatment of biomass flue gases. Biomass-combustion flue gases have high moisture content. When the flue gas is cooled to a temperature below the dew point, water vapor starts to condense. By using flue-gas condensation, sensible and latent heat can be recovered for district heating or other heat-consuming processes; this increases the heat generation from a cogeneration plant by more than 30 percent.  Flue-gas condensation not only recovers heat but also captures dust and hazardous pollutants from flue gases at the same time. Most dioxins, chlorine, mercury, and dust are removed, and sulfur oxides are separated out to some extent. Another feature of flue gas condensation is water recovery, which helps solve the problem of water consumption in evaporative gas turbines.

 

Biomass open door for another way rather than competing with fossil fuel plants a substantial opportunity exists to generate micro-biomass electric power, at power levels from fractions of a kilowatts through to tens or hundreds of kilowatts, at the point of en d use. At these power levels neither small internal combustion engines, which cannot use biomass directly, nor reciprocating steam engines, with low efficiency and limited life, can offer the end user economic electric power. Free-piston Stirling micro biomass engine engines are an economic alternative. Stirling offers the following advantages over significantly larger systems:

Stirling machines have reasonable overall efficiencies at moderate heater head temperatures (~600ƒC) cogeneration is simple large amounts of capital do not have to be raised to build a single evaluation plant with its associated technical and economic risks A large fraction of the value of the engine alternator can be reused at the end of its life Stirling systems can be ganged with multiple units operating in parallel.

 

United States: 1996, P1-R96-STAB-00-NTH (Washington, DC, November 1996). l.

There is an increasing demand for energy across the globe, of which there are natural resources waiting for us to harness if for our use. We need to spend more time and money into research and seeking ways to make good use of this alternative energy, rather than using the old fossil fuels and creating more damage to the environment.

Wind power is an alternative energy resource that we harness with wind turbines. They are continually being developed with demand and are progressively becoming cheaper and more efficient in energy. There are many “wind farms” which can be seen, that are strategically placed so as not to jeopardise the bird population in their natural environment. The first wind turbines were not so well placed.

The most famous of all alternative energy resources is solar energy, which the majority of people are familiar with. There are lots of products on the market which use solar power, that people buy for home use: solar lighting, solar lanterns and fountains for the garden are a new innovation, etc. Solar cells are manufactured which collects the sun’s energy and focuses, so that it can be converted into electricity to light buildings and for heating, like hot water. Solar energy is like wind power in that there is zero pollution created, which is a positive for the environment.

Governments and investors see Ocean Wave Energy as having great potential for generating energy. In France, a generator of this kind has been operation for several years, deemed to be a great success. In Ireland and Scotland there are now facilities up and running in their experimental phase.

Hydroelectric power plants have been around for years and the powerful generators that have been set up, have proven to be much cleaner and better than power grids at producing electricity. There are, however, limitations as to where you can place one as you have to build a huge dam in a suitable location for the water. For this reason, there are new much smaller localised hydroelectric generators that have been set up recently in rivers, so that they can be localised to accommodate them.

Geothermal energy lies just under our feet directly and there is an abundance of it available. A few miles just below the surface of the earth, we can tap into this energy. The hot molten core of the earth heats the water on the surface, to produce energy, which is harnessed once it turns into steam. This steam is used to drive turbine engines so as to generate electricity. More research should be done on geothermal energy so we can tap into its resources and develop it more for use.

The waste that we produced is often disposed in landfill sites, which decomposes over time and so gives off methane. By using it before it gives off too methane which is damaging, we can create energy from it. It is mainly used as gas for fuel cells for use in standard gasoline generators.

Ethanol is a biofuel used as a substitute for gasoline. This alternative fuel is easy to make and process using such products as corn, grapes, sugar cane, wheat, wood cellulose and wood chips. It is still debatable as to whether it is economical as lots of arable land is required to grow the crops, and also concerns of the pollutants from use of this product. It is localised in some areas and technologies are still being refined for extraction and admixturing.

There is a lot of investment by entrepreneurs into Biodiesel energy which is created by many different plant oils such as palms, rapeseed, soybeans and sunflower oils. It is now competing with fossil fuels and many companies have shown a commercial interest as it is cleaner burning than oil based diesel and is environmentally friendly.

Atomic energy is being created by regenerating nuclear plants for a carbon free energy source with nuclear fission. A great amount of power can be generated which makes this type of energy very efficient. The concern from people is of the radioactive waste product of atomic energy, although there is very little it still takes hundreds of years to decay before it becomes harmless.

