Aug 3, 2023
The compound annual growth rate of renewables is now exponential. The transition is well under way.
Via Daniel Moser on Mastodon
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The compound annual growth rate of renewables is now exponential. The transition is well under way.
Via Daniel Moser on Mastodon
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Were we able to perceive afresh the sheer scale of fossil fuel impact we might be horrified, but because this is an old problem too many don
If fossil fuel use and impact had suddenly appeared overnight, their catastrophic poisonousness and destructiveness would be obvious. But they have so incrementally become part of everyday life nearly everywhere on Earth that those impacts are largely accepted or ignored (that they’ve also corroded our politics helps this lack of alarm). This has real consequences for the climate crisis. Were we able to perceive afresh the sheer scale of fossil fuel impact we might be horrified. But because this is an old problem too many don’t see it as a problem.
Human beings are good at regarding new and unfamiliar phenomena as dangerous or unacceptable. But long-term phenomena become acceptable merely because of our capacity to adjust. Violence against women (the leading form of violence worldwide) and slower forms of environmental destruction have been going on so long that they’re easy to overlook and hard to get people to regard as a crisis. We saw this with Covid-19, where in the first months most people were fearful and eager to do what it took to avoid contracting or spreading the disease, and then grew increasingly casual about the risks and apparently oblivious to the impacts (the WHO charts almost 7 million deaths in little over three years).
The fossil fuel industry through airborne particulate matter alone annually kills far more people every year than Covid-19 has in three years. Recent studies conclude that nearly 9 million people a year die from inhaling these particulates produced by burning fossil fuel. It’s only one of the many ways fossil fuel is deadly, from black lung among coal miners and cancer and respiratory problems among those near refineries to fatalities from climate-driven catastrophes such as wildfire, extreme heat and floods.
The way we befouled our water, air and land, allowed manufacturers to introduce dangerous materials – lead, PCBs, PFAs (sometimes called “forever chemicals”), dioxin, high-level radioactive waste, microplastics, pesticides and herbicides – may seem to later generations shocking, stupid and amoral. Often the deployment of these substances offered short-term and specific advantages while leaving long-term and widespread damage; often the few benefited and the many paid. But all this was normalized.
Astroturf organizations backed by conservatives and fossil-fuel interests have pushed false claims about health threats and organized locals against both wind turbines and solar installations. But the space they take up can be far less than that occupied by fossil fuel, and many turbines and solar panels coexist with agriculture. (Studies shows that sheep and solar panels can be mutually beneficial; elsewhere farmers adding turbines to their farms reap good income.) Bloomberg News recently published a piece mismeasuring the scale of renewables versus fossils: “A 200-megawatt wind farm, for instance, might require spreading turbines over 13 sq miles (36 sq km). A natural-gas power plant with that same generating capacity could fit onto a single city block.” But the wind farm is actually generating the energy it uses, and quite possibly coexisting with other land uses, while the gas plant depends on ceaseless mining for methane elsewhere that may permanently damage and poison the land. The way we have long operated was always destructive, and it’s now a crisis larger than any in human history. Change needs to come, swiftly, and though practical change is crucial, so are changes in imagination, perception and values. The two go together, and they always have.
Solar energy is now so cheap it costs as little as €0.023 to produce one unit of power, a new study has found.
Solar energy has been branded the “key driver” in the world’s transition to clean, renewable power due to its ultra-low cost. A new study from the University of Surrey named solar energy the cheapest source of power, outranking other renewables such as wind, as well as coal and gas. Researchers found that, in the sunniest countries, solar costs as little as €0.023 to produce one unit of power. Even in the UK, which sits 50 degrees north of the equator and is infamous for its dreary weather, solar came out victorious as the cheapest option for “large-scale energy generation”. A ‘reliable’ source of power Due to the price of lithium-ion batteries falling by 89 per cent since 2010, the study also found that making solar-plus-storage systems is now equally as cost-effective as gas power plants. “These hybrid setups, which combine solar panels with batteries, are now standard in many regions and allow solar energy to be stored and released when needed, turning it into a more reliable, dispatchable source of power that helps balance grid demand,” the study explains.
