Gribble - the future of power generation?

Alternative energy sources are always being sought, it was not that long ago that solar, wind and heat pump were slightly off the wall alternative energy sources – now they are regarded as perfectly normal and needed.

Recently I was reading and interesting blog that offered some other sources of energy you may not have thought about (positiveenergy) – maybe alternatives that will be become fully accepted in the not to distant future.

Nations and governments may rely of Gribbles to combat concerns over energy security, let alone climate change – Gribble, yes Gribbles, check out what the future energy sources could be:

Waste tea leaves. Scientists at a Pakistani university used a gasification process to create biodiesel from used tea leaves. Considering that the world today consumes several million tones of tea annually, the leaves could be a reliable fuel source.

Gribbles. A tiny, wood-chewing crustacean called Limnoria quadripunctata, or the gribble, has been shown to have a digestive trait that could convert wood and straw into liquid biofuel. Researchers at the universities of York and Portsmouth have proposed using the enzymes that fill the creatures’ long digestive tracts to break down cellulose and lignin into energy-rich sugars.

Grass clippings. Again at the University of York, scientists are experimenting with using microwaves to heat garden and wood waste in the absence of oxygen in a process called pyrolysis. The resulting biofuel could be blended with fossil fuel or used by itself.

Frog foam. Researchers at the University of Cincinnati are creating an artificial photosynthetic material that uses enzymes from plants, bacteria, fungi, and frogs, all trapped within a foam housing, to create solar energy in an entirely new way. Foam was chosen because it can effectively concentrate the reactants but allow very good light and air penetration. The design was based on the foam nests of a semi-tropical frog called the Tungara frog, which creates very long-lived foams for its developing tadpoles.

Poke berries. The fruit of the pokeweed — the ubiquitous purple-stalked plant that grows rampantly across the south and whose red berries Civil War soldiers used to write letters home – could be the key to spreading solar power across the globe, according to researchers at Wake Forest University’s Center for Nanotechnology and Molecular Materials. Scientists have used the red dye made from pokeberries to coat their efficient and inexpensive fiber-based solar cells. The dye acts as an absorber, helping the cell’s tiny fibers trap more sunlight to convert into power.

Household garbage. A consortium of companies in Australia is investigating the viability of constructing an ethanol plant that would turn household rubbish and building waste into more than 200 million liters of fuel per year. The process, developed by a U.S. biofuel company, Coskata, Inc., uses sources like municipal, commercial, and industrial waste at the end of its life cycle—waste otherwise bound for the landfill, and turns them into renewable energy.

Cow power. Using the methane gas byproduct of cattle is old news, but William Taylor, a farmer in Northern Ireland, has rigged up an entirely new way of deriving renewable energy from cows. Instead of letting his cows free range while they graze, he puts them on a treadmill. The electricity generated from one cow on a treadmill is enough, says the farmer, to power four milking machines. And as a bonus, cows that exercise produce more milk.

Tomatoes. Designer Cygalle Shapiro created a tiny LED lamp powered off circuits running off several tomatoes sitting next to it. The lamp draws power off of the chemical reaction among the tomatoes’ acids, zinc, and copper. And the “batteries” run out when the tomatoes turn stale.

Tobacco. Maybe there’s hope for this cash crop. Researchers in Virginia have suggested that tobacco could be genetically modified to use as a biofuel, with the added benefit that it is not a food source, like corn and soybeans — and therefore the object of a battle over resources. Because it can generate high quantities of oil and sugar, its potential as a fuel crop is high, but commercial use as a biofuel may be more than five years away.

Picture by Auguste Le Roux

The 11 nations, the Pacific Small Island Developing States, have written to members of the Security Council, which oversees threats to international peace and security, and have argued that the threat to them from a warmer world along with rising sea levels is similar to armed conflict and invasion.

“Climate change can devastate a country just as thoroughly as an invading army,” stated Nauru’s UN Ambassador Marlene Moses.

Moses wants the Security Council to intervene because the UN-led negotiations on mandatory cuts in greenhouse gases and help to the most vulnerable nations has stalled.

“If the international community fails to take immediate action, then it will be complicit in the extinction of entire nations,” Moses added.

The group claim that climate change is responsible for severe food and water shortages throughout the Pacific and already making refugees of people in Vanuatu, Micronesia, Papua New Guinea, Tuvalu and the Solomon Islands.