Renewable energy

 

Renewable energy sources worldwide at the end of 2006.

Renewable energy is energy generated from natural resources—such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, and geothermal heat — which are renewable (naturally replenished). In 2006, about 18% of global final energy consumption came from renewables, with 13% coming from traditional biomass, such as wood-burning.Hydroelectricity was the next largest renewable source, providing 3% (15% of global electricity generaiton), followed by solar hot water /heating, which contributed 1.3%. Modern technologies, such as geothermal energy, wind power, solar power and ocean energy together provided some 0.8% of final energy consumption.

Climate change concerns coupled with high oil prices, peak oil and increasing government support are driving increasing renewable energy legislation, incentives and commercialization.European Union leaders reached an agreement in principle in March 2007 that 20 percent of their nations’ energy should be produced from renewable fuels by 2020, as part of its drive to cut emissions of carbon dioxide, blamed in part for global warming. Investment capital flowing into renewable energy climbed from $80 billion in 2005 to a record $100 billion in 2006.

In responce to the G8’s call on the IEA for “guidance on how to achieve a clean, clever and competitive energy future”, the IEA reported that the replacement of current technology with renewable energy could help reduce CO2 emmisions by 50% by 2050, which they claim is of crucial importance because current policies are not sustainable.

Wind power is growing at the rate of 30 percent annually, with a worldwide installed capacity of over 100 GW, and is widely used in several European countries and the United States. The manufacturing output of the photovoltaics industry reached more than 2,000 MW in 2006, and photovoltaic (PV) power stations are particularly popular in Germany. Solar thermal power stations operate in the USA and Spain, and the largest of these is the 354 MW SEGS power plant in the Mojave Desert. The world’s largest geothermal power installation is The Gevsers in California, with a rated capacity of 750 MW. Brazil has one of the largest renewable energy programs in the world, involving production of ethanol fuel from sugar cane, and ethanol now provides 18 percent of the country’s automotive fuel. Ethanol fuel is also widely available in the USA.

While there are many large-scale renewable energy projects and production, renewable technologies are also suited to small off-grid applications, sometimes in rural and remote areas, where energy is often crucial in human development. Kenya has the world’s highest household solar ownership rate with roughly 30,000 small (20–100 watt) solar power systems sold per year.

Some renewable energy technologies are criticised for being intermittent or unsightly, yet the market is growing for many forms of renewable energy.

Main renewable energy technologies

Three energy sources

The majority of renewable energy technologies are directly or indirectly powered by the sun. The Earth-Atmosphere system is in equilibrium such that heat radiation into space is equal to incoming solar radiation, the resulting level of energy within the Earth-Atmosphere system can roughly be described as the Earth’s “climate.” The hydrosphere (water) absorbs a major fraction of the incoming radiation. Most radiation is absorbed at low latitudes around the equator, but this energy is dissipated around the globe in the form of winds and ocean currents. Wave motion may play a role in the process of transferring mechanical energy between the atmosphere and the ocean through wind stress. Solar energy is also responsible for the distribution of precipitation which is tapped by hydroelectric projects, and for the growth of plants used to create biofuels.

Renewable energy flows involve natural phenomena such as sunlight, wind, tides and geothermal heat, as the International Energy Agency explains:

“Renewable energy is derived from natural processes that are replenished constantly. In its various forms, it derives directly from the sun, or from heat generated deep within the earth. Included in the definition is electricity and heat generated from solar, wind, ocean, hydropower, biomass, geothermal resources, and biofuels and hydrogen derived from renewable resources.”

Each of these sources has unique characteristics which influence how and where they are used.

Wind power

 Vestas V80 wind turbines

Airflows can be used to run wind turbines. Modern wind turbines range from around 600 kW to 5 MW of rated power, although turbines with rated output of 1.5–3 MW have become the most common for commercial use; the power output of a turbine is a function of the cube of the wind speed, so as wind speed increases, power output increases dramatically. Areas where winds are stronger and more constant, such as offshore and high altitude sites, are preferred locations for wind farms.

Since wind speed is not constant, a wind farm’s annual energy production is never as much as the sum of the generator nameplate ratings multiplied by the total hours in a year. The ratio of actual productivity in a year to this theoretical maximum is called the capacity factor. Typical capacity factors are 20-40%, with values at the upper end of the range in particularly favourable sites. For example, a 1 megawatt turbine with a capacity factor of 35% will not produce 8,760 megawatt-hours in a year, but only 0.35×24x365 = 3,066 MWh, averaging to 0.35 MW. Online data is available for some locations and the capacity factor can be calculated from the yearly output.

