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HoweStreet.com -A Hot Future for Geothermal
Capturing energy from the earth’s heat is pretty easy pickin’s for geologically-active areas of the world like Iceland, Indonesia, and Chile. In some locations, hot fluids are so near the earth’s surface that heat from naturally-occurring hot fluids can be directly circulated through buildings for heating. Iceland, in particular, takes advantage of this low-hanging energy fruit.
However, in most areas of the world where geothermal energy is captured, the heat is used to generate electricity.
Conventional Geothermal Energy
Unlike some of the more common alternative energies — hydro, solar, and wind — geothermal is impervious to weather conditions. This independence means it provides excellent base load electricity.
Currently all commercial geothermal electricity is generated by so-called conventional systems, whereby naturally- occurring hot water or steam is accessed at comparatively shallow depths in areas of very high geothermal gradient. Wells are commonly drilled to depths on the order of 2 km. The water or steam they produce is used to spin turbines that in turn generate electricity.
No need for coal plants: Wind and solar will do | DL-Online | Detroit Lakes, Minnesota
Big Stone II’s demise is not a bad sign for wind, it is the opposite. Now is the opportunity to move ahead to the next economy, not to worry about what we lost with a big polluter. Let’s give this gift to our future generations — a better future.
Take a deep breath and let’s take a look at what the next energy economy will look like.
We will move to an entirely non-fossil fuel economy based on solar and wind. We will have 89,000 solar photovoltaic and concentrated solar panels, 1.7 million rooftop PV systems to reduce combustion on most of our houses and perhaps solar water as well.
We will have 3.8 million wind turbines worldwide taking up a total area smaller than the size of Manhattan.
When the wind doesn’t blow in South Dakota, it blows in North Dakota, or Nebraska, or the steppes of Russia. Distributed wind is where we should be headed. And hydro-power can “firm“ intermittent wind — we have plenty of dams on the Missouri.
Public Citizen - Texas Railroad Commission Trying to Block Renewable Energy Lines to Help Big Oil
Seemingly out of concern that competitive renewable energy will damage Big Oil’s bottom line, the Texas Railroad Commission wants to block transmission lines that would put affordable energy from west Texas wind farms on an even playing field with the historical titans of Texas energy - oil and gas companies.
A new investment in these transmission lines would save ratepayers $2 billion a year, reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 16 percent and create more than $5 billion in economic development benefits for Texas. Ratepayers, companies and organizations with an interest in seeing the further development of renewable energy and green jobs should contact the Texas Public Utility Commission (PUC) and tell them to deny the Railroad Commission’s request to intervene.
The Texas Legislature authorized these transmission lines in 2008 to address the lack of available transmission lines to deliver wind energy from the panhandle and west Texas to the major metropolitan areas in central Texas where demand is higher. This renewable energy helps reduce costs for ratepayers by providing abundant and inexpensive clean energy that helps offset the volatile price of natural gas.
Renewable Energy Focus - Six renewable energy sources judged to be best prospect for future, says report
The best prospects for large-scale renewable energy production and net-energy performance remain wind and certain forms of solar, according to a study released by two California-based think tanks.
“It is reasonable to conclude ... that a full replacement of energy currently derived from fossil fuels with energy from alternative sources is probably impossible over the short term; it may be unrealistic to expect it even over longer time frames,” explains Searching for a Miracle: Net Energy Limits & the Fate of Industrial Society. The report was published by the International Forum on Globalization with content provided by the Post Carbon Institute.
New energy, renewable energy take 9% in China's energy structure_English_Xinhua
New energy and renewable energy took nine percent in China's energy structure in 2008, while coal took 69 percent and oil and natural gas 22 percent, according to the National Bureau of Statistics of China.
China's new energy and renewable energy have boomed in recent years including hydropower, nuclear power, wind power and solar power.
The country's installed capacity of hydropower topped 170 million kw in 2008, the biggest in the world. Hydropower percentage in overall energy structure soared from one percent in 1949 to 7.4 percent in 2008.
Arjun Makhijani | The Progressive
My guest for this week is Arjun Makhijani, author of Carbon-Free and Nuclear Free: A Roadmap for U.S. Energy Policy.
MP3 Download
Letters: Renewables winning the energy race | Environment | The Guardian
If I am travelling down an "irrational" road to renewables, as Richard Phillips implies (Letters, 11 September), then I am not alone. Last year, solar PV generation capacity grew by 70% around the world, wind power by 29% and solar hot water increased by 15%. By 2008, renewables represented more than 50% of total added generation capacity in both the US and Europe, ie more new renewables capacity was installed than new capacity for gas, coal, oil, and nuclear combined; with no emissions, no wastes and no security issues to worry about – and no worries about fuel running out, or increasing in price.