The group’s letter to the Security Council was critical of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change that sponsored the climate summit in Copenhagen, Denmark at the end of 2009.

It is important for everyone to start becoming more energy efficient and there are hundreds of simple actions we can all take to reduce or energy use to save money and the environment.

It is vital to understand why we have to take action. So here is an overview about energy saving and why it has become so important worldwide.

A few basics before we look at the practicalities.

What are these Carbon Emissions you read about?

Carbon Dioxide (CO2) is a gas emitted into the atmosphere from many sources but the area that causes concern is the CO2 emitted as a result of burning fossil fuels.
Through photosynthesis plants and organic matter removes the CO2 from the atmosphere and the carbon helps to make sugars, which may either be consumed in respiration or used as the raw material to produce other organic compounds needed for plant growth and development, the Oxygen part of the CO2 is returned to the atmosphere. When the plants are burnt, either as plants or as fossil fuels, the CO2 is released back into the atmosphere.

Particularly since the onset of the industrial revolution there has been an ever growing imbalance between the CO2 the plants and organic matter of the earth can deal with and the amount still within the atmosphere. But, because industry and our lifestyle now depend on fossil fuels the balance has tipped causing an excessive amount of CO2 in the atmosphere.

What is Climate Change?

With an increasing amount of CO2 in the atmosphere plus other greenhouse gases (water vapor, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone) the heat from the sun cannot is absorbed by the gases. That is why it is called the ‘Greenhouse Effect’, as the heat is trapped within the atmosphere.

This affect is natural and needed and natural making the planet around 20º Celsius warmer than it would otherwise be hence providing us a comfortable climate. This effect is now a problem becasue over the last 100 years or more the concentration of CO2 has risen by about 30%.

If the situation continues to warm up the planet at the current rate sea levels will rise, we will experience extremes in weather such as flooding, drought, snow storms and catastrophic natural disasters.

What can be done?

The world needs to pull together to reduce harmful emissions, the major contributor to the warming effect. Even though the Copenhagen summit in December 2010 finished short of its aims we are seeing many nations realising that energy efficiency is one of the most cost effective ways of reducing carbon emissions.

What can WE do?

We can all have a major have an impact on reducing carbon emissions by taking some basic steps.

Are their benefits now?

There are benefits now as you will save money from once you start to save energy onwards.

What next – Click Here

In an Energy Efficiency Assesment report issued on Tuesday (click here to see report) New York State provided very interesting recommendations that could move the Empire State to the lead position in the US as far as a clean energy economy is concerned and it makes financial sense as well.

The plan recommends energy efficiency as a major focus for commerce and industry and a new state building code that would also require stricter energy efficiency. Not only will this bring environmental benefits but the costing is a no-brainer, as the return on investment in energy efficiency is substantial – to quote the report:

“The 2008 Optimal Report concluded that opportunities for electricity end-use efficiency in New York are extensive and inexpensive compared with available supply options. Results of the study estimate the State’s achievable potential through 2015 to be about 26,000 GWh, representing a reduction of approximately 14 percent from the forecast of electricity demand in 2015…….Programs that would capture this achievable potential would cost $7.2 billion in 2008 dollars over seven years, or an approximate average annual program portfolio budget of $1.0 billion. Net benefits to the New York economy would total $12.8 billion, including $20.8 billion in total statewide benefits and $8.0 billion in societal costs. The benefit-cost ratio of the electric efficiency measures is estimated to be 2.60, which means that the New York economy would capture approximately $2.60 in benefits for every dollar invested in efficiency.”

The report also highlights how the commercial sector has the greatest potential for energy saving and emphasised the main areas that can be affected, again to quote the report:

“Similarly, the end-users with the greatest efficiency potential for the commercial sector are indoor lighting, cooling, ventilation, and refrigeration. Within the commercial sector, the study concludes that the building type with the greatest energy savings potential is office space, which accounts for 33 percent of the efficiency savings opportunities. Finally, for the industrial sector, the greatest efficiency savings opportunities are in industrial process end-uses and indoor lighting.”

From my point of view it is interesting to see where they stress the efficiencies can be made, all areas where I know the company I am associated with, Enigin PLC, have products to intelligently control energy use.