Globally, the long-term technical potential of wind energy is believed to be five times total current global energy production, or 40 times current electricity demand. This could require large amounts of land to be used for wind turbines, particularly in areas of higher wind resources. Offshore resources experience mean wind speeds of ~90% greater than that of land, so offshore resources could contribute substantially more energy. This number could also increase with higher altitude ground-based or airborne wind turbines.

Wind power is renewable and produces no greenhouse gases during operation, such as carbon dioxdie and methane.

Water power

Energy in water (in the form of kinetic energy, temperature differences or salinity gradients) can be harnessed and used. Since water is about 800 times denser than air, even a slow flowing stream of water, or moderate sea swell, can yield considerable amounts of energy.

 

One of 3 PELAMIS P-750 Ocean Wave Power engines in the harbour of Peniche/ Portugal.

There are many forms of water energy:

·         Hydroelectric energy is a term usually reserved for large-scale hydroelectric dams. Examples are the Grand Coulee Dam in Washington State and the Akosombo Dam in Ghana.

·         Micro hydro systems are hydroelectric power installations that typically produce up to 100 kW of power. They are often used in water rich areas as a Remote Area Power Supply (RAPS). There are many of these installations around the world, including several delivering around 50 kW in the Solomon Islands.

·         Damless hydro systems derive kinetic energy from rivers and oceans without using a dam.

·         Ocean energy  describes all the technologies to harness energy from the ocean and the sea:

o   Marine current power. Similar to tidal stream power, uses the kinetic energy of marine currents

o   Ocean thermal energy  conversion (OTEC) uses the temperature difference between the warmer surface of the ocean and the colder lower recesses. To this end, it employs a cyclic heat engine. OTEC has not been field-tested on a large scale.

o   Tidal power captures energy from the tides. Two different principles for generating energy from the tides are used at the moment:

o   Tidal motion in the vertical direction — Tides come in, raise water levels in a basin, and tides roll out. Around low tide, the water in the basin is discharged through a turbine, exploiting the stored potential energy.

o   Tidal motion in the horizontal direction — Or tidal stream power. Using tidal stream generators, like wind turbines but then in a tidal stream. Due to the high density of water, about eight-hundred times the density of air, tidal currents can have a lot of kinetic energy. Several commercial prototypes have been build, and more are in development.

·         Wave power  uses the energy in waves. Wave power machines usually take the form of floating or neutrally buoyant structures which move relative to one another or to a fixed point. Wave power has now reached commercialization.

·         Saline gradient power,  or osmotic power, is the energy retrieved from the difference in the salt concentration between seawater and river water. Reverse electrodialysis (RED), and Pressure retarded osmosis (PRO) is in research and testing phase.

·         Deep lake water cooling,  although not technically an energy generation method, can save a lot of energy in summer. It uses submerged pipes as a heat sink for climate control systems. Lake-bottom water is a year-round local constant of about 4 °C.

Solar energy use

 

Monocrystalline solar cell

In this context, “solar energy” refers to energy that is collected from sunlight. Solar energy can be applied in many ways, including to:

•           Generate electricity by heating trapped air which rotates turbines in a Solar updraft tower.

•           Generate electricity in geosynchronous orbit using solar power satellites.

•           Generate electricity using photovoltaic solar cells.

•           Generate electricity using concentrated solar power.

•           Generate hydrogen using photoelectrochemical cells.

•           Heat and cool air through use of solar chimneys.

•           Heat buildings, directly, through passive solar building design.

•           Heat foodstuffs, through solar ovens.

•           Heat water or air for domestic hot water and space heating needs using solar-thermal panels.

•           Solar air conditioning

Biofuel

Plants use photosynthesis to grow and produce biomass. Also known as biomatter, biomass can be used directly as fuel or to produce liquid biofuel. Agriculturally produced biomass fuels, such as biodiesel, ethanol and bagasse (often a by-product of sugar cane cultivation) can be burned in internal combustion engines or boilers. Typically biofuel is burned to release its stored chemical energy. Research into more efficient methods of converting biofuels and other fuels into electricity utilizing fuel cells is an area of very active work.

Liquid biofuel

 

Information on pump, California.