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FTR, dispatchable energy is energy that can be released (from batteries) at the request of grid operators.
Critical Role of Software Development in The Energy Transition
The global energy transition from fossil fuels to alternative, eco-friendly energy sources is one of the most pressing challenges of our generation. To ramp up the decarbonization of their energy systems, over 70 countries have made ambitious commitments to achieve net-zero emissions by 2030. In the private sector, over 50% of Fortune 500 companies have made similar, net-zero commitments.
Are these ambitious, lofty and unrealistic? Maybe. But, thankfully both the private and public sectors have a strong ally in this war against climate change: software engineering energy. That is right, efficient software engineering is set to play an all-critical role in the global energy transition. To understand why, you need to understand how most energy grids work.
How Software Development Can Help in The Energy Transition
The “grid,” i.e., our electricity infrastructure, is probably one of the most complicated pieces of machinery ever created by humans.
Historically, electricity would be generated in large coal or gas-fueled power stations.
This electricity would then be fed into wires that transfer high-voltage electricity to substations.
At the substations, transformers diminish the voltage, and the electricity is carried to distribution substations.
At the distribution substations, the voltage is diminished again. From there, the electricity is sent along wires to smaller transformers.
These smaller transformers diminish the voltage again before the electricity is finally transmitted to homes and businesses.
Almost every modern-day electrical grid in the world has this plethora of intricate, interconnected parts. Sounds super complex, right? Well, the global energy transition is set to make the traditional energy grid system, even more complex.
Old-school energy grids were based on centralized power plants where fossil fuels were used to generate electricity. In the past 100 years, this system became relatively simple and easy to manage for engineers.
Now, electrical engineers have to deal with alternative, non-fossil-fuel-based energy sources like solar panels or wind farms, everywhere along the grid. These “intermittent energy sources” only generate energy when the sun is shining or the winds are blowing.
Why is that a bad thing? Well, there is one important characteristic of the traditional energy grid that has remained the same for the past 100 years: Supply Must Meet Demand. Whenever this does not happen, the whole grid fails.
In the previous paragraph, we referred to renewable energy sources as “intermittent,” because they do not generate electricity all the time. When such energy sources are connected to a traditional grid, balancing demand and supply in real time, becomes challenging.
That is where software engineering can help. software today can tap into publicly-available data and proprietary data from utility companies to create a real-time digital map of a grid system. Such a digital grid map can help identify potential trouble spots in the grid.
For example, according to a new study, at least 85% of the global population has been exposed to extreme weather events in recent years.
Raging fires, powerful winds, and other types of extreme weather events can severely damage an energy grid. Such events can disrupt the flow of electricity to critical infrastructure like hospitals.
A smarter, software-powered grid that can predict such dangers in advance can also respond more spontaneously to extreme weather events.
A well-designed, software-powered grid of the future can help humans avert energy emergencies caused by extreme weather events. There are many such renewable energy software solutions that currently exist but are not implemented at utilities across the US and the globe. If more utility providers adopt such solutions, they will be able to eliminate the risk of grid instability.
The more reliable and resilient a grid, the less energy it will waste. More importantly, the software can accelerate the transition from traditional, fossil fuel-based energy grids to complex energy grids that feature multiple sustainable energy sources.
How Software is Already Facilitating the Energy Transition
The use of software in the global energy transition is nothing new. In the 21st century, several different types of software engineering efforts have positively impacted the energy sector. Here are some of the most prominent examples:
These are just a few of the major innovations in software engineering that have positively impacted the energy sector in the past ten years. As these technologies become more and more refined, we can expect to see even more applications in the years to come. There is another sector of software engineering that has the potential to transform the energy sector that we did not mention in this chart: AI.
Applications of AI for the Global Energy Transition
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a rapidly expanding field that is set to play a huge role in global energy transition efforts. AI’s impact on the energy sector is set to be so big that we had to dedicate a section of this article to AI. Here is a brief list of ways AI can aid in the global energy transition:
AI-powered tools can be used in solar and wind farms to identify locations with the most favorable sun/wind resources.
