Brazilian Urban Farming Project Could Reduce Carbon Emissions by 20 Percent

03.04.2017

A controversial elevated highway in one of the largest urban centers in the world, São Paulo, Brazil, may be undergoing an urban agricultural renewal in the near future.

The Minhocão, a 3.5 km elevated highway in São Paulo, the Brazilian city with a population of over 11 million people, has been open for nearly 50 years, and has long been considered to be a obstacle sustainability and modernization in São Paulo.

In efforts to promote non-vehicle traffic in São Paulo, the Minhocão is open to exhaust emitting motor vehicles for only parts of the week. Despite times where only pedestrians are allowed, the highway still services nearly 80,000 vehicles per day.

In light of the upcoming Summer 2016 Olympics, modernization proposals in Brazil are seeing renewed enthusiasm and increasing acceptance.

The most recent proposal by Franco-Brazilian firm Triptyque details the creation of a mass urban agriculture and planting project on the Minhocão.

The goal of the project will be maximum coverage of carbon-emission combating plant installations, according to Inhabitat, and with additional water retention systems and natural light optimization, the urban agricultural installments will have the potential to support the urban growing of local crops on a limited scale.

Besides the potential for growing locally sourced food in the new agricultural plan for the Minhocão, there is another more quantitative goal: 20% reduction in carbon emissions estimated to be produced by the thoroughfare that frequents the highway.

With evidence pointing to both locally grown urban agricultural products and increased plant density reducing carbon emissions in dense urban areas, the Minhocão project looks to have promising potential for sustainability in Brazil, a country whose urbanization has led to increasingly severe levels of pollution (some sources claim that air pollution kills more people in São Paulo than car accidents and AIDS combined).

Given these concerning factors, Brazilian authorities and urban planning firms may be wise to conceive additional plans involving urban agriculture similar to the Minhocão in the future.

Source: urbanvine.co

El Salvador Signs Contracts for Four PV Projects at $51.48/MWh

03.04.2017

El Salvador’s power distributors have this week signed contracts for the winning projects in the country’s renewable energy auction, which was held by the government in January. Among the projects are four PV plants with a combined capacity of 119.9 MW.

The auction ended with an average price of $51.48/MWh. This is the lowest price registered to date for PV projects in power auctions in Latin America. In the tender, El Salvador’s authorities also awarded a contract to a 50 MW wind project, which will sell power at $98.78/MWh.

Projects selected in the auction will be granted a 20-year PPA. Overall, 29 bids with a combined capacity of 1.04 GW were submitted for the auction.

In January, two solar projects of 50 MW each were awarded by El Salvador’s National Energy Council (CNE) to Capella Solar at $49.55 and $49.56/MWh. Furthermore, a 10 MW plant was also won by Sonsonate Energía at a price of $67.24/MWh, while the fourth project awarded was a 9.9 MW project by Asocio Ecosolar which was registered at a price of $54.98/MWh.

With these, more PV capacity was awarded than was originally envisioned, as the auction had a cap of 100 MW for solar PV and 70 MW for wind.

It is estimated that the five projects awarded represent an investment of $340 million.

This is the second renewable energy auction to have been held in El Salvador to date. The first auction in 2014 planned for 100 MW, 50 MW of which was set aside for PV plants and 50 MW to wind. However, only PV projects were awarded, which totaled 94 MW and are expected to enter into operation this year.

Source: pv-magazine.com

Fifth of Commercial Rental Buildings in Race to Meet Energy Efficiency Deadline

03.04.2017

Nearly a fifth of commercial rental properties in England and Wales do not yet meet statutory minimum energy efficiency standards due to come into force from April next year, new research has revealed today.

More than 115,000 commercial buildings – 17.5 per cent of those rated in England and Wales – have Energy Performance Certificates rated F or G, according to big data firm DealX.

It means that in a year’s time landlords will be forbidden from renting out these properties and could take a significant financial hit unless steps are taken to bring their properties up to standard.

Separate analysis by property consultancy Daniel Watney LLP has estimated the annual rental value of F and G rated properties at nearly £1.7bn.

The DealX research – which is included in a report on real estate climate risk released today by insurance broker Willis Towers Watson – also suggests areas in the North of both England and Wales, as well as parts of Cornwall, have the highest number of F and G rated commercial properties.

Under the Energy Efficiency Regulations established in 2015, Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) rules were set for all commercial and domestic private rental properties, with a few exceptions. The standards are due to come into force in England and Wales from April 2018.

The standards are aimed at making it easier and cheaper for tenants to heat their properties, cutting emissions from the UK’s building stock in the process.

The MEES regulations came into being alongside the currently-defunct Green Deal, the government’s pay-as-you-save energy efficiency loan scheme, whichwas sold off to a consortium of investors for around £40m earlier this year.

The Real Estate Climate Risk Report today recommends a range of measures to improve building energy efficiency and guard against property investment risk, including government funding for a mass retrofitting programme, increasing MEES requirements for buildings to reach at least a D rating by 2020, and the industry-wide adoption of Display Energy Certificates.