Liquid biofuel is usually either a bioalcohol such as ethanol fuel or a bio-oil such as biodiesel and straight vegetable oil. Biodiesel can be used in modern diesel vehicles with little or no modification to the engine and can be made from waste and virgin vegetable and animal oil and fats (lipids). Virgin vegetable oils can be used in modified diesel engines. In fact the Diesel engine was originally designed to run on vegetable oil rather than fossil fuel. A major benefit of biodiesel is lower emissions. The use of biodiesel reduces emission of carbon monoxide and other hydrocarbons by 20 to 40%.

In some areas corn, cornstalks, sugarbeets, sugar cane, and switchgrasses are grown specifically to produce ethanol (also known as grain alcohol) a liquid which can be used in internal combustion engines and fuel cells. Ethanol is being phased into the current energy infrastructure. E85 is a fuel composed of 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline that is sold to consumers. Biobutanol is being developed as an alternative to bioethanol. There is growing international criticism about biofuels from food crops with respect to issues such as food security, environmental impacts (deforestation) and energy balance.

Solid biomass

 

Sugar cane  residue can be used as a biofuel

Solid biomass is mostly commonly usually used directly as a combustible fuel, producing 10-20 MJ/kg of heat.

Its forms and sources include wood fuel,  the biogenic portion of municipal solid waste, or the unused portion of field crops. Field crops may or may not be grown intentionally as an energy crop,  and the remaining plant byproduct used as a fuel. Most types of biomass contain energy. Even cow manure still contains two-thirds of the original energy consumed by the cow. Energy harvesting via a bioreactor is a cost-effective solution to the waste disposal issues faced by the dairy farmer, and can produce enough biogas to run a farm.

With current technology, it is not ideally suited for use as a transportation fuel. Most transportation vehicles require power sources with high power density, such as that provided by internal combustion engines. These engines generally require clean burning fuels, which are generally in liquid form, and to a lesser extent, compressed gaseous phase. Liquids are more portable because they have high energy density, and they can be pumped, which makes handling easier. This is why most transportation fuels are liquids.

Non-transportation applications can usually tolerate the low power-density of external combustion engines, that can run directly on less-expensive solid biomass fuel, for combined heat and power. One type of biomass is wood, which has been used for millennia in varying quantities, and more recently is finding increased use. Two billion people currently cook every day, and heat their homes in the winter by burning biomass, which is a major contributor to man-made climate change global warming. The black soot that is being carried from Asia to polar ice caps is causing them to melt faster in the summer. In the 19th century, wood-fired steam engines were common, contributing significantly to industrial revolution unhealthy air pollution. Coal is a form of biomass that has been compressed over millennia to produce a non-renewable, highly-polluting fossil fuel.

Wood and its byproducts can now be converted through process such as gasification into biofuels such as woodgas, biogas,  methanol or ethanol fuel; although further development may be required to make these methods affordable and practical. Sugar cane residue, wheat chaff, com cobs and other plant matter can be, and are, burned quite successfully. The net carbon dioxide emissions that are added to the atmosphere by this process are only from the fossil fuel that was consumed to plant, fertilize, harvest and transport the biomass.

Processes to harvest biomass from short-rotation poplars and willows, and perennial grasses such as switchgrass, phalaris, and miscanthus, require less frequent cultivation and less nitrogen than from typical annual crops. Pelletizing miscanthus and burning it to generate electricity is being studied and may be economically viable.

Biogas

Biogas can easily be produced from current waste streams, such as: paper production, sugar production, sewage, animal waste and so forth. These various waste streams have to be slurried together and allowed to naturally ferment, producing methane gas. This can be done by converting current sewage plants into biogas plants. When a biogas plant has extracted all the methane it can, the remains are sometimes better suitable as fertilizer than the original biomass.

Alternatively biogas can be produced via advanced waste processing systems such as mechanical biological treatment. These systems recover the recyclable elements of household waste and process the biodegradable fraction in anaerobic digesters.

Renewable natural gas is a biogas which has been upgraded to a quality similar to natural gas. By upgrading the quality to that of natural gas, it becomes possible to distribute the gas to the mass market via gas grid.

Geothermal energy

 

Krafla Geothermal Station in northeast Iceland

Geothermal energy is energy obtained by tapping the heat of the earth itself, usually from kilometers deep into the Earth’s crust. It is expensive to build a power station but operating costs are low resulting in low energy costs for suitable sites. Ultimately, this energy derives from heat in the Earth’s core. The government of Iceland states: “It should be stressed that the geothermal resource is not strictly renewable in the same sense as the hydro resource.” It estimates that Iceland’s geothermal energy could provide 1700 MW for over 100 years, compared to the current production of 140 MW. Radioactive elements in the earth’s crust continuously decay, replenishing the heat. The International Energy Agency classifies geothermal power as renewable.