The report also focuses on the importance of advance meters, such as the Eniscope, to supply end-users with real-time energy consumption feed-back, the report states:

“By enabling customers to receive information regarding system costs in real time and to take actions to respond to higher electricity peak prices, AMI (Advance Metering Infrastructure) has the potential to reduce peak demands. In addition, the ability to monitor customer usage would improve a utility’s ability to measure the actual effects of energy efficiency measures.”

This is an important efficiency and money saver for many organisations. In Daytona, Florida, Bethune-Cookman University made savings of 43% after monitoring just one cooling station using an Eniscope advance meter, which identified areas where they were spiking their energy use and hence being penalised financially. The Eniscope enabled them to intelligently change usage patterns and make financial and energy savings, plus seeing reductions in maintenance costs.

I hope New York State will be able to put their recommendations into practice and provide not just a national lead but an international one as well.

If so, regardless of the financial prejudice involved, failure to cooperate and agree to compromise will mean a depressing future for our planet and its population. Wealthier nations, such as the US (who didn’t sign the Kyoto accord back in 1997 fearing their economy would suffer), have demonstrated reluctance to cut carbon emissions to avoid the financial contributions entailed.

Unfortunately, until the US decides to sign up to targets, the rest of the world will be unwilling to do so. An example needs to be set, and time is running short.

In effect, disadvantaged countries are more vulnerable to climate change than richer ones, and this should urge the latter to suggest their help in the face of this shared adversity.

A set of measures have been identified as necessary to counterattack the climate threat:

- set emission reduction targets for industrial countries
- secure commitments by developing countries to slow emissions growth
- establish hard figures of funding for poor countries
- create an institution to manage those funds

It is of common interest to aid the poor to implement energy saving methods, as lack of action now could result in bigger costs down the line.
Developing countries, that will be the biggest emitters in the future, want around £250 billion per annum to help them cut emissions by becoming energy efficient, switching from fossil fuels to clean energy like wind and solar. The money will also help vulnerable countries like small island states adapt to climate change. As unlikely as this funding is currently, developed countries sway towards committing to a substantial contribution to keep the subject on the table.

Climate risk reduction officer for aid agency CAFOD, Agnes Kithikii, presents the issue as critical: “People are dying right now due to climate change and more people will die because of the delay in reaching a legally binding agreement this December in Copenhagen,” she said. “The US, EU, Australia and Canada and other rich countries are denying the poorest and most vulnerable people the right to a future.”

This colossal investment would be assigned to developing new low-carbon technologies and funding energy efficiency breakthroughs. While energy consumption has decreased for the first time since 1981, the money invested in new low-carbon technologies has been significantly cut due to the financial crisis.

While fossil fuel demand is predicted to peak by 2020, the focus has to be put on energy efficiency, which would achieve in itself 50% of the energy savings by 2030.

That is when the crucial quality of energy saving implementations becomes blatant. Professionals all over the world, regardless of their sector of activity, all have increasing incentives to adhere and adopt cost reducing energy saving tools, as all function and operate using energy in some form (lighting, motors, refrigeration, air conditioning…).

This confirms the un-matchable business opportunity currently seized by the professionals of the energy saving industry! The profit being made by companies, such as Enigin PLC namely, is not only monetary but also ecological and of moral value, in tangibly impacting on global climate change.

The 450 Scenario, outlined in a report issued by the IEA, aims to restrict greenhouse gas concentration to 450 parts/million, and global temperature rise to 2°C above pre-industrial levels.

Should the current trend of global energy consumption prevail as it is, energy demand and carbon emissions are forecast to rise of 1.5% per year until 2030..

This report therefore simultaneously advocates optimism and alarm because solutions to act upon climate change exist, but should the efforts to achieve these solutions be insufficient, the scenario promises to be bleak. The financial crisis has undeniably triggered a decrease in global energy use this year, but consumption will take off again inevitably if government policies don’t evolve.

It is predicted that demand will be enhanced by an alarming 40% between now and 2030, equating to 16.8 billion tonnes of oil, while fossil fuels represent over 3/4 of the incremental demand.

To reverse the trend in terms of climate change, the energy sector needs to be analytically transformed, via aggressive surgical strikes, in order to contain greenhouse gas concentration and temperature rise. To succeed in realising the 450 Scenario, fossil-fuel demand would need to peak by 2020 and energy-related carbon dioxide emissions to fall to 26.4 gigatonnes in 2030, from 28.8 Gt in 2007.