The government has said it will set out its plan for reducing the UK’s building emissions as part of its long-delayed Clean Growth Plan.

“The government recognises that better energy efficiency can help the transition to a low carbon economy and significantly improve quality of life,” a spokeswoman for BEIS said in a statement. “We’re committed to tackling fuel poverty and our current reforms will help insulate one million homes across Britain by 2020.”

Source: businessgreen.com

Vattenfall Vows to Step Up Renewables Investment

03.04.2017

Vattenfall has confirmed plans to extend one of its Scottish wind farms, just days after the Swedish energy giant announced it is looking to invest nearly $2bn in wind projects over the coming year.

Renews reported that the company is moving forward with plans for a 16 turbine extension to its 36.9MW Clashindarroch wind farm in north east Scotland, adding 54MW of new capacity at the site.

Vattenfall said the proposed development would take advantage of recent falls in the cost of wind energy projects to deliver one of the UK’s most cost effective clean energy projects.

“The low levelised energy cost we expect on this scheme would make it fighting fit for a new regime that demands low cost generation from wind power,” UK development director for onshore wind Guy Mortimer was quoted as saying. “It’s early days for Clashindarroch II, and we still have to get a permit from the Scottish Government, but if we do, we think Clashindarroch II will be among the most competitive in the Vattenfall UK fleet.”

The UK’s onshore wind industry is keen to promote the rapid reduction in costs it has seen in recent years, as the sector is facing a tough route to market in the coming years following the British government’s controversial decision to halt subsidies for onshore wind farms.

The announcement comes just days after Vattenfall unveiled a new $3.1bn investment strategy, detailing plans to focus 60 per cent of investments over the next year on onshore and offshore wind power projects. A further $226m is expected to be invested in solar and energy storage projects, the company said.

Overall, the company is looking to add 2.3GW of renewable energy capacity to its portfolio through to 2020 as it continues to transition away from fossil fuels.

“Fossil fuels are not a viable long-term option, either for a world committed to solving the climate problem or as part of the Vattenfall of tomorrow,” chief executive Magnus Hall said.

“A more sustainable energy system is currently being created as the electricity market continues its shift towards fossil-free generation. This system is closer to customers and combines efficient, large-scale production with decentralized solutions. Today we are exceptionally well positioned to develop Vattenfall’s business in line with these trends,” he added.

In related news, Scottish energy minister Paul Wheelhouse this week officially launched a new wind farm developed by a housing association in a bid to provide funding for new housing projects.

The three-turbine project at Hoprigshiels near Cockburnspath is thought to be the first of its kind in the UK, and is expected to generate £20m over the next 25 years for the Berwickshire Housing Association, enabling the development of 500 new homes.

The scheme, which was supported by Triodos Bank and the Scottish Investment Bank’s Renewable Energy Investment Fund (REIF), was granted planning permission in 2012, allowing it to secure approval before the government changed the subsidy scheme for onshore wind energy.

Source: businessgreen.com

This Is how Santiago, Chile Plans to Fight Against Climate Change

02.04.2017

Santjago, Čile — Foto-ilustracija: Pixabay

Reducing inequality, securing water supplies and strengthening disaster prevention is crucial to bolster Chile’s quake-prone capital against climate change and other hazards, Santiago’s authorities said.

In a new strategy to make the city more resilient, they laid out plans this week to cut congestion and air pollution, improve public transport and build more parks in low-income areas.

But better governance is essential to the strategy, said Claudio Orrego, governor of the Santiago metropolitan region, which has 34 municipal districts and mayors.

“Santiago is a city of disasters — we have had in the last year the worst fires ever, we had two floods in the city [and] two important water supply cuts,” said Orrego by telephone from Santiago, which is home to more than 6.1 million people.

“All of this is due to the climate change impact on the city, and that requires protocols, coordination and infrastructure to cope,” he said in an interview.

Resilient cities

The strategy, released as part of Santiago’s participation in the 100 Resilient Cities initiative, brings together programs underway in the city, one of the most unequal in Latin America because of wide gaps between rich and poor in housing, education and services, as well as gender inequality.

Rapid, uncoordinated urban growth has led to low-income housing being built on the poorly connected fringes of Santiago with inadequate infrastructure and few green spaces, said the report, noting that around 18 percent of residents of the greater metropolitan region live in poverty.

“We are sitting everyone at the table,” Orrego said. “Be it flooding, be it earthquakes, we’re taking an integrated approach to the future.”

With climate change expected to reduce rainfall and increase temperatures in the area, Santiago wants to end overexploitation of its water supply. It is developing a water fund to help secure supplies for the city, and protect water sources such as glaciers high in the surrounding Andes.

“Having a public-private endeavor, trying to protect in a very holistic way all the water supply we use in the city is something new,” said Orrego, stressing the urgency of the task.

The city’s resilience plan includes measures to develop an early warning system to lower the risk of floods and wildfires — after recent devastating blazes reached the outskirts of the city, blanketing it with smoke — and to strengthen emergency relief efforts.