Three types of power plants are used to generate power from geothermal energy: dry steam, flash, and binary. Dry steam plants take steam out of fractures in the ground and use it to directly drive a turbine that spins a generator. Flash plants take hot water, usually at temperatures over 200 °C, out of the ground, and allows it to boil as it rises to the surface then separates the steam phase in steam/water separators and then runs the steam through a turbine. In binary plants, the hot water flows through heat exchangers, boiling an organic fluid that spins the turbine. The condensed steam and remaining geothermal fluid from all three types of plants are injected back into the hot rock to pick up more heat.

The geothermal energy from the core of the Earth is closer to the surface in some areas than in others. Where hot underground steam or water can be tapped and brought to the surface it may be used to generate electricity. Such geothermal power sources exist in certain geologically unstable parts of the world such as Chile, Iceland, New Zealand, United States, the Philippines and Italy. The two most prominent areas for this in the United States are in the Yellowstone basin and in northern California. Iceland produced 170 MW geothermal power and heated 86% of all houses in the year 2000 through geothermal energy. Some 8000 MW of capacity is operational in total.

There is also the potential to generate geothermal energy from hot dry rocks. Holes at least 3 km deep are drilled into the earth. Some of these holes pump water into the earth, while other holes pump hot water out. The heat resource consists of hot underground radiogenic granite rocks, which heat up when there is enough sediment between the rock and the earths surface. Several companies in Australia are exploring this technology.

Renewable energy commercialization

Costs

Source                         2001 energy costs                              Potential future energy cost

Electricity

Wind                           4–8 ¢/kWh                                                      3–10 ¢/kWh

Solar photovoltaic       25–160 ¢/kWh                                                            5–25 ¢/kWh

Solar thermal               12–34 ¢/kWh                                                  4–20 ¢/kWh

Large hydropower      2–10 ¢/kWh                                                    2–10 ¢/kWh

Small hydropower       2–12 ¢/kWh                                                    2–10 ¢/kWh

Geothermal                 2–10 ¢/kWh                                                    1–8 ¢/kWh

Biomass                       3–12 ¢/kWh                                                    4–10 ¢/kWh

Coal (comparison)       4 ¢/kWh         

Heat

Geothermal Heat         0.5–5 ¢/kWh                                                   0.5–5 ¢/kWh

Biomass — heat          1–6 ¢/kWh                                                      1–5 ¢/kWh

Low Temp Solar Heat 2–25 ¢/kWh                                                    2–10 ¢/kWh

All costs are in 2001 US$-cent per kilowatt-hour.

New generation of solar thermal plants

The 11 megawatt PS10 solar power tower in Spain produces electricity from the sun using 624 large movable mirrors called heliostats.

Aerial view of one of the SEGS plants.

Since 2004 there has been renewed interest in solar thermal power stations and two plants were completed during 2006/2007: the 64 MW Nevada Solar One and the 11 MW PS10 solar power tower in Spain. Three 50 MW trough plants were under construction in Spain at the end of 2007 with 10 additional 50 MW plants planned. In the United States, utilities in California and Florida have announced plans (or contracted for) at least eight new projects totaling more than 2,000 MW.

In developing countries, three world bank projects for integrated CSP/combined-cycle gas-turbine power plants in Egypt, Mexico, and Morocco were approved during 2006/2007.

There are several solar thermal power plant in the Mojave Desert which supply power to the electricity grid. Solar Energy Generating Systems (SEGS) is the name given to nine solar power plants in the Mojave Desert which were built in the 1980s. These plants have a combined capacity of 354 MW making them the largest solar power installation in the world.

World’s largest photovoltaic power plants

Several large photovoltaic power plants have been completed in Spain in 2008: the Parque Fotovoltaico Olmedilla de Alarcon (60 MW), Parque Solar Merida/Don Alvaro (30 MW), Planta solar Fuente Alamo (26 MW), Planta fotovoltaica de Lucainena de las Torres (23.2 MW), Parque Fotovoltaico Abertura Solar (23.1 MW), Parque Solar Hoya de Los Vincentes (23 MW), the Solarpark Calveron (21 MW), and the Planta Solar La Magascona (20 MW).

