Rooftop Solar Provides 48% of South Australia Power, Pushing Grid Demand to Record Low

10.10.2017

Solarni paneli, krovovi — Foto-ilustracija: Pixabay

South Australia’s level of minimum demand hit a new record low this weekend – barely a week after the previous benchmark was set – with a fall to just 587 MW last month.

The record eclipsed the previous mark by nearly 200MW – with AEMO data showing minimum demand at 1.30pm of exactly 587.8MW, compared with the previous low mark of 786.42 MW posted last month.

The key here appears to be the moderate temperatures of early spring, which meant few air conditioners switched on, combined with excellent solar output, with the state’s more than 700MW of rooftop solar producing 538.54 MW at the time of minimum demand.

That is a phenomenal share of 47.8% of the state’s electricity demand being met by rooftop solar (compares with 36% in the previous record last week) and is clearly a record for South Australia, and for that matter in any large grid anywhere in the world.

As we reported last week, the tumbling records confirm that the times of record low demand have shifted from the night to the middle of the day.

The Australian Energy Market Operator has predicted that by 2019, record low demand may fall to just 354 MW, and within 10 years the grid demand may fall to zero because of the increasing amount of rooftop solar. This is also likely to occur in Western Australia around the same time.

South Australia is the first region where rooftop solar PV has caused a shift in minimum demand from night time to the middle of the day (most states still have electric hot water being switched on at night, when it would make sense to use the “solar sponge” as Queensland has suggested).

The impact of rooftop solar is being felt in prices – look at the black line that shows prices fall as rooftop solar accounts for a sizeable share of demand during the day.

Note, also, the negative price of minus $44/MWh at 6am when there was abundant wind and a constraint on the connector with Victoria.

“It’s absurd to continue having hot water heating at this hour,” says Dylan McConnell, from Melbourne’s Climate and Energy College.

“It’s completely contradictory to the original intention of having water heating at this hour: to use ‘off-peak’ electricity. In many cases, this is actually the peak – and off-peak has shifted to the middle of the day.”

AEMO chief Audrey Zibelman has welcomed this change in technologies and load curves as “not a bad thing”, but they do have to be managed differently.

It also questions the need for old-fashioned concepts such as “baseload”, which would struggle to find a niche in a market dominated by wind and solar, where mostly “dispatchable” and flexible generation is needed to fill in the gaps. Wind energy is already producing more than 100% of local demand at certain times.

As we note in our updated story about prime minister Malcolm Turnbull’s rooftop solar and battery storage system in his Point Piper mansion, AEMO predicts that around 40% of Australia’s supply could come from “distributed generation”, which effectively means rooftop solar and storage.

That sort of solar and storage is likely to be more useful to the grid operator than oldcoal-firedd power stations.

And new analysis from Bruce Mountain at Carbon and Energy Markets suggests exactly that: rooftop solar and battery storage systems would be better suited for AEMO to manage the changing grid than spending vast amounts of money in extending the life of ageing, unreliable and increasingly expensive coal generators such as Liddell.

Source: cleantechnica.com

Enel Green Signs $330 Million Investment Agreement For Oklahoma’s 298 Megawatt Thunder Ranch

10.10.2017

Enel Green Power North America announced last week that it has signed a $330 million tax equity agreement with the Alternative Energy Investing Group of Goldman Sachs and GE Energy Financial Services to spur development of Oklahoma’s 298 MW Thunder Ranch wind project.

The announcement was made on Friday in which Enel Green Power North America revealed that Alternative Energy Investing Group of Goldman Sachs and GE Energy Financial Services would together purchase 100% of the 298 MW (megawatt) Thunder Ranch wind project’s Class B and Class C equity interests in exchange for payment of approximately $330 million. Enel Green Power will retain 100% of Thunder Ranch’s Class A interests and control of the project.

These tax equity investments are traditional financing methods for the development of renewable energy projects across the United States. In turn, Goldman Sachs and GE Energy Financial Services will receive a percentage of the financial benefits generated by Thunder Ranch.