Improving governance

Situated in a dry, mountain valley, Santiago is likely to be increasingly affected by problems such as urban heat waves and shortages of water and power, while agricultural demand for water could exacerbate drought conditions in rural areas, according to the report.

The San Ramon fault line runs along the edge of the city. So the resilience strategy lays out plans to link emergency response efforts and set up a system to monitor seismic activity, while tightening building regulations and factoring vulnerabilities into urban planning.

In the long term, the city may need to redefine its approach to zoning and land use, taking into account transport, social exclusion and disaster risks, Orrego said.

Michael Berkowitz, president of 100 Resilient Cities, which is backed by The Rockefeller Foundation, said cities across Latin America need to improve governance to stop crime, inequality and exposure to natural hazards hampering their development.

“It’s understanding that if you have a safer, more equitable city, that will make you better able to withstand the next earthquake or the next flood,” Berkowitz said.

The perception of high corruption is hindering the growth of public-private partnerships in the region and hobbling cities’ resilience efforts, he added.

“If they can get some of these governance, transition, empowerment issues right, I think you could see Latin American cities make some real progress over the next 10 or 15 years,” Berkowitz said.

Study: Cup Charge Could Help Cut Coffee Cup Waste

01.04.2017

The UK could make a sizeable dent in its waste coffee cup mountain through a combination of a new levy on disposable cups and more effective promotion of re-usable cups.

That is the conclusion of a new report from Cardiff University commissioned by coffee roaster Bewley’s, which estimates between 50 million and 300 million cups a year could be diverted from waste streams.

Research carried out between September and December last year tested a range of measures designed to encourage consumers to switch to re-usable coffee cups.

The study came in the wake of a high profile media campaign, which highlighted how the UK throws away 2.5 billion disposable coffee cups a year, only a tiny fraction of which are recycled.

The study found that a charge on disposable cups increased the use of re-usable coffee cups by 3.4 per cent, environmental messaging in cafes increased the use of re-usable coffee cups by 2.3 per cent, and the availability of re-usable cups led to an increase of 2.5 per cent. However, it was distribution of free re-usable cups which led to the greatest increase of 4.3 per cent.

Report author, Professor Wouter Poortinga of the Welsh School of Architecture, said that combining these measures further amplified their impact. The study found that the provision of free re-usable alternatives combined with clear environmental messaging and a charge on disposable cups increased the use of reusable cups from 5.1 per cent to 17.4 per cent.

“Our results show that, on average, the use of reusable coffee cups could be increased by up to 12.5 per cent with a combination of measures,” he said. “With this in mind, the UK’s usage of an estimated 2.5 billion disposable coffee cups each year could be cut by up to 300 million coffee cups.”

The study also revealed how while a charge on disposable cups increased the use of re-usable coffee cups, a discount on re-usable coffee cups had no impact.

“There is an important nuance when it comes to financial incentives,” said Poortinga. “People are far more sensitive to losses than to gains when making decisions – so if we really want to change a customer’s behaviour then a charge on a disposable cup is more likely to be effective.”

The study is part of a push across the coffee industry to curb the impact of disposable cups with a number of high profile chains working on a series of trials to boost cup recycling rates and develop new materials that can be more easily recycled.

Louise Whitaker, head of marketing at food services firm Bewley’s UK, said promoting reusable cups more widely was “part of the solution” to the problem of cups ending up in landfill.

However, the government recently rejected calls for a charge on disposable cups similar to the plastic bag levy.

Source: businessgreen.com

Poland Could Derive up to 30% of its Heating from Geothermal Resources

31.03.2017

Poljska, Krakov — Foto-ilustracija: Pixabay

Poland has large untapped potential for utilising geothermal energy. The country estimates that up to 30% of its heating demand could be covered by geothermal heating.

According to estimates, geothermal resources in Poland. Country. Currently, there are 56 documented thermal water deposits, including 17 thermal water reservoirs. Only 25% of that potential is currently being tapped from 27 locations.

So why then is geothermal energy still only considered a dream for Poland?

“We see a growing interest in this type of renewable energy source, which gives hope that in the future we can expect further development of the technology, geothermal, and thus and geothermal”, explains Dr. Kazimierz Kujda, president of the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management (the National Fund).

The fund has launched special programs to support the development of geothermal energy in Poland.

The first is the financing of research grids from the geological fund and the second is the financing of renewable energy programs based on geothermal resources.

“In our opinion, in the future we should invest in the creation of geothermal heat plants that will supply hot water not only to large companies but also to smaller towns,” says Dr Kujda. He points out that similar to Western European countries, Poland focused on other renewables, including wind power. But geothermal resources in other countries in the region are not as good as in Poland, so a focus has been on wind and solar energy and these technologies have seen a big development. But for Poland, geothermal energy is a very desirable source of energy that we have so far not tapped into sufficientl, he emphasized.