AI-powered equipment delivery systems and worksite monitoring tools can accelerate the rate at which eco-friendly power plants are constructed.
AI-powered tools can be used to predict failures and outages at power plants. Similar tools can be used to create maintenance schedules for power plant equipment.
AI tools can also be used to optimize electricity consumption at the individual user level. For example, AI-powered equipment tracking tools can reduce the amount of power people consume on a day-to-day basis.
AI-powered prediction of wind/solar outputs can help engineers better predict future supply problems.
These are just a few ways AI engineering can help the energy sector in the upcoming decade. As the quality of AI-powered tools improves, we can expect to see even cooler applications of AI in the energy sector in the years to come.
Final Take
Climate change is the most existential risk that our generation currently faces. The need for decarbonisation has never been more urgent. More software engineers need to enter the energy sector because as you can see from the examples mentioned above: they have a huge role to play in the battle against climate change.
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Renewable. Renovable.
Word of the week. Palabra de la semana.
Source / Fuente: Personal archive
Get Amped: The Key Factors Driving the Growth of the Commercial EV Charging Station Market.
If you’re in the market for a new ride in 2021, chances are you’re thinking about buying an electric vehicle (EV). Sale of electric vehicles have doubled globally over the past 2 years and expected to continue to rise with ambitious plans to reduce CO2 emissions to net zero by 2050. But with every new EV comes the need for infrastructure to support it. This is where commercial EV charging stations come in.
The Basics
Just like a regular petrol station, commercial EV charging stations serve as refuelling stations for electric vehicles. While you may be able to charge at home or at work, commercial charging stations are becoming increasingly essential for long distance travel. Although there are technical and financial challenges in setting up charging stations, this lucrative market has attracted new entrants and investments, creating favourable ecosystems.
The Key Driving Factors
So, what are the key factors driving the growth of the commercial EV charging station market?
Government Initiatives: Governments around the world are increasingly recognizing the need to reduce carbon emissions, and have implemented policies and incentives to encourage the development of EV charging infrastructure for both businesses and consumers. For example, European Union set a target of building one million public charging points by 2025
Growing EV Adoption: With EVs becoming more affordable and easier to use, more consumers and businesses are adopting them, creating a greater demand for charging infrastructure. It is estimated that, by 2025, there will be 46 million EVs in the world, which could require up to 10 million charging stations.
Collaboration & Partnerships: Collaboration within the industry, governments and private sectors reduces financial barriers to entry and encourages investment leading to growth of EV infrastructure. For example, in the UK, BP and Shell, two of the Big Six energy suppliers have already partnered with EV charging companies to provide charging stations.
Technological Innovation: New technologies such as rapid charging, wireless charging, and autonomous charging are being developed to make charging faster, more convenient and efficient. Increasing battery efficiency is another technological factor, with new battery technologies and advance battery management systems, allowing longer driving ranges and faster charging times.
Investments and Funding: The growth of the commercial charging station market is being fueled by an increasing amount of investments and funding available. Investors are increasingly recognizing the potential for strong returns from EV charging investments; Bloomberg New Energy Finance estimates this market could be worth $500bn by 2030.
Future Outlook
According to a report by Zion Market Research, the global commercial EV charging station market was valued at approximately $2.5 billion in 2018 and is expected to reach approximately $15.4 billion by 2025, growing at a CAGR of approximately 29.68% between 2019 and 2025.
The commercial EV charging station market is a rapidly expanding industry and an important part of the electric vehicle ecosystem. Government initiatives, growing EV adoption, collaboration, technological innovation, and investments and funding are all key factors driving its growth. The future is looking bright for this market as we move towards a sustainable and cleaner future.
Key Takeaways
Commercial EV charging stations serve as refuelling stations for electric vehicles
Governments worldwide are implementing policies and incentives to encourage the development of EV charging infrastructure
With growing EV adoption, the need for charging infrastructure is increasing.
Technological innovations such as rapid charging, wireless charging, and autonomous charging, are being developed to make charging faster, more efficient and convenient.
This lucrative market has attracted new entrants and investments as the industry continues to grow.