Construction of the 298 MW Thunder Ranch wind project began back in May after Enel Green Power committed approximately $435 million into the project, part of the company’s larger investment plans. Upon completion, Thunder Ranch generate more than 1,100 GWh (gigawatt-hours) of clean energy each year and provide enough electricity to meet the needs of the equivalent of 89,400 US homes, and subsequently avoid CO2 emissions worth around 790,000 tonnes.

Thunder Ranch was also in the news last month as the focus of a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) concluded by Missouri-based Anheuser-Busch, brewer of drinks such as Budweiser and Stella Artois, and one of America’s leading breweries. Anheuser-Busch announced mid-September that it would purchase 152.5 MW generated by Thunder Ranch to support its brewing operations in the United States. Further, the company can now boast 50% renewable energy purchased, and the ability to produce 20 billion 12-ounce servings of beer each year.

“As we strive to bring people together to build a better world, we at Anheuser-Busch are dedicated to reducing our carbon emissions,” said João Castro Neves, president and CEO of Anheuser-Busch at the time. “Helping to grow the renewable energy market is not only good for the environment, it is a strategic business move as we strive for long-term sustainability. Now more than ever, we are excited to lead our company’s global effort toward a renewable future and, partnering with Enel, set an industry example of how major companies can help to make a difference in climate change.”

Source: cleantechnica.com

Siemens Gamesa Awarded Service Agreement For UK’s 504 Megawatt Greater Gabbard Offshore Wind Farm

10.10.2017

Newly-formed Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy has announced that it has been awarded an extension to its service agreement for the 504 megawatt Greater Gabbard Offshore Wind Farm in the UK.

Service agreements may not be the sexiest renewable energy story when you can instead point to Tesla battery storage stories and mammoth offshore wind project announcements and completions, but they are nevertheless likely to be the most impactful renewable energy stories over the long-term. Big and small project announcements and completions will certainly continue to draw the attention of many, but it is the service agreements which will keep those projects running long after the thrill of multi-megawatt announcement stories has passed.

Announced last week, Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy — the resulting company of a merger between Spanish wind energy giant Gamesa and Siemens wind energy division — revealed that it had been awarded an extension to its service agreement for the 504 MW Greater Gabbard Offshore Wind Farm, located off the coast of Suffolk in England. The agreement has been extended by 5 years to continue operation and maintenance services through to 2022.

The extension to the Greater Gabbard service agreement is the latest of three service contract extensions recently awarded to Siemens Gamesa, in addition to two 10-year service agreement extensions for the London Array wind farm and the Lynn & Inner Dowsing wind farms. In total, Siemens Gamesa is now real-time monitoring in excess of 3,200 wind turbines across 128 onshore and offshore wind farms with a total output capacity of 9.5 gigawatts.

“We are very pleased that Siemens Gamesa has been selected again to provide service and maintenance services for the Greater Gabbard wind farm,” said Mark Albenze, CEO, Service, Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy. “This five-year extension underscores our commitment to providing customers with value-driven service plans targeted to their specific operational needs and complemented with our advanced digital services that help drive down the costs associated with wind energy. We thank GGOWL for their continued confidence in our products and services.”

Source: cleantechnica.com

Australian Greens’ New Policy Pushes For 20GW By 2020

09.10.2017

The Australian Greens have unveiled a new policy that aims for 20GW of energy storage to be installed across the nation by 2030, providing incentives for storage at household and grid level, and try to move the energy debate beyond the limited scope of baseload vs. renewables.

The policy was unveiled in South Australia on Wednesday by deputy leader and climate and energy spokesman Adam Bandt, and South Australia Senator Sarah Hanson-Young.

Their goal is to try to “supercharge” the household and business storage market, and set national milestones similar to the renewable energy target to reach their goal by 2030.

The Greens say that 20GW could translate to 400GWh of storage, enough they say – according to recent studies by the ANU – to provide sufficient back-up for a 100 per cent renewable energy grid.

To reach such storage levels, it would presumably need to include a major scheme such as Snowy 2.0 or Tassie 2.0, as well as battery storage at local and grid level, other pumped hydro storage of the type being considered for South Australia, and solar thermal.