The biggest problems in Poland are distribution and transmission networks. The overall high cost of investment resulted from the fact that the network had to be re-build. The first geothermal heating plant in Poland was established in 1993 in Podhale, the southermost region of the country. The 24-year-old plant has seen an increasing revenue each year. Heat production is based on three production holes and two reinjection wells. Thanks to this we can reach the heat energy to an increasing number of customers. Since 2008, our company has made a profit – says Wojciech Ignacok, President of PEC Geotermia Podhala?ska SA.

The first years of geothermal production are related to high investment costs, the largest part of which is the financing of research wells.

(soruce: ThinkGeoEnergy)

Siemens to Provide Wind Turbines for 21 MW Futuren Project in France

31.03.2017

Siemens Wind Power has received an order for a new onshore wind project in the southwest of France. The new wind power plant, owned by Futuren, an international independent renewable energy producer, will be installed on a site close to the towns of Courant and Nachamps (Charente-Maritime) in the region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. It will consist of seven units of the Siemens direct-drive onshore wind turbine SWT-3.2-113. The contract includes service and maintenance over a period of 21 years.

Once in operation, the wind farm with its total capacity of 21 megawatts (MW) will supply clean energy for almost 24,000 households. Commissioning is planned for 2018.

“We are proud to continue our collaboration with the Futuren Group as this international company is an important player in the French renewable market,” states Thomas Richterich, CEO Onshore at Siemens Wind Power. “At the same time the new project strengthens our direct-drive technology in France.”

“A successful first implementation in the Somme department (North of France) with direct-drive wind turbines, has convinced us to make the same choice once again,” says Fady Khallouf, CEO of Futuren. “Based on a long-term balanced industrial relationship with Siemens, we are today ordering wind turbines of the same type for our future wind farm in the Charente-Maritime department (south-west of France).”

Source: siemens.com

Russian President Vladimir Putin Says Humans Not Responsible for Climate Change

31.03.2017

Klimatske-promene — Photo-ilustration: Pixabay

One day after visiting the Franz Josef Land archipelago in the Arctic, Putin claimed that icebergs had been melting for decades and suggested that global warming was not mankind’s fault.

“The warming, it had already started by the 1930s,” Putin said in comments broadcast from an Arctic forum held in the northern Russian city of Arkhangelsk.

“That’s when there were no such anthropological factors, such emissions, and the warming had already started.”

The Kremlin strongman added: “The issue is not stopping it… because that’s impossible, since it could be tied to some global cycles on Earth or even of planetary significance. The issue is to somehow adapt to it.”

The declaration came as the White House said Trump would make his pronouncement on the Paris Agreement before a meeting of G7 leaders in Sicily that is scheduled to begin May 26.

Putin supported his argument by saying that an Austrian explorer who had a “photographic memory” visited the Franz Josef Land archipelago “in the 1930s.”

Twenty years later the explorer was shown photographs from another expedition there “by the future king of Italy” and concluded that “there were fewer icebergs there,” Putin said.

It wasn’t immediately clear which explorers Putin was referring to and Italy did not have a king in the 1950s.

Austrian explorer Julius von Payer discovered and mapped the archipelago during a 1872-1874 expedition.

The only Italian expedition to the area was organised in 1899 by Prince Luigi Amedeo, who was also an explorer.

The archipelago was declared Soviet territory by the 1930s.

Putin had previously hailed global warming for exposing natural resources and transport routes which had long been too expensive to exploit.

He had also once speculated that warming by “two or three degrees” could be a good thing for Russians who would no longer need fur coats.

The latest declarations were a far cry from Putin’s speech at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris in November 2015.

“The quality of life of all people on the planet depends on solving the climate problem,” he had said, adding that Moscow had “exceeded” its obligations under the Kyoto Protocol.

“Russia’s efforts have slowed global warming by almost a year. We were at the same time able to nearly double our country’s GDP over the same period,” he said.

“We consider it crucial that the new climate agreement be based on the UN Framework of Climate Change and that it be legally binding.”

On Thursday, while his Finnish counterpart Sauli Niinisto called climate change a “serious threat” for the Arctic, Putin said that it brings “more propitious conditions for using this region for economic ends.”

The Russian leader also wished luck to anti-climate litigator Scott Pruitt, who was confirmed last month as the new chief of the US Environmental Protection Agency to the horror of the scientific community.

Asked by moderator Geoff Cutmore of the CNBC what he thinks of the appointment of Pruitt, a climate sceptic who wants to roll back Washington’s participation in the Paris climate accord, Putin said Pruitt’s views deserve to be heard.

“Positions and suggestions of those who don’t agree with their opponents are not so stupid,” Putin said. “God grant him health and success, everybody should listen to one another and only then you can find an optimal solution to the problem.”

Russia is warming at twice the rate of the rest of the world, according to government data, and both scientists and emergencies officials have indicated that disasters such as deadly floods and wildfires are influenced by climate change.

Source: france24.com

ETI Launches Project to Clean Up Biomass Impurities

31.03.2017

The Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) has this week launched a new project to investigate how removing impurities from sustainable biomass feedstocks can improve the efficiency and cost effectiveness of biomass energy.