First Solar 40 MW PV Array installed by JUWI Group in Waldpolenz, Germany

Waldpolenz Solar Park, which will be the world’s largest thin-flim photovoltaic (PV) power system, is being built at a former military air base to the east of Leipzig in Germany. The power plant will be a 40-megawatt solar power system using state-of-the-art thin film technology, and should be finished by the end of 2009. 550,000 First Solar thin-film modules will be used, which will supply 40,000 MWh of electricity per year.

Topaz Solar Farm is a proposed 550 MW solar photovoltaic power plant which is to be built northwest of California Valley in the USA at a cost of over $1 billion. Built on 9.5 square miles (25 km2) of ranchland, the project would utilize thin-film PV panels designed and manufactured by OptiSolar in Hayward and Sacramento. The project would deliver approximately 1,100 gigawatt-hours (GWh) annually of renewable energy. The project is expected to begin construction in 2010, begin power delivery in 2011, and be fully operational by 2013.

High Plains Ranch  is a proposed 250 MW solar photovoltaic power plant which is to be built by Sun Power in the Carrizo Plain, northwest of California Valley.

However, when it comes to renewable energy systems and PV, it is not just large systems that matter. Building-Integrated Photovoltaics or “onsite” PV systems have the advantage of being matched to end use energy needs in terms of scale. So the energy is supplied close to where it is needed.

Environmental and social considerations

While most renewable energy sources do not produce pollution directly, the materials, industrial processes, and construction equipment used to create them may generate waste and pollution. Some renewable energy systems actually create environmental problems. For instance, older wind turbines can be hazardous to flying birds.

Land area required

Another environmental issue, particularly with biomass and biofuels, is the large amount of land required to harvest energy, which otherwise could be used for other purposes or left as undeveloped land. However, it should be pointed out that these fuels may reduce the need for harvesting non-renewable energy sources, such as vast strip-mined areas and slag mountains for coal, safety zones around nuclear plants, and hundreds of square miles being strip-mined for oil sands. These responses, however, do not account for the extremely high biodiversity and endemism of land used for ethanol crops, particularly sugar cane.

In the U.S., crops grown for biofuels are the most land- and water-intensive of the renewable energy sources. In 2005, about 12% of the nation’s corn crop (covering 11 million acres (45,000 km²) of farmland) was used to produce four billion gallons of ethanol—which equates to about 2% of annual U.S. gasoline consumption. For biofuels to make a much larger contribution to the energy economy, the industry will have to accelerate the development of new feedstocks, agricultural practices, and technologies that are more land and water efficient. Already, the efficiency of biofuels production has increased significantly and there are new methods to boost biofuel production.

Hydroelectric dams

The major advantage of hydroelectric systems is the elimination of the cost of fuel. Other advantages include longer life than fuel-fired generation, low operating costs, and the provision of facilities for water sports. Operation of pumped-storage plants improves the daily load factor of the generation system. Overall, hydroelectric power can be far less expensive than electricity generated from fossil fuels or nuclear energy, and areas with abundant hydroelectric power attract industry.

However, there are several major disadvantages of hydroelectric systems. These include: dislocation of people living where the reservoirs are planned, release of significant amounts of carbon dioxide at construction and flooding of the reservoir, disruption of aquatic ecosystems and birdlife, adverse impacts on the river environment, potential risks of sabotage and terrorism, and in rare cases catastrophic failure of the dam wall.

Hydroelectric power is now more difficult to site in developed nations because most major sites within these nations are either already being exploited or may be unavailable for other reasons such as environmental considerations.

Wind farms

Wind power  is one of the most environmentally friendly sources of renewable energy

A wind farm, when installed on agricultural land, has one of the lowest environmental impacts of all energy sources:

•           It occupies less land area per kilowatt-hour (kWh) of electricity generated than any other energy conversion system, apart from rooftop solar energy, and is compatible with grazing and crops.

•           It generates the energy used in its construction in just 3 months of operation, yet its operational lifetime is 20–25 years.

•           Greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution produced by its construction are tiny and declining. There are no emissions or pollution produced by its operation.

•           In substituting for base-load coal power, wind power produces a net decrease in greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution, and a net increase in biodiversity.

•           Modern wind turbines are almost silent and rotate so slowly (in terms of revolutions per minute) that they are rarely a hazard to birds.