The fact that most of these projects are having their first run in South Australia – the Tesla big battery, the AGL virtual power plant, the Aurora solar thermal project, and the Cultana pumped hydro facility – made it an appropriate place for the launch of an energy storage target.

South Australia also has the highest level of renewable energy penetration of any large modern grid, with wind providing around half of its demand, and rooftop solar another 7-8 per cent.

“To have an orderly energy transition away from coal and gas we need energy storage throughout the system,” Bandt says.

“This includes batteries in homes and businesses to reduce demand, as well as on the grid to provide frequency control. We also need small to medium scale pumped hydro to provide flexible generation to complement wind and solar.”

The political debate around energy baseload has become stuck in the argument over baseload versus variable renewables, and become bogged down by the Coalition push to have the ageing Liddell kept online and even a new coal generator built in north Queensland.

In doing so, the debate has largely and deliberately ignored the subtleties and complexities identified by the recent Finkel Review and the AEMO reports, which focus on the need for flexible and “dispatchable” generation – and which make it clear that properly managed, a high penetration renewables grid is eminently feasible.

“We don’t have a base load problem, we have a peak load problem,” Bandt says. “We need flexible generation and energy storage to manage the transition, not more coal.

A glimpse into how quickly the tradition could and might happen came the unveiling of the first stage of the Tesla big battery last week, when Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk revealed that half of the project had already been installed. The quicker we get more renewables into the system, the better, Musk said.

Major manufacturers in Australia are also picking up on the benefits of renewables, for cost and reliability. The new owners of Whyalla Steel and the former OneSteel assets across the country plan a program to transfer their energy sources to renewables and storage, as does the country’s biggest greenhouse proposed by Nectar Farms.

Across the globe, the world’s biggest companies – Google, Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft – are heading for 100 percent renewables (most by 2020), and these are being matched by big investment banks such as JP Morgan and Citibank, and brewers and retailers like In-Bev (owner of Foster’s) and IKEA.

Australian networks also say that 100 percent renewable energy, or thereabouts, is both doable and affordable, but the country has yet to see a coherent plan to take the energy share to a high level of renewables and with the necessary infrastructure and storage to support it.

The Greens say their energy storage target is part of a suite of initiatives that include the creation of a Frequency Control and Ancillary Services Market to enable participation of energy storage in fast frequency response, and the shifting to a 5 minute settlement rule for the wholesale energy market. Many of these are already in train.

It also proposes to support and extend the various state government energy storage tenders (currently being held by South Australia, Victoria and Queensland, and on a smaller scale by the ACT and the Northern Territory) to push for the increased take-up of electric vehicles and to introduce them into the grid as a storage component.

For consumers, the policy suite would see a small-scale energy storage scheme (based on the Small-Scale Renewable Energy Scheme which applies to rooftop solar), which would be managed by the Clean Energy Regulator. Systems of up to 250KW/1MWh will be eligible.

On the grid scale, it proposes establishing a Commonwealth Large Scale Energy Storage Scheme, with $2.2 billion in funding over 4 years to contract and build energy storage at grid level, managed by AEMO and the CER.

“People are already starting to install batteries in their homes,” Bandt says. “We want to supercharge demand for batteries in households and business, saving people money and creating jobs with a program that mirrors the support for rooftop solar.”

“Snowy 2.0 is a nice idea, but if the government was serious about energy storage it would put in place a target and incentives for storage right across the electricity network, not just in one place.”

Hanson-Young says that South Australia is already leading the world in renewable energy generation and was installing grid level battery storage, but there is much more to do.

“Turnbull’s plan for more coal authored by Tony Abbott and Labor’s plan for more gas is not the solution. We need more renewables and more storage.

“A national energy target can support projects like the planned solar thermal power plant in Port Augusta that uses molten salt storage or the proposed pumped hydro using sea water in the Spencer Gulf. The investment in storage technologies here in South Australia must be supported by a national plan.”

The Greens policy outline acknowledges the critical role that energy storage can play to “decouple” supply and demand on the electricity grid, making electricity akin to a normal commodity that can be warehoused and distributed with a much greater degree of control.

