Nearly all physical actions produce heat,, why not utilize it where possible?

Aqua Society To Demonstrate Electricity From Waste Heat

12th December 2007

(carbonfree.co.uk) Early in 2008 Germany's Aqua Society will be launching the Europe-wide sale of a unique new energy module that enables efficient generation of sustainable electricity. Interested parties are invited to demonstrations at the corporation's research centre in Herten, Germany.

Aqua Society says its energy module is ground-breaking technology which generates CO2-free electricity from waste heat at temperatures from 80(degrees)C, accordingly making a decisive contribution to achieving climate targets.

"Ecologically it is decisive that the electricity is produced without creating a single additional gram of CO2, which boosts overall energy efficiency", states Hubert Hamm, CEO of Aqua Society GmbH. "For example, in combined heat and power plants the downstream energy module generates additional power by exploiting the heat from the cooling water or exhaust gas - energy which is so far generally allowed to escape unexploited. Waste heat from industrial processes can also be converted to electricity and returned to the production cycle."

Aqua Society's organic Rankine cycle process uses a special low-pressure expansion unit instead of a turbine. The company says a decisive advantage over conventional ORC processes is that the energy module generates electricity at temperatures from as low as 80(degrees)C. It also sees a further advantage in investment costs, which are lower as Aqua Society's ORC units are designed in a relatively simple and robust way.

Anyone interested in attending a demonstration can register by email at info@aqua-society.com.

Israel: Bill Introduced To Lower Greenhouse Gas Emissions

December 26, '07

(IsraelNN.com) Knesset Internal Affairs and Environment Committee Chairman MK Ofer Paz-Pines (Labor) has submitted a bill to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Israel. The bill aims for Israel to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2010, and 50 percent by 2050.

The Ministry of Environmental Protection will have to formulate a national emission reduction plan within six months of the bill entering into law.

Alternative energy is the defining industry in the 21st century along with water

December 21, 2007

Leaders See Green Energy Dollars, Jobs

[Muskegon Chronicle]

By Dave Alexander

dalexander@muskegonchronicle.com

Regional leaders are calling it a "conservative" prediction that alternative energy industries could bring $800 million of investment and more than 4,250 new industrial jobs to West Michigan in the next five years.

That's what the seven-county region could reap if it captures just 1 percent of the U.S. development that will come from solar, wind and biofuels industries in the coming years.

The West Michigan region's industrial foundation is well situated to take advantage of the fastest-growing manufacturing sector in the United States, according to a new study by the West Michigan Strategic Alliance and the Right Place Inc. in Grand Rapids.

"You manufacture very well in West Michigan," said Richard Polich, the consultant from Energy Options & Solutions, which provided the economic study. "As a region, you can do much more than 1 percent of the (national) work in this area."

The alternative energy development study was unveiled at a Tuesday morning event at the Grand Valley State University Michigan Alternative & Renewable Energy Center in Muskegon.

The predicted figure of $169 billion expected to be invested in the United States in the alternative energy sector through 2015 is based on responses to the high cost of oil, depletion of fossil fuel resources, global warming concerns and a push by corporate America for "green" solutions.

Some of that investment already has found its way into West Michigan in the solar, wind and biofuels sectors. For example:

* Cascades Engineering in Grand Rapids has introduced two designs for small wind turbines that can be used in residential installations.

* PrimeStar Solar -- a Golden, Colo., developer of the next generation of thin-film solar panels -- is expanding its West Michigan operations in Montague's industrial park. The company uses the manufacturing capabilities of West Michigan to build the machines that will produce the company's solar panels.

* Reynolds Inc. -- a waste and energy system contractor from Orleans, Ind. -- will begin a new biomass division in Muskegon through the GVSU energy center. Reynolds built the $2.7 million manure-to-electricity plant that is beginning operations at the den Dulk dairy operations in Ravenna. Reynolds now plans to replicate the Entec Biogas technology from Austria throughout the United States.

GVSU's Sarah Lineberry will head up the new Reynolds division in Muskegon starting in January.

"To say there is a lot of interest in alternative energy is an understatement," West Michigan Strategic Alliance President Greg Northrup said. "But this truly has to be a regional issue if we are all going to be successful at it."

The GVSU energy center in Muskegon is a key regional resource for the alternative energy developments in West Michigan, Northrup said.

Right Place President Birgit Klohs said that West Michigan might first enter the alternative energy "supply chain" by making parts specifically for wind turbines. The other opportunity is for locating wind and biofuels operations throughout the region, she said.

