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Harnessing The African Sun

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The most recent instalment of our iq2 Shorts series, ‘Solar Farming in Africa: Green Electricity Powered by the Sun‘.  It is adapted from our Professor Michael Düren’s talk at our Switched On event ‘Energy Game Changers‘, which took place on March 28, 2012.

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24/7 Solar Power

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Solar power that runs all day, and all night.

press release below:

Torresol Energy, a joint venture between Masdar – Abu Dhabi’s leading future energy company and SENER – the leading Spanish engineering and construction firm, announced today the commissioning of its flagship 19.9MW Gemasolar Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plant in Seville, Spain.

The world’s first commercial-scale CSP plant featuring central tower receiver with thermal storage capabilities has commenced supplying electricity to 25,000 homes in the Andalucía region of Spain. The plant is expected to save more than 30,000 tonnes of CO2 emission a year.

The innovative molten salt heat transfer technology deployed at the Gemasolar greenfield independent power project helps avoid fluctuations in power supply through a system that is capable of 15 hours of energy production without sunlight. This accordingly allows for generation of electricity 24 hours a day for many months of the year, even during the hours of darkness or poor daylight during winter.

The Gemasolar plant comprises 2,650 heliostats (mirrors) that stretch approximately 185 hectares. The system is capable of reaching temperatures exceeding 900-degrees Centigrade at the central receiver located at the top of the tower. The tower technology uses molten salt as a heat transfer medium that reaches temperatures above 500 degrees Centigrade and allows delivering hotter and more pressurized steam to the turbine than the parabolic trough technology, which significantly increases the performance of the overall plant.

SENER was responsible for providing the technology, the engineering detail design and part of the EPC and commissioning works of the plant. The technology developed by SENER includes state-of-the-art solutions such as the molten salt storage system and the receiver, which is able to absorb 95% of the radiation from the sun’s spectrum and transmit this energy to the molten salt compound that circulates within the receiver, which is then used to heat steam and operate the steam turbines.

Frank Wouters, Director of Masdar Power, said: “The commissioning of the CSP plant marks another key milestone in the development and deployment of solar energy in Europe. It also highlights Masdar’s commitment to partner with global industry leaders such as SENER and bring clean technology closer to the community”.

“Masdar is currently working on other solar power projects within the UAE including Shams One and Noor One projects, each with 100MW capacity. We will continue to work closely with industry leaders in the development of projects and ensure they are commissioned and connected to local grids as part of our larger efforts to adopt clean and renewable energy.”

Miguel Domingo, Solar Business Director of SENER, added: “The on-schedule and on-budget completion of the construction and commissioning of the Gemasolar plant is a milestone for SENER. Currently, SENER is the only company in the world that has developed and built a commercial plant with central tower molten salt receiver technology that has already started operation.”

Enrique Sendagorta, Chairman of Torresol Energy, said: “Gemasolar is a revolution in the CSP sector, as the standardization of this new technology will mean a real reduction in the investment costs for solar plants. The commercial operation of this plant will lead the way for other central tower plants with molten salt receiver technology, an efficient system that improves the dispatchability of electric power from renewable sources.”

Founded in 2008, Torresol Energy is a 40:60 Masdar-SENER joint venture. The company that commercially develops, manages construction, owns and operates CSP plants globally has been awarded a 25-year regulated tariff by the Spanish Government.

Torresol Energy’s Gemasolar project received EUR171 million financing through a transaction that involved several leading European financial institutions including Banco Popular, Banesto, ICO and the European Investment Bank.

SENER has already been nominated to represent Spain in the prestigious 2011 European Business Awards in the ‘Innovation’ category for the Gemasolar project’s molten salt storage system technology, which is considered revolutionary in the concentrated solar power sector. The final category Award winners will be announced in Barcelona in November 2011.

Torresol Energy also owns the Valle 1 and Valle 2 plants –currently under construction – that will employ parabolic trough technology and have a power generation capacity of 50MW each. Valle 1 will have the capability to generate 3,950 hours of electricity a year – equivalent to the average consumption of 40,000 households, or in other words, the entire city of Cadiz. The two plants at Cadiz in Spain will together help avoid the emission of 90,000 tonnes of CO2 a year. Both plants will start operations on 31 December 2011.

Torresol Energy’s focus areas for developing, building and operating additional CSP plans include the US, Southern Europe, Middle East and North Africa. In these areas, the company aims to promote tower plants with a central receiver tower system, or parabolic trough technology, based on the experience acquired in Spain and Abu Dhabi in the UAE.

Spain is one of the world’s most advanced renewable energy players. In 2009, renewable energy represented 12.5 per cent of total energy generation in Spain, and this is expected to go up to 20 per cent by 2020.

Masdar Power’s other projects include the 1GW London Array, the largest offshore wind farm in the world that will have 341 wind turbines, 30MW onshore wind farm project on Sir Bani Yas Island, 250km southwest of Abu Dhabi city, the Mahe onshore wind farm in Seychelles, and Masdar PV, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Masdar that produces amorphous silicon thin film photovoltaic modules eight times larger and more powerful than the industry standard at its plant in Germany.