Low-carbon energy technologies play a crucial role. Around 60% of global electricity production comes from renewables (37%), nuclear (18%) and plants fitted with carbon capture and storage (5%) in 2030.

The report also points out the various prerequisites and elements that need to be taken into account in order to progress positively in favor of the environment. For instance, higher oil prices, associated to the depletion of oil sector investment, is identified as a serious threat to the global economy, just as it starts to emerge from a crisis.

2010 should see oil demand recover to reach 88mb/d in 2015 and 105 mb/d in 2030. Natural gas should also continue to play a bridging role in meeting the world’s sustainable energy needs – its demand is expected to rise by approximately 25% in 2030, as opposed to a previously forecast 41%, due to more efficient use, lower electricity demand and using non-fossil energy sources as a preferred alternative.

The focus is also put on Southeast Asia, as it becomes increasingly influential on energy markets – an expansion of 76% is expected on demand from 2007-2030.

The global energy landscape is slowly but surely being re-centered towards Asia, as China and India especially undergo strong growth.

On the brighter side, the IEA is placing the emphasis on switching to hybrid, pulg-in hybrid and electric vehicles by 2030. These ‘clean’ vehicles are estimated to represent an impressive 60% of total sales by 2030, as opposed to only 1% today!

Climate change, human rights and energy efficiency are some of the top priorities in business leaders’ sustainability strategies, according to a survey of BSR Conference 2009 attendees. And just as important, a large majority of companies expect their sustainability budgets will stay the same or increase, making sure they have the money to enact the actions they want to.

The BSR/GlobeScan State of Sustainable Business Poll 2009 (PDF) polled 274 business leaders attending the conference in San Francisco.

When asked to list “very significant” priorities over the next year, 41 percent chose climate change, 32 percent cited human rights, 29 percent said workers’ rights and 26 percent listed water availability/quality.

More companies are not only more focused on sustainability and environmental issues, but they expect to have the funds to support their climate strategies. Eighty-nine percent said their companies’ sustainability budgets will stay the same or increase, with only 8 percent saying that their budgets will decrease (in 2008, 31 percent said their budgets would decrease).

The top strategy related to climate change is energy efficiency, mentioned by 44 percent, and a large number of businesses see significant opportunities coming from lowering energy costs and/or other efficiencies (70 percent), improving stakeholder relationships (67 percent), driving innovation (65 percent) and strengthening credibility with consumers (65 percent).

Businesses also see many barriers to addressing climate change, but fewer companies see them as significant compared to the opportunities cited above. The barriers mentioned were competing strategic priorities (49 percent), short-term financial pressures/recession (46 percent), complexity of implementation (44 percent) and uncertain/insufficient policy frameworks (40 percent).

When asked to choose actions that companies should take to rebuild public trust that was lose due to the economic crisis, 39 percent said that companies should create innovative products and business models designed for sustainability, and 38 percent said companies should measure and demonstrate positive social and environmental impacts. Only 4 percent said companies should reform executive compensation.

Anon Cramer, president and CEO of BSR, said that he has seen an increase of attention given to the idea of “sustainable consumption” this year. “Until recently, companies have been very reluctant to talk about this topic,” he said. “If Walmart is thinking about this question and trying to maintain its success while significantly reducing the material input of products its selling…I think that has the potential to change people’s minds.”

The Paris-based agency made this appeal at a ministerial meeting held in the headquarters of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Jean-Yves Garnier, the director of the IEA energy statistics office, wished for the ministerial conference to send a clear message to their 28 member states.

The IEA’s Scoreboard for 2009 revealed that energy efficiency improved on average annually by 1.9 percent between 1979 and 1990, but in recent years that improvement had fallen to only 1 percent.

IEA analysts reason that, since the 1980s oil price hike ended, many countries cut back on their efforts on energy efficiency.

The IEA was established in 1974 after the oil crisis, the inter-governmental institution acts as a policy advisor to 28 member countries, but also works with many other countries.

The agency has recently focused on energy security, economic development and environmental protection, the so-called 3Es.

Here is the YouTube blurb accompanying the video -

Bring your voice to the world leaders at COP15 – the most important conference on climate change in a decade.
As nations seek an agreement to protect the world we want your views from all across the world.

Watch the video below

Make energy saving and efficiency the number one priority.