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Energy Tech Roundup for August 16

Welcome to a late summer edition of Energy Tech Roundup! This week's edition includes stories on new Australian recycling innovations, the surprising difference between the cost of electricity between solar power and the grid in China, and the world's largest, longest-ranged, hydrogen powered plane.

Recycling Is in Crisis. Could These Innovations Be the Answer?

Nations around the world are now facing a newly emerging situation of where to ship their recyclable waste, as China accepts fewer and fewer international shipments of recyclables from around the world. In response, Australia has banned the export of recyclables to process their own waste domestically, with the main goal of keeping the waste from entering the ocean. 'Our waste, our responsibility' is Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison's new rallying cry. Read more about the varied ways that Australia will treat their own recyclables in this detailed NYTimes article.

Solar power is now cheaper than the grid in hundreds of Chinese cities

Solar power in literally hundreds of Chinese cities is now cheaper than power from the Chinese national grid, according to this CNN post. 300+ Chinese cities currently have large enough solar power networks to produce cheaper electricity than the grid without any government subsidies, which is expected to encourage even more renewable energy investment. This continuing trend towards renewables is also beginning to curb China's traditional reliance on coal for energy production, in addition to expanding the already booming Chinese solar industry.

This plane can fly 500 miles, powered entirely by hydrogen

ZeroAvia, a California-based aviation company, has just successfully completed a 500-mile flight with a hydrogen-powered, propeller-driven airplane...the longest flight yet taken by a 'green' airplane. Full testing is planned to continue for the next several years, with ZeroAvia's electric hydrogen-fueled engine set to be sold to aviation companies by 2022. In the immediate future, hydrogen fueling can save airlines money on short flights, according to the article in Fast Company. Further in the future, larger planes may be fitted with hydrogen-powered engines, which could dramatically cut emissions. ZeroAvia is currently negotiating contracts with several airlines.

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Energy Tech Roundup for May 10

Welcome to this week's Energy Tech Roundup! Our newest stories include a milestone week for the UK power industry, salt batteries potentially changing energy use, and a prototype highway for electric trucks in Germany.

UK goes a whole week without using coal-fired electricity

This week, the UK's National Grid recorded its first full seven day period without burning any coal at all. It also commented that more coal-free stretches are imminent, as the country moves closer to its coal-free grid pledge, expected to take hold in about six years. Ars Technica reports with more renewables being added to the British grid regularly, zero carbon emissions can become a reality soon. The UK is an international leader in wind power, in addition to its nuclear and natural gas fueled plants. The expected end of coal power in the UK is hugely symbolic, with the first ever coal fired power plant having gone online in London in 1882.

Just add water: Salt battery could help renewable energy use

The AP is reporting that a German/Swedish partnership is currently testing the use of salt to store heat. If perfected, the new system could act like a battery that stores heat, instead of electricity, and will be used as a backup to renewable energy sources, which can be less than constant. The project is called SaltX, which uses calcium oxide mixed with varied amounts of water to produce heat. The simple mixing reaction requires no fuel and can be stored for long periods to heat both residential and commercial buildings. The current SaltX build can heat about 100 houses, but it is reported to be easily upgradeable. SaltX hopes to be part of Germany's Energywende [energy transition] from fossil fuels to sustainable sources over the next few decades.

Germany is opening its first electric highway for trucks

Also out of Germany is this CNN story on a roughly 6 mile long stretch of autobahn that has been fitted with overhead cables to power large trucks. Similar to the cables that power trolleys and other types of urban light rail in many European cities, the system developed by Siemens allows specially equipped commercial trucks to run on electric motors when connected to the overhead lines and hybrid engines when not connected, sharply reducing carbon emissions when compared to diesel-powered trucks. The small bit of highway just opened connects Frankfurt airport with nearby warehouses, with additional sections of highway scheduled to open soon. Siemens reports that for every 100,000 kilometers traveled with these electric trucks, about $22,000 dollars will be saved in diesel fuel costs.

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Energy Tech Roundup for May 3

Welcome to this week's Energy Tech Roundup! This week we have stories on New York's Green New Deal, an innovative, ground-breaking energy storage project in Oregon, and the ambitious goals of the UK's climate panel.