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Warming Climate And Ground Level Ozone

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Ozone is the name scientists give to the molecule that is formed when three oxygen atoms get together. You have probably heard of the stuff because there is a “hole” in the ozone layer. High altitude ozone does a very good job of stopping radiation from the sun that would give most of us a nasty case of skin cancer, the hole in this layer is of great concern. Which is why certain types of chemicals have been phased out, to allow this hole to fill back in with ozone.

So ozone is good right? It protects us from cancer causing radiation. Yes and no, ozone high in the sky is a vital part of the natural world that keeps us safe, however ozone itself is pretty toxic stuff and at ground level is not nearly as nice.

Unchecked global warming could threaten public health and increase health costs by exacerbating ground-level ozone, according to a peer-reviewed report released today by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS).

The report, “Climate Change and Your Health: Rising Temperatures, Worsening Ozone Pollution,” found climate change-induced ozone increases could result in 2.8 million additional serious respiratory illnesses, 5,100 additional infants and seniors hospitalized with serious breathing problems, and 944,000 additional missed school days in the United States in 2020.

All told, these and other health-related impacts could cost approximately $5.4 billion. And if global warming pollution continues unabated, these impacts and costs could be significantly higher.

“Even a small increase in ozone due to a warmer climate would have a significant impact on public health,” said UCS public health expert Liz Perera, a report co-author. “It would mean more asthma attacks, respiratory illnesses, emergency room trips, and premature deaths.”

Ground-level ozone, the primary component of smog, is generated by chemical reactions between nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) triggered by heat and sunlight. Warmer average temperatures from a changing climate may elevate ozone concentrations in many parts of the country, especially in and around urban areas.

Warmer temperatures also are associated with stagnant air conditions that can cause ozone pollution to settle over an area and remain for extended periods of time.

The UCS analysis, which used the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Environmental Benefits Mapping model, calculated national impacts and ranked the 10 states most likely to experience the worst health impacts and highest costs in 2020.

In terms of costs, it found that California would be hit hardest, followed by Texas, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, North Carolina, New Jersey and Virginia. These states are most vulnerable because they have a combination of the largest number of residents living in urban areas, large numbers of children and seniors, and high levels of nitrogen oxides and VOC emissions from vehicles and power plants.

Overall, the report estimated increased climate change-induced ozone levels in 40 states and the District of Columbia. Studies on climate change and ozone in the Southeast and Northwest are either inconclusive or show no effect, so UCS excluded states in those regions from its analysis. Hawaii and Alaska also were excluded due to model limitations.

Clean Air Act standards have reduced ozone-forming pollutants nationally, but many counties and states are still are unable to meet the federal ozone standard. In the coming months, the EPA is expected to strengthen this standard, which, in a warming world, will be even more important to safeguard public health and improve air quality.

Average U.S. temperatures have increased more than 2º Fahrenheit (F) during the past century. If global warming emissions continue to increase, average U.S. temperatures could rise 3º to 5.5º F by 2050. These temperature increases could result in approximately 11.8 million additional serious respiratory illnesses, 29,600 more infant and senior hospitalizations, and 4.1 million additional lost school days in 2050, according to UCS’s analysis.

Conversely, if global warming emissions decline and average U.S. temperatures increase only 2º to 4º F by 2050, the health impacts associated with climate change-induced ozone could be reduced by approximately 70 percent compared with the higher emissions scenario. Of course, nitrogen oxides and VOC emissions will continue to play a dominant role in ozone formation and must be reduced significantly to mitigate ozone pollution’s threat to public health.

“The good news is we can address both ozone pollution and climate change by cutting fossil fuel emissions,” said Todd Sanford, a UCS climate scientist and report co-author. “Doing that would protect public health, the environment, and the economy.”

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FACT SHEET: America’s Energy Security

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Rising prices at the pump affect everybody – workers and farmers; truck drivers and restaurant owners.  Businesses see it impact their bottom line.  Families feel the pinch when they fill up their tank.  For Americans already struggling to get by, it makes life that much harder.  That’s why we need to make ourselves more secure and control our energy future by harnessing all of the resources that we have available and embracing a diverse energy portfolio. With an ultimate goal of reducing our dependence on oil, in the near term we must responsibly develop and produce oil and gas at home, while at the same time leveraging cleaner, alternative fuels and increasing efficiency.  And beyond our efforts to reduce our dependence on oil, we must focus on expanding cleaner sources of electricitykeeping America on the cutting edge of clean energy technology so that we can build a 21st century clean energy economy and win the future.

Reducing oil imports

In 2008, America imported 11 million barrels of oil a day.  By 2025 – a little over a decade from now – we will have cut that by one-third.

Innovating Our Way to a Clean Energy Future

Charting a path  towards cleaner sources of electricity and greater energy efficiency, and remaining on the cutting edge of clean energy technology.

(Via)

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Remember When John McCain Was Sane?

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Why is it that every single republican has abandoned what used to be their policy when it came to climate change, every single damn one of them has gone back on their very sensible observations not 5 years ago…

Could it be that the Tea Party doesn’t believe in climate change, could it be that the big corporate funders don’t believe in climate change, could it be that they never believed in the science of climate change and this is the opinion they always had? Why might never know, all we do know is that most of them used to have far more sensible points of view than they do now.

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