Studies of birds and offshore wind farms in Europe have found that there are very few bird collisions. Several offshore wind sites in Europe have been in areas heavily used by seabirds. Improvements in wind turbine design, including a much slower rate of rotation of the blades and a smooth tower base instead of perchable lattice towers, have helped reduce bird mortality at wind farms around the world. However older smaller wind turbines may be hazardous to flying birds. Birds are severely impacted by fossil fuel energy; examples include birds dying from exposure to oil spills, habitat loss from acid rain and mountaintop removal coal mining, and mercury poisoning.

Other issues

Sustainability

Renewable energy sources are generally sustainable in the sense that they cannot “run out” as well as in the sense that their environmental and social impacts are generally more benign than those of fossil. However, both biomass and geothermal energy require wise management if they are to be used in a sustainable manner. For all of the other renewables, almost any realistic rate of use would be unlikely to approach their rate of replenishment by nature.

Transmission

If renewable and distribution generation were to become widespread, electric power transmission and electricity distribution systems might no longer be the main distributors of electrical energy but would operate to balance the electricity needs of local communities. Those with surplus energy would sell to areas needing “top ups”. That is, network operation would require a shift from ‘passive management’ — where generators are hooked up and the system is operated to get electricity ‘downstream’ to the consumer — to ‘active management’, wherein generators are spread across a network and inputs and outputs need to be constantly monitored to ensure proper balancing occurs within the system. Some governments and regulators are moving to address this, though much remains to be done. One potential solution is the increased use of active management of electricity transmission and distribution networks. This will require significant changes in the way that such networks are operated.

However, on a smaller scale, use of renewable energy produced on site reduces burdens on electricity distribution systems. Current systems, while rarely economically efficient, have shown that an average household with an appropriately-sized solar panel array and energy storage system needs electricity from outside sources for only a few hours per week. By matching electricity supply to end-use needs, advocates of renewable energy and the soft energy path believe electricity systems will become smaller and easier to manage, rather than the opposite.

Controversy over nuclear power as a renewable energy source

In 1983, physicist Bernard Cohen proposed that uranium is effectively inexhaustible, and could therefore be considered a renewable source of energy. He claims that fast breeder reactors, fueled by uranium extracted from seawater, could supply energy at least as long as the sun’s expected remaining lifespan of five billion years. Nuclear energy has also been referred to as “renewable” by the politicians George W. Bush, Charlie Crist,  and David Sainsbury.

Inclusion under the “renewable energy” classification could render nuclear power projects eligible for development aid under various jurisdictions. However, it has not been established that nuclear energy is inexhaustible, and issues such as peak uranium and uranium depletion are ongoing debates. No legislative body has yet included nuclear energy under any legal definition of “renewable energy sources” for provision of development support. Similarly, statutory and scientific definitions of renewable energies usually exclude nuclear energy. Commonly sourced definitions of renewable energy sources often omit or explicitly exclude nuclear energy sources as examples.Nuclear fission is not regarded as renewable by the U.S. DOE on the website “What is Energy?”

There are also environmental concerns over nuclear power, including the dangerous environmental hazards of nuclear waste and concerns that development of new plants cannot happen quickly enough to reduce CO2 emissions, such that nuclear energy is neither efficient nor effective in cutting CO2 emissions.

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF RENEWABLE ENERGY:

There are many energy sources today that are extremely limited in supply. Some of these sources include oil, natural gas, and coal. It is a matter of time before they will be exhausted.

Estimates are that they can only meet our energy demands for another fifty to seventy years. So in an effort to find alternative forms of energy, the world has turned to renewable energy sources as the solution. There are many advantages and disadvantages to this.

Renewable energy sources consist of solar, hydro, wind, geothermal, ocean and biomass. The most common advantage of each is that they are renewable and cannot be depleted. They are a clean energy, as they don’t pollute the air, and they don’t contribute to global warming or greenhouse effects. Since their sources are natural the cost of operations is reduced and they also require less maintenance on their plants. A common disadvantage to all is that it is difficult to produce the large quantities of electricity their counterpart the fossil fuels are able to. Since they are also new technologies, the cost of initiating them is high.

Solar energy makes use of the sun’s energy. It is advantageous because the systems can fit into existing buildings and it does not affect land use. But since the area of the collectors is large, more materials are required. Solar radiation is also controlled by geography. And it is limited to daytime hours and non-cloudy days.

Wind energy uses the power of the wind to produce electricity. Although it is the largest job producer, it is reliant on strong winds. Wind turbines are large and, although you can use the area under them for farming, many consider them unattractive looking. They are also very noisy to operate. In addition, they threaten the wild bird population.