New York’s Green New Deal puts US $350m investment into energy storage

Governor Andrew Cuomo pledged $400M in funding last week towards his comprehensive climate agenda. $280M of that money will be marked for new electric battery tech. These allocations link directly to the target of 3GW of energy storage to be online by 2030. Governor Cuomo has been quoted as stating how important energy storage is to the the electric grid's resiliency as well as helping the energy industry grow and create jobs. Much more can be found at this Energy Storage News link.

Large Grid Storage Project Near Klamath Falls Gets Federal Approval

Approval for the largest energy storage facility in the Pacific Northwest has just been given to the Swan Lake North pumped storage facility. The plan is for a new reservoir system to be built near Klamath Falls, Oregon, to store electricity from the state's grid. The facility will include a 60 acre reservoir constructed on top of a hill, along with accompanying turbines and a lower reservoir. The new Swan Lake North facility will cost roughly $800M and have a 393 megawatt capacity. The new approvals and resulting license will be valid for 50 years and it is hoped that the new system will be capable of powering close to 400,000 homes. Read more here.

UK Climate Panel sets big goals: less meat, electric cars

An independent advisory panel just released a report yesterday with recommendations for how the UK can eliminate almost all greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. This AP story reports that even though the UK does have an existing zero-emissions policy, it must be strengthened. The new report also has recommendations for green farm operation and strict recommendations for EVs, as well as recommendations for speeding up the UK's entire climate change policy. The report, viewed as 'bold' and 'aggressive,' is viewed by many as an appropriate response to dire warnings on future UK and world climate issues.

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Energy Tech Roundup 4/26

In honor of both Earth Day and Arbor Day this week, Energy Tech Roundup is featuring articles on the greening of roofs on new buildings, humanity helping trees survive climate change, and seaweed replacing plastic bottles at the upcoming London Marathon.

New York City Passes Bill Requiring Green Roofs on New Buildings

The online magazine Dwell reports that the New York City Council passed the Climate Mobilization Act, a complete package of regulations intended to improve energy efficiency. Similar to new construction laws in San Francisco, Portland, Denver and other cities, the new residential and commercial building laws require builders to include roofs with plants, solar panels, wind turbines, or a mix of all three. More 'green' buildings are at the center of the new regulations, attempting to cut New York City's carbon emissions by 80% through 2050.

Can Humans Help Trees Outrun Climate Change?

This article from the NYTimes is fitting for both Earth Day and Arbor Day. The mix of extreme weather and surging invasions of destructive pests have put large tracts of U.S. forests in danger, with a host of different scientific experiments being conducted around the country to try to save them. A water utility in Rhode Island is importing 100s of trees to attempt to both maintain forests and continue to filter the local water supply for more than half a million people. In Minnesota, a landowner is diversifying the types of trees growing in his privately owned forest in order to save it. And the U.S. Forest Service is asking for help around the U.S. to find the best ways to help trees around the country.

Seaweed pouches will replace thousands of plastic bottles at the London marathon

Here is a literal green solution to the plastics problem that you probably have not heard of before: this year's London Marathon will be ditching bottled water for its 40,000+ runners and replacing them with pods made of green seaweed. Instead of taking 450 years to biodegrade like plastic water bottles, the seaweed pods, filled with water or sports drinks or pretty much anything the user wants, can be eaten, or, if left behind, biodegrade in 6 weeks! Plus the seaweed itself is refined, removing the smell. The pods are designed for easy transport, so besides a marathon, they can be used at concerts, sporting events, etc. The goal of the designers of these new 'green pods' is to eventually help plastic packaging of all types disappear and make the pods themselves part of the ‘drinking experience.’ Find out more here.

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Energy Tech Roundup for April 12

Welcome to the latest post for NYPA's Energy Tech Roundup! This week's stories include a new battery with a massive increase in range, New York City's green pizza & beer train, and the environmental allure of green, flex-fuel trucks.

Someone's building a battery good for a 621-mile range

Swiss tech firm Innolith AG would like to help all EV users alleviate their range anxiety. How? By developing a rechargeable battery that has the potential to provide 600+ miles on a single charge. The technology that Innolith's new battery uses is also non-flammable and made from more common materials than typical EV car batteries, making this new innovation more inexpensive than current EV batteries tool. Innolith batteries are set to be tested in Germany with multiple car companies, with a tentative launch date of 2024 for the beginning of full production. Read more in Top Gear here.