This can boost the efficiency of the grid; improved utilisation of generation, increase renewable energy sources and make them flexible.

“While energy storage, particularly battery storage, will grow, there are significant barriers to the planning, penetration and the speed of investment needed to underpin a 50% or 100% renewable energy grid.

“A number of countries and other jurisdictions are putting in place or examining storage targets and other policies to support investment energy storage, including in California which, four years ago, set a 1.3 GW storage target by 2020.”

Source: cleantechnica.com

Coal Has Been Largely Banned In China’s Taiyuan (Capital Of Shanxi)

09.10.2017

The capital city of China’s Shanxi province, Taiyuan, has now largely banned the sale, use, and transport of coal in a bid to reduce local air pollution problems, according to the country’s state news agency, Xinhua.

The word “largely” was used because the ban doesn’t affect the province’s large steel production plants or power plants — everyone else, though, is now expected to essentially do without the energy-dense fossil fuel. The ban applies to individuals as well as to companies.

The ban, according to Xinhua, is expected to slash coal consumption in the city by 90% — equating to a cut of around 2 million tonnes of use a year.

“China has ordered Beijing and nearby provinces, including Shanxi, to limit concentrations of airborne pollutants and meet key smog targets in more than two dozen cities starting this month and lasting until March. That period is when air pollution typically increases as more coal is burned to provide heat during the winter,” Reuters reports.

“Coal is the biggest source of air pollution in Taiyuan in winter, Xinhua quoted Dou Lifen, head of the city’s environmental protection bureau, as saying. The city was replacing coal-burning household heating equipment with electric and natural gas heaters, Xinhua said.”

The city is reportedly expecting that the new ban will reduce the number of days featuring “heavy air pollution” to 22 — making for a roughly 40% reduction from 2016 figures. Those are official expectations, though — we’ll of course have to wait to see how things play out in practice. The ban will no doubt help somewhat, though.

Source: cleantechnica.com

Australian Gullen Range Hybrid Solar & Wind Farm Is Now Generating Energy For The Grid

09.10.2017

solarka-iran — Photo-illustration: Pixabay

The Gullen Range solar farm – the first in Australia to be co-located with a wind farm – has begun generation into the grid.

The 10MW solar farm is adjacent to the 165MW Gullen Range wind farm, and both are owned by New Gullen Range Wind Farm, a company owned 25 per cent by Chinese renewable energy giant Goldwind and 75 per cent by Beijing Jingneng Clean Energy.

Gullen Range is one of a number of co-located wind and solar projects that are being built in order to share infrastructure such as roads, power lines and telecommunications, and so lower costs, and also because of the way their output can complement the other.

Goldwind is also building the 20MW White Rock solar farm near Glen Innes in northern NSW, next to the White Rock wind farm, while Windlab is also planning to build a 60MW project comprising both wind and solar – and battery storage – at the Kennedy project in north Queensland.

That project could expand to 1,200MW, providing what its developers describe as “baseload” renewables for the region. CWP is also planning a large solar farm with battery storage to partner the Sapphire wind farm that is also being built in northern NSW.

DP Energy is looking to a solar-wind hybrid at its Port Augusta renewable energy park in South Australia, and APA is building a solar farm at Emu Downs to co-exist with the existing wind farm of the same name.

Gullen solar first produced in late August, and has been putting into the grid on a regular basis since around mid-September. This graph above, courtesy of the Climate and Energy College in Melbourne, shows the combined output of the solar and wind farms in the past week.

The Gullen Range solar farm attracted a $10 million grant from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, even though its projected costs – $2.6 million a megawatt – were well above the average of $2.16 million/MW from the projects that made its short-list for the recent large scale solar tender.

However, ARENA explained at the time that they were keen to see a co-located wind and solar farm, and estimated that there were 1,000MW of solar projects that could be co-located.

“Co-location provides more continuous energy generation, as wind farms tend to generate more energy overnight whilst solar only generates during the day. Gullen Wind Farm generates more power in winter and the new solar farm will generate more in summer,” ARENA boss Ivor Frischknecht said at the time.