Hydroelectric energy uses water to produce power. This is the most reliable of all the renewable energy sources. On the down side, it affects ecology and causes downstream problems. The decay of vegetation along the riverbed can cause the buildup of methane. Methane is a contributing gas to greenhouse effect. Dams can also alter the natural river flow and affect wildlife. Colder, oxygen poor water can be released into the river, killing fish. And the release of water from the dam can cause flooding.

Geothermal energy uses steam from the Earth’s ground to generate power. It uses smaller land areas than other power plants. They can run 24 hours per day, every day of the year. Disadvantages are that it is very site specific and, along with the heat from the Earth, it can also bring up toxic chemicals when obtaining the steam. Drilling geothermal reservoirs and finding them can be an expensive task.

Biomass electricity is produced through the energies from wood, agricultural and municipal waste. It helps save on landfill waste but transportation can be expensive and ecological diversity of land may be affected. In addition, its process needs to be made simpler.

Ocean energy is a clean and abundant energy form. It does, however, have high costs. Ocean thermal energy also requires close to a forty degree Fahrenheit difference in water temperature year round. In addition, construction and laying pipes can cause damage to the ecosystem.

There are many advantages to the use of renewable energy sources. There are also some disadvantages. The fact is energy demands will continue to increase. Through research and development, as well as, new technologies, the hope is many of the disadvantages of renewable sources of energy can be eliminated and we can successfully incorporate it into our power supplies.

                                                 

We live on a solar powered planet.  Virtually all of the energy we use comes — ultimately — from the sun.

Fossil fuels, including petroleum, coal, and natural gas, originated from ancient biomass which relied on photosynthesis powered by the sun.

Most of our renewable energy likewise starts with the sun.  Wind power is driven primarily by convection currents created by the sun’s rays heating the sea and land.  Biofuels, including bioethanol and biodiesel, begin with plants using the sun to power photosynthesis.  Hydroelectric power — whether dams or in-stream turbines — relies on the downstream flow of water that fell as rain or snow but which originally evaporated from lakes and oceans due to heat from the sun.

More obvious are the applications of solar thermal and solar photovoltaic power.

Solar Thermal

The sun is a giant nuclear fusion reactor with a surface temperature of more than 5,000 degrees Celsius (9,000 degrees Fahrenheit).  Of course, only a minute fraction of its energy reaches the Earth, and only part of that energy is heat.  But we can take advantage of that heat simply by opening our curtains on a winter day to let the sun warm our home.  Or we may put a coil of black tubing on the roof of our house with water running through it to provide hot water.

Using the sun’s heat to produce electricity is only a little more complicated.  Focus the sun’s rays on a container of water to turn the water into steam under pressure.  Use the steam to drive a turbine, which then drives a generator producing electricity.

On a large scale, solar thermal systems often consist of hundreds or even thousands of flat mirrors focusing the sun’s rays on central towers, or long troughs of concave mirrors focused on tubes.  Such arrays can produce power in the range of 100 megawatts or more, much less than coal fire and nuclear plants, but with none of the environmental risks.

Solar Photovoltaic

A more direct method of producing electricity from the sun is solar photovoltaic.  This technology relies on the properties of certain materials to act as photodiodes.  When photons of light strike the material, they energize electrons, producing a direct current.  Although each interaction produces very little energy, the flow can be combined so that cells and arrays of cells can deliver substantial power.  Like solar thermal systems, large solar photovoltaic arrays may cover thousands of square meters and cost millions of dollars.

Putting Solar To Use

Advances in photovoltaic technology have brought solar-based electricity to the general public.  Homeowners and businesses can have their own rooftop arrays, producing their own power independent of the public utility grid.  Rooftop solar panel kits that include an inverter to convert the panel’s direct current into household alternating current are available from building supply companies and online retailers for a few hundred dollars.

To help them reach commitments made in international agreements to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, many governments encourage public involvement in renewable energy projects by providing tax incentives, grants, rebates, and interest-free loans to individuals setting up their own solar and wind projects.

Smart meters may allow homeowners or businesses to produce a portion of the power they use, and even to sell excess power back to the utility grid.

Setting up your own solar power system isn’t difficult, but you should be aware of local laws governing the size and type of installation allowed.  There may also be insurance concerns if you plan on mounting panels on your roof.  Also, tracking down and obtaining government incentives can be a complex process.  Thus, it may be wise to seek the advice of a qualified consultant specializing in small-scale renewable energy systems.

The sun is an incomparable gift that shines for everyone.  All we need to do is to put it to use.