The £2.2m project will bring together the ETI, biomass feedstocks specialist Forest Fuels, and Uniper Technologies to explore how feedstock improvement processes can remove impurities and contaminated material from feedstocks.

A prototype plant will be built to pre-treat biomass feedstocks at Forest Fuels’ depot near Widmerpool in Nottinghamshire.

The cleaned feedstocks will then be blended and combustion tested at the University of Sheffield’s Pilot scale Advanced Capture Technology Facilities.

The University of Leeds is also a partner on the project and will test the ash produced during combustion testing.

The study is hoping to quantify the level of efficiency gains and financial savings that can come from improving the quality of biomass feedstocks.

Currently many biomass feedstocks such as waste wood, arboricultural and forestry residues, and purpose-grown biomass feedstocks such as Miscanthus, often contain undesirable contaminants, picked up during harvesting, transport or storage, which can reduce the efficiency of the energy conversion process.

The ETI project will use various biomass feedstocks, including waste wood and energy crops.

“A lot of waste wood currently ends up in landfill sites or is used in incinerators,” said Geraint Evans, ETI bioenergy programme manager in a statement. “This project will take waste wood, wash it and blend it to remove impurities to make it as clean as possible in the lowest cost way. By removing such impurities this will lead to improvements in the efficiency of biomass boilers and the feedstocks used within them.

“We want to show that improving the quality of biomass feedstocks in this way is a viable way of increasing the amount of sustainable sources of bioenergy, obtaining more energy from them and delivering improved greenhouse gas savings. The intention is that once the process has been proven and tested it could then be used on other bioenergy crops and scaled up to treat larger amounts of material creating even greater efficiencies.”

Peter Solly, managing director of Forest Fuels, said the project was “an exciting opportunity to be at the forefront of the next generation of bioenergy feedstocks”.

“Improving the quality of biomass feedstocks is a big opportunity for the future, and Forest Fuels is delighted to be leading this project,” he said.

Advocates of bioenergy technologies argue they can deliver reliable energy and significant greenhouse gas emissions savings. However, critics argue that unless feedstock supply chains are well managed and closely monitored they can lead to land use impacts that result in increases in greenhouse gas emissions.

Source: businessgreen.com

Reports: India Targets 100 Per Cent EVs by 2030

31.03.2017

Elektricni-auto-Tesla-S — Photo-illustration: Pixabay

The Indian government is working on an innovative clean transport scheme that would see people given electric cars with no upfront payment, according to comments from the Power Minister Piyush Goyal reported in the Economic Times.

Speaking at an event in Delhi late last week, Goyal said India has ambitions to become the world’s first country to run 100 per cent of its vehicles on electric power.

He said the government is currently drafting plans that will roll out electric cars without “one rupee of support from the government” or “one rupee of investment from the people of India”.

Instead, the Indian government is exploring a potential scheme where electric cars would be distributed at no upfront cost, and would be paid for by savings on petroleum products. “We are working (on the scheme),” he said, according to the Economic Times. “Can we actually give electric car for free (zero down payment) and people can pay for that out of the savings on the petroleum products? Innovation is possible, it just needs an open mind. You need to think of scale and be honest.”

Discussions are taking place within a small working group led by the Road Minister Nitin Gadkari, with input from the Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar, Goyal said.

Currently India has around 130,000 electric vehicles on its streets. Under its 2020 National Electric Mobility Plan aims to bolster this number to up to seven million by the end of the decade.

Source: businessgreen.com

Solar Surge: World Smashes Renewable Energy Records Yet Again

31.03.2017

Solarni paneli — Photo-ilustration: Pixabay

Global renewable energy capacity increased by 161GW last year setting a new deployment record for the sector, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).

The Abu Dhabi-based agency estimated that total installed renewable energy capacity topped 2,000GW for the first time late last year, reaching 2,006GW of installed capacity thanks to a surge in solar deployments last year.

The figures from the group’s Renewable Energy Capacity Statistics 2017 report confirm renewable energy capacity grew 8.7 per cent last year with almost half the total coming from solar projects. A record 71GW of new solar energy was deployed as costs continued to fall across the sector. Meanwhile, 51GW of wind capacity was added last year, alongside 30GW of hydropower, 9GW of bioenergy, and just under 1GW of geothermal energy capacity.

“We are witnessing an energy transformation taking hold around the world, and this is reflected in another year of record breaking additions in new renewable energy capacity,” said IRENA director-general Adnan Z. Amin in a statement. “This growth in deployment emphasizes the increasingly strong business case for renewables which also have multiple socio-economic benefits in terms of fueling economic growth, creating jobs and improving human welfare and the environment.”

However, he warned the pace of deployment was still not fast enough for the world to meet its agreed decarbonisation targets. “Accelerating this momentum will require additional investment in order to move decisively towards decarbonising the energy sector and meet climate objectives,” he said, adding that the new data was nevertheless “an encouraging sign that though there is much yet to do, we are on the right path”.