The Pizza-and-Beer Train: New York City’s Hidden Railroad

It's Friday and what sounds better than a pizza and beer train? Nothing really. This mini freight line, hidden in plain site in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, is growing, defying common knowledge on what a railroad is capable of, and even greening one of the most highly trafficked and densely populated areas in the world. Can 19th century technology solve 21st century traffic and climate problems? The New York & Atlantic Railroad, featured in this week’s New York Times, is doing just that.

MIT says we’re overlooking a near-term solution to diesel trucking emissions

Unfortunately for all of us, not every city has a pizza & beer train to alleviate traffic and pollution problems. But there is still hope. In a new report posted on Ars Technica from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, hybrid trucks may be the quicker, short term answer to help the trucking industry go greener, quicker. Hybrid trucks can use the benefits and combined power of batteries, gasoline and even alternative fuels like alcohol to keep their emissions down, with this combination of tech ultimately reducing the total amount of emissions, while still resulting in acceptable range.

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Energy Tech Roundup for 2/15

This week’s Energy Tech Roundup includes articles news on recycling EV batteries, the greening of China and India, and a skiable mountain of trash in Denmark.

Electric car batteries might be worth recycling, but bus batteries aren't yet

This new article from Ars Technica quotes Bloomberg New Energy Finance in predicting that by 2040 there will be almost 560 million EVs in operation. Each one of those EVs contains multiple batteries that contain a large host of elements and chemicals which are not always disposed of with best practices in mind. Enter the researchers from Carnegie Mellon University and their newly published research paper that studies the environmental and economic costs of recycling EV batteries, specifically batteries containing nickel manganese cobalt oxide (NMC), nickel cobalt aluminum oxide (NCA) and iron phosphate (LFP). The first two battery types are used in consumer vehicles, and the LFPs are used in large commercial vehicles like buses.  Broken down in more detail at the link, the researchers found that it is quite pricey, right now, to recycle any type of EV battery but at the same time, recycling them does benefit the environment. With time and new technology, this will hopefully change.

China and India are making the planet greener, NASA says

This new study by NASA, covered by CNN, reports that while India and China, the world’s two largest countries responsible for a huge percentage of the world’s emissions, they are also responsible for recent increases in a greening of the planet too. Since 2000, earth’s green leaf area has shot up 5% - the equivalent of two million square miles. One third of this increase can be attributed to India and China, the result of forest conservation and expansion, new farming methods, and other green practices. The NASA researchers were quick to explain that this greening does not make up for negative environmental impact elsewhere, but it is a tangible sign of how the planet is directly affected by human activity. The study does inferr that the greening of some areas can offset some of the warming effects of climate change.

We've got this mountain of trash - why don't we ski down it?

The Danish have a unique approach to problem solving. This Reuters story describes Copenhill, a waste management plant outside downtown Copenhagen, that is a roughly 250 foot high building constructed with a material called neveplast. It is shaped like a ski slope, but is a lush green color and contains the waste collected from the city’s 600,000 people and tens of thousands of businesses. To make Copenhill more acceptable to its neighbors, it is slowly being introduced as a recreational area, specifically as an urban ski slope. Opened to the public a few days a week beginning in 2017, the green ski slope will be permanently open starting this spring and stay open all year round, available for skiing in all seasons. The Copenhill will also simultaneously burn the waste contained within it, producing electricity for the Copenhagen metro area as well as heating, and some recycling operations will also be ongoing, all part of Copenhagen’s drive to become carbon neutral.

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Energy Tech Roundup for February 8

This week’s Energy Tech Roundup includes details on the world’s largest solar farm in Morocco, a new carbon capture program in the UK, and plans for a massive solar facility in Egypt’s Western Desert.

Morocco in the fast lane with world's largest concentrated solar farm

Morocco is now the home of the world's largest solar farm at the Noor-Ouarzazate complex. Measuring about the size of 3500 football fields according to CNN, this tremendous complex, situated at an entry point to the Sahara desert, supplies 580 megawatts of electricity and saves about 760,000 tons of carbon emissions from being released in to the atmosphere. The Noor-Ouarzazate solar farm is part of Morocco's very ambitious climate plan, looking to get more than 40% of its energy from renewables by next year. Also notable about this Moroccan complex, in addition to its sheer massive size, is that it is made up of curved solar panels, which retain heat during the night and on cloudy days. By 2030, Morocco's energy demand is expected to double from what it was in 2010.