“Wind farm owners across Australia could benefit from adding solar plants to their existing sites. Developers can save money on grid connection, approvals and site development costs by co-locating wind and solar plants, whilst also reducing environmental impacts.

Gullen Range was built by the Decmil Balance joint venture.

Note: The Gullen Range Wind Farm and Gullen Solar Farm are conducting Wind and Solar Farm Tours. The first tour will take place on Tuesday, 24th October at 11.30am.

It says the tours are a great opportunity for the community to visit Australia’s first hybrid wind and solar farm, which is located along SERREE‘s (South East Region of Renewable Energy Excellence) Renewable Energy Trail. For more information and to book a tour, click here.

Source: cleantechnica.com

Price Of Solar Panels Keeps Falling In The Netherlands

09.10.2017

The cost of solar power has never been lower. This is reflected by installations — massive projects are under construction around the globe and a record-breaking 74 gigawatts of installations were completed in 2016. Although this growth is unequally distributed over different countries and dominated by utility-scale solar farms, the smaller-scale residential segment has contributed a fair share. The main driver of growth, continuously dropping costs, is incentivizing companies and individuals alike to go solar. Certainly, this is what has been going on in the Netherlands.

According to MilieuCentraal, a public awareness agency funded by the Dutch government, the price of buying solar panels dropped by almost 10% year on year in August 2017, continuing the downward trend of cheaper and cheaper renewable options. A standard system of 10 solar panels, including inverter and labor expenses, costs a Dutch citizen on average of €4400, or €1.63 for each Wp of capacity. This is 15 euro cents less than in 2016, when the same system would have set you back €1.78 per Wp. As a result, the return on investment for covering your roof with panels has risen to 6% annually, which is significantly above global interest rates, even though the risk involved seems to not be that much greater. Also, in this computation of returns, a VAT rebate the Dutch government offers has not been included.

The falling price of solar panels is reflected in their sales. By now, more than half a million houses are equipped with solar in the Netherlands, which is 100,000 more than one year ago. In relative terms, 11% of households with their own roof have put panels on top, making up about two-thirds of total solar capacity in the Netherlands.

In the years to come, strong growth is likely to continue. Just last week, dairy company FrieslandCampina announced it will put a total of 416,000 solar panels on the roofs of its supplying farms, reflecting the interest from all sorts of different actors in reducing the carbon footprint of their electricity supply by turning towards the sun for their energy needs.

Source: cleantechnica.com

London Considers Banning Wood-Burning Stoves to Tackle Air Pollution

08.10.2017

wood-214577__340 — Foto-ilustracija: Pixabay

Wood-burning stoves could be producing up to one third of London’s fine particle pollution, according to figures cited by the city’s mayor, Sadiq Khan. A ban on the stoves could help address the air pollution plaguing the capital; last week, Khan triggered the emergency air quality alert for the seventh time in 13 months.

Wood-burning stoves have recently been popular in Britain – The Guardian reports 1.5 million have been sold in the country. 16 percent of households in southeast England have the stoves, compared to five percent nationally. But somewhere between a quarter and a third of fine particle pollution in the capital could arise from domestic wood burning. And King’s College London research indicates during very high air pollution in January, domestic wood burning yielded half of the emissions in some parts of London.

Khan said, “Non-transport sources contribute half of the deadly emissions in London, so we need a hard-hitting plan of action to combat them similar to moves I am taking to reduce pollution from road vehicles. With more than 400 schools located in areas exceeding legal pollution levels, and significant health impacts on our most vulnerable communities, we cannot wait any longer.”

In a letter to Environment Secretary Michael Grove, Khan requested London’s environment department amend a Clean Air Act to set up zero-emission zones where people won’t be allowed to burn solid fuel from 2025 on.

Khan also called for tougher enforcement on emissions restrictions for construction machinery like diggers and bulldozers, and for greater powers to tackle emissions coming from Thames River traffic.

In a statement, the London government said half of air quality

come from cars and other road vehicles, and that the second-largest source of PM 2.5 particles is construction machinery.