The data reiterates that Asia has cemented its position as the world’s most important renewable energy market, accounting for 58 per cent of new renewable additions in 2016, and taking its installed capacity to 812GW or roughly 41 per cent of global capacity.

Asia was also the fastest growing region, with a 13.1 per cent increase in renewable capacity. However, there are also signs of the growing health of the African market with 4.1GW of new capacity in 2016, representing a doubling on the performance achieved in 2015.

The report comes as the world continues to consider the implications of US President Donald Trump’s decision earlier this week to issue an executive order rolling back a raft of US climate policies and promising to revive the coal industry.

Chinese state media yesterday accused the Trump administration of “selfishness” in trying to boost the coal industry when all other major economies were attempting to decarbonise and step up investment in clean energy.

However, separately a report fron this week from the think tank Clean Energy Canada argued Trump was unlikely to have much impact on encouraging global clean energy trends.

The report, entitled The Transition Takes Hold, argued that in addition to delivering record deployment levels the clean energy industry now employs 6.7 million people worldwide.

It also notes that the solar industry created one out of every 50 new jobs in the US last year, while wind turbine technician is America’s fastest-growing occupation.

The report adds that he rollout of renewables is now set to accelerate as costs continue to fall, with IRENA projecting onshore wind costs will fall a further 26 per cent through to 2025, while offshore wind costs are expected to fall 35 per cent and utility-scale solar PV costs drop 57 per cent.

“Thanks to falling technology costs, many renewables are competing with fossil fuel alternatives, creating new jobs and cutting pollution,” said Dan Woynillowicz, policy director at Clean Energy Canada. “And those costs are projected to keep dropping.

“As President Trump decides how to approach clean energy, he will no doubt be informed by two key metrics: the opinion of his supporters and what the sector means for jobs. On both counts, the odds are in clean energy’s favour.”

Source: businessgreen.com

Electrifying Amsterdam Schiphol Airport — Tesla Taxis, Electric Buses, Etc.

30.03.2017

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is incrementally electrifying transportation on, from, and to the aviation hub. Being the largest airport in the Netherlands and the 3rd largest player in Europe, with 63.6 million passengers handled in 2016, Schiphol has expressed an ambition to become the most sustainable airport in the world. An important means of reaching this goal is by switching over to electric drivetrains for vehicles operating on the airport itself, as well as for transportation of passengers to and from Schiphol Airport.

Schiphol’s most striking move towards a more sustainable future might be the procurement of as many as 167 Teslas in 2014, to serve as its taxi fleet to bring passengers to and from the airport. Anyone arriving at Schiphol will be amazed by the number of Teslas waiting in front of its main entrance to pick up customers.

Other electric taxi services in the area have also emerged independently of Schiphol Group, such as Taxi Electric, which actually launched 5 years ago.

VIP taxi services that bring those who have the money directly to their aircraft in luxurious, mostly German cars are made more sustainable too — although, progress is slower here. Instead of switching to full EVs, plug-in hybrids are gradually being introduced.

A less well known, but no less impressive electrification feat concerns Schiphol’s airside bus fleet, which is used to carry passenger to airplanes when jetways are not available. Since 2015, 35 fully electric buses have been in operation, driving 338,000 km in their first 6 months after commissioning and saving 312,000 kg of CO2 emissions. Chinese manufacturer BYD, which supplied the buses, says they consume about 1.2 kWh of electricity per km, giving them a range of 250 km on a single charge.

Meanwhile, public bus transport around Schiphol is electrifying as well. Starting this year, bus operator Connexxion will start operating an incredible 100 fully electric buses in the area, which will among others be operated on routes to and from Schiphol. These buses will be supplied by VDL, a large Dutch manufacturing company. A slide from Dieme Ketel’s rEVolution 2017 presentation also included a pic of a Mercedes bus, however.

Besides for passenger transport, many other vehicles are in operation at the airport and these too are included in Schiphol’s sustainability agenda. For example, the airport is currently electrifying its aircraft handling, belt loaders, and aircraft cleaning vehicles. All carts for cleaning and transport indoors have already been electrified. So, Schiphol appears to be quite on top of reducing its airside vehicle emissions. Unfortunately, the airport does not seem to provide any numbers on the size of these electrification efforts.

Schiphol is incrementally increasing the number of parking spots with EV chargers. In 2016, the airport installed 40 of them. This may sound like a lot, but given that there are 38,000 parking spots at the airport in total, it is actually just a small first step. Schiphol plans on expanding the number of chargers, though, to match the growing number of electric cars on the road.

Schiphol is also working on reducing the emissions of the airplanes it handles, by electrifying part of their power supply. Whenever airplanes are being loaded and unloaded, they still need electricity for things like climate control and starting up the main engines. Normally, this power is generated by a small auxiliary engine in the tail of the airplane, but these engines are rather polluting since they run on kerosene or a diesel-powered generator on the ground. In place of those, Schiphol has now equipped 70 aircraft stands with 400 Hz fixed electrical ground power chargers, which means that the kerosene or diesel generators for planes parked at these stands can remain unused. In 2015, 53% of all flights have been handled in this way, making for a massive emission reduction. Hopefully Schiphol will boost this figure much further in the coming years.