"This region has the ability to transform itself and remake itself in this sector," said Klohs, who heads the Grand Rapids economic development agency. The other key Grand Rapids economic development strategy is in the life sciences sector.

Michigan has gone from fur trading and lumbering to manufacturing and is now searching for a new economic direction in the face of the downsizing of the automotive industry. Michigan is poised to take the lead in alternative energy, said Jim Croce, president of NextEnergy -- a Detroit-based, non-profit alternative energy development organization established by the state of Michigan.

"Alternative energy is the defining industry in the 21st century along with water," Croce said. "But this is a marathon, not a sprint. We are not going to change over night."

However, the state and the region finds itself behind other states. Wind energy turbine manufacturing and key parts supplies are coming from companies located in Illinois, Minnesota and Texas, among other states.

"Texas is the oil state but is the leading state in terms of siting wind turbines," Northrup said. "That tells us a lot about how things are changing."

Croce said that public policies in Michigan will go a long way in determining how successful the state and West Michigan will be in competing for its fair share of the alternative energy boom.

Maybe even more important than renewable mandates is a reform of the "buy-sell" agreements of the state's private but regulated electrical power companies, GVSU energy center Director Imad Mahawili said.

"The study really shows the tip of the iceberg of the alternative energy sector in the United States," Croce said. "What really happens for us in Michigan depends on public policies on energy and the environment."

Comment: It is said that the US partners with Israel for the sake of Israelis' intellectual wealth

IsraGood

Israel And The US Partner For Clean Energy Posted: 20 Dec 2007 12:49 AM CST (Image Credit: Amazon.com) With many nations looking for ways to reduce the gas price hike that has afflicted much of our planet, it looks as if the United States is teaming up with Israel in order to explore new ways to produce clean, green energy. (Globes Online) The US Senate has approved cooperation with Israel in clean energy - the U.S.-Israel Energy Cooperation Act - as part of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. [...] Israeli sources in Washington predict $20 million in allocations a year over the next five years for joint US-Israeli energy projects. The US Department of Energy and Israel's Ministry of National Infrastructures will formulate an agreement and settle related issues. The Energy Independence Act includes financing grants for the production of energy from biofuel, biomass, wind, ocean waves, and geothermal sources. Projects will include joint basic research between US and Israeli academic institutions and applied research projects between companies from both countries. This new bill (which will probably be signed into law, if not already) may help the US and Israel to finally gain their energy independence upon foreign oil. Israel already has the lead when it comes to developing clean technology, which includes everything from turning fungus and cow manure into energy to building better solar houses to even recycling nuclear waste into energy. With the help of US funding, America and Israel may not only be able to help themselves become energy independent by relying upon cleaner technologies, but also half of our planet as well.

Israeli technological excellence and innovative skills make up for government bungling

Holy Land Inc. "GREEN" Project Logos Envinonment Projects © Renewable Energy Projects © Biofuel Projects © Solar Energy Projects © Biomass Projects © Save the trees ©

December 21, '07 Investments in ‘Green’ Industry has Tripled (IsraelNN.com) Finance Ministry officials have announced that investments in Israel’s environmentally friendly, or “green” industries have tripled in the past three years. According to ministry official Yarom Ariav, approximately NIS 100 million was invested in green industry in 2007. Given Israel’s success in hi-tech, Ariav said, the country could become an international leader in the green technology field as well. He called on the government to do more to support environmentally-friendly technology by creating a long-term plan for encouraging green industry and by giving priority to green businesses for government affairs. * * * This is what philanthropist Michael Milken had to say about Israelis: "Arutz Sheva" news@israelnationalnews.com 07 Dec 2007 Israel is Worth '15 Exxons' in Human Resources by Gil Ronen In a "Globes" sponsored talk at a Tel Aviv Hotel, financier and philanthropist Michael Milken heaped praise on Israel for its human capital. Milken is in Israel trying to foster connections between the Milken Institute, an independent economic think tank, and Israeli life sciences and cleantech industries. He stated that in terms of assets, Israel is worth a third of the Exxon-Mobil corporation, but that Israel is worth 15 Exxons in terms of human resources. According to the Milken Institute, Israel's human capital is worth $7.15 trillion. 'Israel could be the "research laboratory for the world' Milken also spoke highly of Israelis' level of education, noting that 32% of Israelis are graduate students, and 56.5% of students are women. He also pointed out that Israel has the world's highest per capita number of life sciences patents, and said Israel could be the "research laboratory for the world." He mentioned the training medical doctors receive in Israel and the enriching effect that the wave of immigration from Russia had on the sciences as additional advantages. "Every single one of your research institutes is an oil well, of the kind that is never depleted," Milken told the audience. A drawback of the Israeli economy, he said, is the fact that too much of the wealth is in too few hands, too many of which are institutional. "All global trends are operating in favor of the Israeli economy," Milken told the audience. "Let the human assets break through," he advised, "nurture them, and Israel will turn into an economic power within the next few years." Elvis impersonators Milken explained that in the human assets race, Israel is competing with fast-growing countries like China and India, and small but ambitious countries like Singapore. He said that if the present growth rates continue, China, India, Russia and Brazil will be among the 10 leading economies in the world, edging out countries like France and Canada. Still, Milken advised caution against predictions based on present growth alone. He noted that the number of Elvis Presley impersonators has gone from 50 to 3,500 since his death, and that extrapolating from this could lead one to the unlikely conclusion that in 50 years, one out of three people will be an Elvis impersonator. The conclusion, he explained, is that the present growth rate is only true of the present.