It's true the energy available from some renewable sources, like wind, varies over time, but we already have to have backup capacity for other plants (including for nuclear plants), which is also used to deal with the daily energy demand peaks. With variable renewables on the grid, these backup plants have to be used a bit more often, adding a small extra cost and, if they are fossil-fuelled, reducing the amount of emissions saved very slightly. But hydro can also be used as backup, and increasingly, so can other types of non-variable renewable source, including biomass and geothermal energy.
Clean energy to create more jobs than coal: study | Green Business | Reuters
A strong shift toward renewable energies could create 2.7 million more jobs in power generation worldwide by 2030 than staying with dependence on fossil fuels would, a report suggested Monday.
The study, by environmental group Greenpeace and the European Renewable Energy Council (EREC), urged governments to agree a strong new United Nations pact to combat climate change in December in Copenhagen, partly to safeguard employment.
"A switch from coal to renewable electricity generation will not just avoid 10 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions, but will create 2.7 million more jobs by 2030 than if we continue business as usual," the report said.
Governments were often wrong to fear that a shift to green energy was a threat to jobs, said Sven Teske, lead author of the report at Greenpeace. He said that the wind turbine industry was already the second largest steel consumer in Germany after cars.
Department of Energy - Treasury, Energy Announce $500 Million in Awards for Clean Energy Projects
Marking a major milestone in the effort to spur private sector investments in clean energy and create new jobs for America’s workers, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced $502 million in the first round of awards from an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) program that provides cash assistance to energy production companies in place of earned tax credits. The new funding creates additional upfront capital, enabling companies to create jobs and begin construction that may have been stalled until now.
“The Recovery Act is investing in our long-term energy needs while creating jobs in communities around the country,” said Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. “This renewable energy program will spur the manufacture and development of clean energy in urban and rural America, allowing us to protect our environment, create good jobs and revitalize our nation’s economy.”
A practical approach to alternative energy sources vs. nuclear power
In the article on nuclear power [''A Comeback for Nuclear Power", August 2009], there was no discussion about what to do with the nuclear waste or the actual cost to build nuclear power plants. I have heard it may be approaching $1 billion dollars. Do not forget the cost of dealing with nuclear waste (if there is a safe way). I wonder how much solar or wind power we could build for a billion dollars.
TheStar.com | Opinion | Soaring nuclear costs make green option more attractive
Back in 2005, the Ontario Power Authority began drafting the province's long-term electricity plan on the assumption that nuclear costs would be low and electricity demand would be high.
Four years later, nuclear costs have nearly tripled and electricity demand is dropping, not growing as was assumed when the province decided it needed additional nuclear plants. Last year, the OPA admitted that nuclear had exceeded the threshold where it is no longer a cost-effective energy option.
E.ON and EDF have drawn the battle lines between renewables and nuclear | Jeremy Leggett | Environment | guardian.co.uk
In 2003, the nuclear industry was very nearly killed off in Britain. In 2009, it is so resurgent that captains of the energy industry are arguing it is renewables that should be killed off, or at least kept on a starvation diet.
Today, the Confederation of British Industry has thrown its weight behind the nuclear industry's calls for the government to scale back "overambitious" wind power targets in favour of atomic energy. Two foreign-owned energy giants, E.ON and EDF, have recently told the government it must essentially choose between new nuclear and major renewables developments. With global warming, energy security and fuel poverty all rendering energy policy a matter of life and death today, in their own ways, this new polarisation in the nuclear debate is a desperately dangerous development.
Energy white paper is set to shake up green industry | Politics | The Guardian
Watching the US political drama the West Wing one night, Ed Miliband found he had something in common with Josh Lyman, who plays the deputy White House chief of staff. Both, Miliband says, have been exasperated by the infighting within the energy industry.
The energy and climate change secretary recounts the episode in which Lyman crashes his SUV into a Prius, symbol of the environmentally conscious. As penance for such sacrilege, the White House staffer has to attend an industry summit where people are promoting different low-carbon technologies. "They end up having a big fall-out with each other," Miliband says. "Sometimes the UK debate feels a bit like that: the renewables lot say you should only do renewables and shouldn't do nuclear or coal. Nuclear people say all this wind will lead to big problems. Coal people say, 'Why are you going on about renewables and nuclear?'"
Spain pushes ahead with renewables in quest to finish with nuclear power
RWE Innogy and a consortium will build a solar power plant called Andasol 3 in southern Spain, developed by Solar Millennium AG, the parties said in a statement on Friday
Spain pushes ahead with renewables in quest to finish with nuclear power
RWE Innogy and a consortium will build a solar power plant called Andasol 3 in southern Spain, developed by Solar Millennium AG, the parties said in a statement on Friday.