Clearly, as a facilitator of air traffic, Schiphol can be seen as a major CO2 emitter, and all efforts to reduce carbon output of the airport’s own operations might seem meaningless against the almost 500,000 annual takeoffs and landings the airport handles. But given that people demand flights and flying is not illegal, airports will be there anyway, so in that case we should at least have them be as eco-friendly as possible. I think it’s therefore to be applauded that Schiphol is demonstrating serious commitment to limiting its ecological footprint and is taking an active role in reducing transport emissions. Perhaps it will be the first fully electrified international airport.

It should be mentioned here that Schiphol is also working in other ways to achieving its sustainability goals. These include waste recycling, the implementation of reusable building materials and energy efficiency measures, and many other solutions that might be in the spotlight in some future articles.

Source: cleantechnica.com

Dutch Grocery Webstore To Buy 2,000 Electric Delivery Vans In Coming Years

30.03.2017

Elektricni auto — Photo-ilustration: Pixabay

After having received €100 million in funding, Dutch online grocery store Picnic just announced aggressive expansion in the years ahead, including the procurement of a staggering 2,000 electric delivery vehicles.

Picnic, a young company operating in the Netherlands, seems to have reinvented grocery shopping in a way that changes pretty much everything about it for the better. Instead of having to go to a store, one can order online using Picnic’s App, after which your groceries will be delivered for free within a one-hour timeslot of your choice. This happens, no less important, by an electric delivery vehicle, meaning air pollution or carbon emissions will not leave its tailpipe (well, it doesn’t have a tailpipe).

As the startup doesn’t have to maintain a physical store, it can offer its delivery service for free, while even charging a lower price than its competitors. The online supermarket literally guarantees its products cannot be found anywhere cheaper. When Picnic just started its operations back in September 2015, I wrote an article about it here on CleanTechnica. In that article, I elaborated on Picnic’s business model, potential, and practices. The company has been growing at a remarkable pace ever since.

Starting off with 150 customers 1½ years ago, Picnic now serves over 30,000 households. It made €30 million in total revenue in 2016. Picnic is currently only operating in several cities in the middle of the country, but is about to expand to cover almost all of the Netherlands in the coming 3 to 5 years. For that, the company requires vast sums of capital, part of which it already attracted in the form of a €100 million investment by privately owned private-equity fund NPM Capital. The money will be used to erect 5 new warehouses and 70 distribution hubs, hire 2,000 employees this year alone, and expand its current fleet of electric delivery vans to what will probably become the largest EV fleet any company has ever owned — in fewer than 5 years, Picnic wants to put 2,000 electric cars on Dutch roads.

Picnic operates “E-Worker” commercial utility vans it bought from the French company Mega, which states its EVs have a range of roughly 110 kilometers on a full charge. That’s enough to operate in densely populated areas, but not sufficient to extend delivery service to rural areas. Mega has now rebranded itself as Goupil and no longer offers the exact model Picnic currently uses on its website. Whether this means Picnic will have to procure somewhat different vehicles remains to be seen.

Source: cleantechnica.com

Changing Weather Patterns Are Trapping Pollution over Chinese Cities

30.03.2017

While China has become a world leader in the fight against global warming, its severe winter air pollution has worsened, likely as a result of changing atmospheric circulation caused by climate change, according to a new study published in the journal Science Advances.

While emissions are decreasing in China, the winter haze is not improving “because of a very rapid change in the high polar regions where sea ice is decreasing and snowfall is increasing,” said Yuhang Wang, a professor of earth and atmospheric sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and author of the research. “This perturbation keeps cold air from getting into the eastern parts of China, where it would flush out the air pollution.”

The scientists studied these effects in the East China Plains — where Beijing is located — during the winter of 2013, when instruments measured high levels of particulate pollution. These are tiny particles in the air that reduce visibility and can travel into the lungs.

Exposure can produce short-term health effects such as eye, nose, throat and lung irritation, coughing, sneezing, runny nose and shortness of breath, and also can exacerbate more serious conditions, such as asthma and heart disease. In a separate study, also released this week, scientists studying air pollution in China estimated that tighter air quality controls could prevent 3 million deaths each year.

Long-term air quality measurements aren’t available in China, so the researchers had to piece together estimates based on visibility measures and satellite data. To analyze the historical records, they created a new Pollution Potential Index that used air temperature anomalies and wind speeds as a proxy for ventilation conditions over eastern China. Wang said this paper is the first to connect sea ice and snowfall to localized air pollution.

“As emissions were reduced, the ventilation condition worsened,” he noted. “It shows that improving air quality is a complex process and sometimes unforeseen factors require a doubling up of the efforts.”