Concentrated Solar Power Resurges as Scalable Solar Energy Alternative

December 12, 2007

Press Release from Emerging Energy Research

Cambridge, MA, 11 December 2007

Dormant since the early 1990s, Concentrated Solar Power is undergoing a renaissance in the solar-rich areas of the world including Spain and the Southwestern US, according to a new study from Emerging Energy Research, a leading research and advisory firm analyzing clean and renewable energy markets. According to EER, solar CSP is the fastest growing utility-scale renewable energy alternative after wind power, with up to $20 billion expected to be invested in solar CSP over the next five years.

"With natural gas prices tripling and current volatility expected to continue, CSP is well-positioned to compete against other electricity generation technologies in the near-to-medium term," says EER Senior Analyst Reese Tisdale. "In countries such as the US and Spain with higher solar resources, land availability, and sufficient government support to kick-start the industry, utility-scale solar CSP technology has the potential to become an integral part of the generation mix."

"With natural gas prices tripling and current volatility expected to continue, CSP is well-positioned to compete against other electricity generation technologies in the near-to-medium term," says EER Senior Analyst Reese Tisdale. "In countries such as the US and Spain with higher solar resources, land availability, and sufficient government support to kick-start the industry, utility-scale solar CSP technology has the potential to become an integral part of the generation mix."

Spain and the US are currently the two epicenters for the global CSP industry: CSP installations in these two countries are expected to surpass a combined 7,500 MW by 2020, according to EER's study. Spain's favorable feed-in tariffs provide the most stable regulatory environment in the short-term creating a slow but steady growth path for CSP alongside its history of wind power development, according to EER.

Outside Spain and the US, Italy, France, Portugal, and Greece are on the cusp of breaking through with CSP developments, as well as parts of the Middle East and North Africa. The southern European countries are looking at improved regulatory incentives to drive 3,200 MW of capacity installation by 2020.

"2007 has been a pivotal year for solar CSP development as developers Acciona Solar Power and Abengoa Solar have inaugurated 65 MW of parabolic trough and 11 MW of central receiver technologies, respectively," says Tisdale. With a 17-year history of proven parabolic trough technology and almost 6 GW in the announced project pipeline over the next five years, all indications are that solar CSP is moving to the forefront of renewable energy technologies.

Parabolic trough technology's decades of proven operation have made it the most credible of the leading solar CSP technologies, but the technology's head start will soon begin to diminish as central receiver and other technologies are realized at a commercial scale, according to EER's study. By 2010, the market will have a solid view of the potential offered by Central Receiver, Dish Engine, and Linear Fresnel technologies. "Abengoa has made a major step by installing its 11 MW central receiver project, PS10, outside of Seville," says Tisdale. "This project currently represents the first legitimate challenge to parabolic trough technology."

New players, including traditional wind developers, vying for leadership in the CSP market

The solar CSP industry has only just begun its resurgence, and as a result there has been a proliferation of new entrants up and down the value chain, according to EER's study, from technology innovators looking to change the economics of CSP to investors and IPPs looking to gain first-mover advantages by tying up sites.

At one end of the project development spectrum is a leading group of independent technology promoters - including Solel, Solar Millennium, Abengoa Solar, Ausra, BrightSource Energy, SkyFuel, and Stirling Energy Systems - which are looking to leverage their specialized technology capabilities to gain a competitive advantage. On the opposite end of the development value chain are those IPPs and utilities that have already built or acquired GW portfolios of renewable power generation assets and that are now investing in CSP, according to EER.