Climate change: UK carbon capture project begins

And now, we switch gears from a giant solar farm in the Sahara to the story of the giant Drax Power Station in North Yorkshire, UK, which produces 6% of the UK's electricity. BBC reports that the Drax station, which burns wood chips as fuel, is the first in Europe to capture its carbon dioxide from wood burning. One ton of carbon dioxide is captured per day. Carbon capture like this is a bit controversial because trapping the carbon dioxide may harm plants and animals that depend on it. It also takes extra energy to capture it and adds additional problems to the environment like massive deforestation. Beyond these issues, the next steps for Drax is what to do with the carbon dioxide once it is effectively trapped. The best outcome would be to find customers who will purchase it for manufacturing purposes or even begin using the captured carbon for their own engineering and scientific needs.

Egypt Is Building One of the Largest Solar Parks in the World

Not to be outdone by Morocco or the UK, Egypt is currently building Benban Solar Park, 400 miles south of Cairo, in the Western Desert. It is the largest solar facility of its kind currently in development and will be capable of producing about 1650 megawatts when it is completed. It is also designed to get roughly 20% of its output from the use of renewables, according to EnergyCentral. Benban will also be the first energy facility in Egypt not wholly owned by the government, with more than a dozen private companies putting the investment money together to get Benban built. In addition to Benban, Egypt is also planning several windfarms in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Suez, as well as a nuclear power plant set to be activated in 2026.

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Energy Tech Roundup for February 1

This week’s winterized Energy Tech Roundup includes news on declining coal usage in Germany, the use of 3D printing in manufacturing energy plant turbine components, and the ongoing struggle of EVs in cold weather.

It’ll cost $45 billion, but Germany proposes to eliminate coal in 19 years

This week, according to Ars Technica, a German commission of government leaders, environmentalists and scientists agreed on a proposal to close all of the country’s remaining coal-fired plants by 2038. The closures would be subsidized by tens of billions of euros in aid to help German communities closely linked to the once dominant German coal industry. Germany has been making advances in renewable sources of energy for years, to the point that solar, wind, hydro, etc. now make up 40% of the country’s energy production. The German government wants to go even further and have these renewable sources make up between 65% and 80% of the country’s power by 2040. The process will begin by closing up to 24 coal powered plants in the next five years.

A New Dimension For Industry: How 3D Printing Is Doing Its Part To Reduce Greenhouse Emissions

3D printing has exploded in the last few years, it’s newly perfected precision utilized by far flung industries like manufacturing, medicine, transportation and now, energy. According to this article in GE Reports, General Electric has, to-date, printed and shipped thousands of 3D-printed turbine parts for use in gas turbines in power plants around the world. With traditional production methods it would take up to ten years to increase the efficiency of a single gas turbine. With 3D printing’s new levels of speed and accuracy, that time has been cut down by half or more. And once a turbine part is perfected, it can be mass produced – something that was impossible without 3D printing. Production is also sped up with 3D printers using computer files in their manufacturing process, which can be changed almost instantly when needed. Different engine components can also be manufactured with fewer joints and moving parts, making them more durable, efficient and reliable as they age. GE plans to take what they are learning from 3D printing in their energy business and apply it to other sectors like aviation.

Why Electric Cars Struggle in the Cold - And How to Help Them

By now you are probably completely done with the winter, the polar vortex and temperatures below zero. If you have an EV, it probably is too. This article from Wired magazine explains how the current harsh winter weather can make an EV a lot less effective. To start, the lithium-ion batteries that power most EVs (not to mention cell phones, laptops, etc.) are sensitive to cold, the same way we, as human beings, are. Put simply, the fluid within these batteries does not perform well at temperatures below 40 degrees Fahrenheit, getting sluggish and ineffecient. This makes both charging and discharging (powering the EV, or phone, or laptop) less than optimal. For a modern electric car in particular, without a combustion engine as a source of warmth, other, smaller sources are used – like the tiny motors scattered throughout the car. Other issues also exist for EVs in cold weather – regenerative breaking and fast charging are both a lot less effective. To counter these cold weather issues, batteries without liquid (solid state) are being developed for consumer electronics right now, with potential delivery to the market in five to ten years. And spring is only two months away!