Sarah B. Kapnick, a research scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s geophysical fluid dynamics laboratory, and who was not involved in the study, called the research “novel for identifying how a large-scale event, low sea ice, coupled with a regional event — snow in Siberia — contribute to altering regional circulation — the East Asian Winter Monsoon — to create conditions ripe for extreme pollution.”

But Kevin E. Trenberth, a scientist with the climate analysis section of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, who also was not involved in the study, cautioned against concluding that climate change was responsible for the anomalous conditions. “Yes, atmospheric circulation matters a lot, and it varies from year to year, and can indeed worsen pollution, or improve it,” he said, adding that a specific link to climate change “seems highly speculative.”

“We know that a lot of variations occur for natural reasons,” said Trenberth. “The effects of Arctic sea ice may be present in late summer, but not so much in winter, largely because in winter the Arctic Ocean is covered with ice.”

Wang said that the impact of global climate change may be unique to China because of its geography and sensitivity to changes in atmospheric circulation. The study results should prompt China to continue to combat climate change. “In this case, emission reductions of both air pollutants and greenhouse gases help,” he said.

The researchers examined sea ice, snowfall and large-scale weather patterns. Their analyses found correlations between stagnant air conditions and Arctic sea ice — which reached a record low in the fall of 2012 — and snowfall in northern Siberia, which had reached a record high earlier in the winter. They then used atmospheric models to study how those factors changed large-scale circulation patterns and pollution over eastern China.

Wang said that dwindling sea ice and increased snowfall move “the East Asian Winter Monsoon to the east, decreasing wind speeds and creating an atmospheric circulation that makes the air in China more stagnant.”

The winter of 2017 saw the same factors, with low levels of Arctic sea ice in September 2016, high snowfall and severe haze. Wang says those factors are likely to continue as climate change disrupts the normal structure of the atmosphere.

Wang said he plans to continue the study using new data from China’s air quality monitoring network. “Despite the efforts to reduce emissions, we think that haze will probably continue for the future,” he said. “This is partly climate-driven now, so it probably won’t get much better in the winter. Emissions are no longer the only driver of these conditions.”

Source: cleantechnica.com

UK Breaks Solar Energy Record on Sunny March Weekend

30.03.2017

Last weekend’s sunny weather was not only good for beers, barbecues and bees, but also drove solar power to break a new UK record.

For the first time ever, the amount of electricity demanded by homes and businesses in the afternoon on Saturday was lower than it was in the night, because solar panels on rooftops and in fields cut demand so much.

National Grid, which runs the transmission network, described the moment as a “huge milestone”. The company sees the solar power generated on the distribution networks – or local roads of the system – as reduced electricity demand.

The sunshine meant that solar power produced six times more electricity than the country’s coal-fired power stations on Saturday.

Continued good weather saw solar power generate significant amounts of power on Sunday and Monday too, when it was providing around 15 per cent of electricity generation. Demand on Sunday afternoon was also lower than on Sunday night.

Duncan Burt, who manages daily operations at National Grid, said: “Demand being lower in the afternoon than overnight really is turning the hard and fast rules of the past upside down. It’s another fascinating sign of the huge changes we are seeing in Britain’s energy scene.”

Electricity demand usually peaks around 4pm to 6pm at this time of year, as people return home from work, with demand lower still at weekends. But the early hours of the morning are usually the quietest for the Berkshire control centre that monitors the grid, so a reversal is dramatic.

Chris Goodall, the author of a recent book on how solar power is transforming energy systems, said that, counterintuitively, March is a good time for solar panels in the UK, due to the angle the sun is hitting them and because they operate better in lower temperatures.

“A sunny day between the equinoxes can now produce a peak of around 9.5GW. At weekends, when demand is low, this will frequently mean solar is producing well over 25 per cent of the UK power need. This drives coal almost completely out of the mix, as it did at the weekend, and depresses gas use,” he said.

Goodall said that by weekends this summer, on windy and sunny days he expected fossil fuels could be providing as little as 15 per cent of the UK’s power. That percentage could fall to zero in coming years as new offshore windfarms are completed, he said.

The solar industry hailed the landmark last weekend, and said the government had repeatedly underestimated the technology’s potential.

A spokeswoman for the Solar Trade Association said: “This milestone shows the balance of power is shifting, quite literally, away from the old centralised ‘coal-by-wire’ model into the hands of householders, businesses and communities all over the UK who want their own clean solar power.”

Solar power installations grew dramatically in 2014 and 2015 (pdf), but new capacity largely collapsed in 2016 after the government axed and reduced subsidies.

An independent report, commissioned by the STA, found the UK’s power network could handle four times more solar capacity than there was today without increasing costs for the grid. Other studies (pdf) have also concluded that even a significant expansion of renewable energy would impose only “relatively modest” costs to integrate into the electricity system.

A government spokesman said: “This government wants Britain to be one of the best places in the world to invest in clean, flexible energy. Solar power is a great success, with over 11GW of capacity installed in the last five years that’s enough to power more than 2.6 million homes with clean electricity.”

Source: businessgreen.com

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