"It is no surprise that the largest owners of wind power plant globally are also emerging as significant players in CSP," says Tisdale. These players, led by Iberdrola, FPL Energy, Acciona, and EDP are looking to add CSP projects to their mounting wind portfolios as a means to diversity other utility scale technologies. FPL Energy, notes Tisdale, is currently the leading IPP investor in CSP with its ownership of seven solar plants in California built in the late 1980s.

"As the solar CSP industry evolves we can expect significant movement in both directions along the project value chain," says Tisdale. Technology promoters will fill out project execution capabilities, and utilities and IPPs will build upstream project pipelines and technology capabilities.

ABOUT THE STUDY

EER's Global CSP market study - Global Concentrated Solar Power Markets and Strategies, 2007-2020 - was released in December 2007. With over 200 pages of in-depth analysis, EER's study analyzes global CSP resources, market drivers, technology and cost trends, and provides competitive analysis of project developers and CSP power plant supply. This study is now available for purchase from EER. Follow this link for the Table of Contents and Order Information. For more information please contact Stephanie Aldock at 617-551-8483 or eermedia@emerging-energy.com

For Further Information

• EER's New CSP Study - Concentrated Solar Power Markets and Strategies
• EER Market Studies

The 3 big players are solar energy, nuclear power CO2 capture/storage

December 17, 2007

Why did solar energy lose its flare?

Underutilized alternative source could curb bad gases
msnbc.msn.com

	Cells in most solar panels are made of silicon, which is abundant in sand. But demand in the electronics industry for silicon wafers has caused a shortage of high-grade silicon, which spells potential trouble for the solar industry. View related photos
Andrea Danti / Dreamstime.com

"Wind can play some role, as can biofuels and geothermal, but they are all too small," said Erin Baker of the University of Massachusetts Amherst. "The three really big players are solar energy, nuclear power and carbon capture and storage."

Over the course of a day, the amount of energy in sunlight striking the continental United States is more than 2,500 times the amount of the nation's daily electricity consumption. Despite this potential, solar power is far behind other renewables, making up just 0.07 percent of the U.S. energy portfolio, according to the Department of Energy.

"Solar energy would have to provide 20 percent of the energy supply to have a climate change impact," Baker told LiveScience. "We'd like it to be more than that."

In a report released earlier this year, Baker and her colleagues looked at the technologies that might bring solar out into the full light.

Sand in demand
Solar panels contain photovoltaic cells that turn light into electricity without releasing any greenhouse gases. One of the attractive features of solar panels is that they can be relatively easily added to a home, as opposed to the bigger construction projects typically associated with wind turbines or other energy-gathering setups.

Almost all cells in current use are made of silicon. Although silicon is abundant in sand, it must be processed to make it usable in solar cells and computer chips. In fact, the current high demand from the electronics industry for silicon wafers has caused a shortage of high-grade silicon, which means the solar industry could have even more trouble trying to become competitive.

For a typical home's electricity needs, the cost of solar panels is several tens of thousands of dollars. Over the lifetime of the panels, this works out to about 30 cents per kilowatt hour, three times what most utilities charge.

To reduce this price, much of the current engineering effort is focused on making solar cells from thin films that either use less silicon or replace it with other photovoltaic materials. Baker said that many experts think this should be the first goal of research and development.

"We could fund a lot of people to look for other materials," she said.

Solar on the horizon
There are other ideas as well, such as organic solar cells based on cheap, flexible plastic. However, organic cells are currently inefficient at converting sunlight into electricity, and what's worse, said Baker, "they tend to fade and breakdown in the sun."

Some researchers are working on future "third generation" solar cells, which could employ a number of new technologies, such as lenses, chemical dyes, multi-layer cells or tiny quantum dots that trap more of the incoming sunlight.

But even if highly efficient solar panels could be made cheaply, they can't make electricity at night or on a cloudy day.

"The biggest problem for solar is the intermittency of supply," Baker said.

For solar to be a major energy provider, there will need to be better electricity storage. Giant flywheels or improved batteries could help smooth out the power flow.

Diversify
None of the technological options are sure to work, so Baker thinks policy makers and the solar industry should fund research into several possibilities, much like a diversified stock portfolio.

"You don't invest all your money in Google; instead you buy 10 or 100 different stocks," she said.

Interestingly, Google just announced plans to invest tens of millions of dollars next year in the development of a gigawatt of power from renewables, enough to supply roughly a million households. One of the companies selected by Google is eSolar Inc., which specializes in solar thermal power.