It said that Stadwerke Munich, MAN Ferrostaal, RheinEnergie and Solar Millennium would form a consortium with RWE Innogy for the unit, which is planned to come on stream in 2011.
Mercury News Interview: A chat with UC-Berkeley energy expert Dan Kammen - San Jose Mercury News
UC-Berkeley professor of energy Dan Kammen is well-known around the country and throughout the world for his work in renewable energy science and policy.
Recently, he and a team of academics, entrepreneurs, business leaders and policymakers released a 141-page report, 18 months in the making, called "The Gigaton Throwdown'' that outlines a path for a dramatic expansion in the development and deployment of renewable and low-carbon energy. The team focused on what it would take for nine different technologies to reduce the annual emissions of carbon dioxide and equivalent greenhouse gases by a least 1 billion metric tons, or one gigaton, by 2020. A copy of the report has been widely distributed on Capitol Hill, and has been presented to Energy Secretary Steven Chu, a colleague of Kammen's.
The Mercury News talked to Kammen about the report, some of its conclusions and whether it can have an impact on U.S. energy policy. The interview was edited for clarity.
Renewable energy outperforms nuclear
Forget the industry hype about a nuclear renaissance. Renewable energy is becoming the leading source of new power capacity. Remarkably, it is likely to overtake nuclear as a source of power in the not too distant future.
In 2008, nuclear power capacity experienced zero growth, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Meanwhile, solar power capacity grew 62 per cent, while wind capacity rose 29 per cent. While no new nukes went on line, solar and wind added 5,600 megawatts (MW) of capacity and wind added 27,000 MW, the equivalent of about 32 new 1,000-MW nuclear reactors.
Report: Reactors Cost More than Efficiency, Renewables | Environmental Protection
The likely cost of electricity for a new generation of nuclear reactors would be 12-20 cents per kilowatt hour (KWh), considerably more expensive than the average cost of increased use of energy efficiency and renewable energies at 6 cents per kilowatt hour, according to a major new study by economist Mark Cooper, Ph.D., a senior fellow for economic analysis at the Institute for Energy and the Environment at Vermont Law School.
The report finds that it would cost $1.9 trillion to $4.1 trillion more over the life of 100 new nuclear reactors than it would to generate the same electricity from a combination of more energy efficiency and renewables.
Nuclear industry accused of hijacking clean energy forum | Business | The Guardian
The nuclear power industry has been accused of trying to muscle in on plans to establish a global body to represent the renewable energy industry at a key meeting in Egypt tomorrow.
France – a major user and exporter of nuclear technologies – is accused by critics of trying to win the top job inside the renewable organisation so it can move the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena) towards being a promoter of "low-carbon" technologies – including atomic power.
The talks in Sharm el-Sheikh are already threatening to become a major standoff between Germany and the United Arab Emirates over which country should win the right to have the headquarters of Irena based in its country.
Report: 100 New Reactors Would Result in Up to $4 Trillion in Excess Costs for U.S. Taxpayers and Ratepayers - MarketWatch
--Combination of Efficiency and Renewables Much More Economical Than New Nuclear Reactors With Skyrocketing Construction Costs; 'Low Balling' of Cost Estimates Imperils 'Nuclear Renaissance,' Just as Runaway Costs Sank the 'Great Bandwagon Market' of 1970s
WASHINGTON, June 18, 2009 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ -- The likely cost of electricity for a new generation of nuclear reactors would be 12-20 cents per kilowatt hour (KWh), considerably more expensive than the average cost of increased use of energy efficiency and renewable energies at 6 cents per kilowatt hour, according to a major new study by economist Dr. Mark Cooper, a senior fellow for economic analysis at the Institute for Energy and the Environment at Vermont Law School. The report finds that it would cost $1.9 trillion to $4.1 trillion more over the life of 100 new nuclear reactors than it would to generate the same electricity from a combination of more energy efficiency and renewables.
Many hands draw maps showing renewable lodes - Las Vegas Sun
Power lines, such as those near Hoover Dam, cannot be built to reach remote areas for renewable energy development until the areas for energy production are agreed upon. Several entities have offered or are working on maps locating renewable energy resources.
By Alexandra Berzon (contact)
Tue, Jun 16, 2009 (2 a.m.)
Click to enlarge photo
Chris Morris
Related Document (.pdf)
* See the Western Renewable Energy Zones report
Sun Archives
* State thinks big on solar power (6-15-2009)
* The power of the desert (4-5-2009)
* State faces obstacles to cashing in on sun (3-9-2009)
Sun Coverage
* Archive of Sun energy stories
Related Story
* States, energy secretary agree to safe nuclear waste transport
On one map they look like bubbles. On another they’re more like hot dogs.
These shaded circles and oblongs in Nevada and across the West could one day be clusters of solar power plants, wind farms or geothermal energy projects.
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