Source: inhabitat.com

Global Carbon Emissions Stood Still in 2016, Offering Climate Hope

08.10.2017

klimatske-promene — Photo-illustration: Pixabay

The new data is a welcome sign of progress in the battle against global warming but many challenges remain, including methane from cattle.

Global emissions of climate-warming carbon dioxide remained static in 2016, a welcome sign that the world is making at least some progress in the battle against global warming by halting the long-term rising trend.

All of the world’s biggest emitting nations, except India, saw falling or static carbon emissions due to less coal burning and increasing renewable energy, according to data published on Thursday by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (NEAA). However other mainly developing nations, including Indonesia, still have rising rates of CO2 emissions.

Stalled global emissions still means huge amounts of CO2 are being added to the atmosphere every year – more than 35bn tonnes in 2016 – driving up global temperatures and increasing the risk of damaging, extreme weather. Furthermore, other heat-trapping greenhouse gases, mainly methane from cattle and leaks from oil and gas exploration, are still rising and went up by 1% in 2016.

“These results are a welcome indication that we are nearing the peak in global annual emissions of greenhouse gases,” said climate economist Prof Lord Nicholas Stern at the London School of Economics and president of the British Academy.

“To realise the goals of the Paris agreement and hold the increase in global average temperature to well below 2C, we must reach peak emissions as soon as possible and then achieve a rapid decline soon afterwards,” Stern said. “These results from the Dutch government show that there is a real opportunity to get on track.”

Jos Olivier, the chief researcher for the NEAA report, sounded a note of caution: “There is no guarantee that CO2 emissions will from now on be flat or descending.” He said, for example, a rise in gas prices could see more coal burning resume in the US.

The flat CO2 emissions in 2016 follow similar near-standstills in 2014 and 2015. This lack of growth is unprecedented in a time when the global economy is growing. As the number of years of flat emissions grows, scientists are more confident a peak has been reached, rather than a temporary halt. In July 2016, senior economists said China’s huge coal burning had peaked, marking a historic turning point in efforts to tame climate change.

Stern said many of the big emitting nations had achieved significant reductions in 2016: “However, all countries have to accelerate their emissions reductions if the Paris goals are to be met.” He said this could also drive development in poorer nations: “We can now see clearly that the transition to a low-carbon economy is at the heart of the story of poverty reduction and of the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.”

The new Dutch report shows CO2 emissions from China, the world’s biggest emitter, fell 0.3% in 2016. US CO2 emissions fell 2.0% and Russia’s by 2.1%, with the EU flat, although UK emissions tumbled by 6.4%, as coal burning plunged.

Of the top five emitters, only India’s CO2 emissions rose, by 4.7%. Significant increases were also seen in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Turkey and Ukraine.

Global carbon emissions stood still in 2016 but other greenhouse gases rose slightly

Carbon dioxide and total greenhouse gas emissions, billions of tonnes of CO2 equivalent

However, over a quarter of the warming effect seen by the world comes from non-CO2 greenhouse gases, with methane by far the most significant. Cattle belch the gas and are responsible for 23% of global methane emissions, and this source rose by 0.4% in 2016. Scientists have warned that the growing global appetite for meat, especially beef, cannot continue if climate change is to be kept under 2C.

Another quarter of methane emissions come from fossil fuel production and leaks in gas distribution pipes. Since 2000, emissions from coal and gas production have grown by more than 65%.

Carbon emissions from forest destruction and other land use changes were not included in the main analysis as they are more difficult to estimate and vary strongly from year to year.

Source: theguardian.com

Coca-Cola Increased its Plastic Bottle Production by a Billion in 2016

07.10.2017

Coca-Cola increased its global production of single-use, throwaway plastic bottles by one billion in 2016, according to Greenpeace. Although the beverage behemoth does not publicly disclose its production numbers, an analysis by Greenpeace suggests a massive increase in output of plastic, which often ends up in landfills, water ways, or in large islands of trash floating in the ocean. The world’s largest soft drinks company contributes more than its fair share to a global plastic problem. It is estimated that by 2021, the global production of plastic bottles will reach half a trillion per year.

Although there is a massive number of plastic bottles in circulation and being produced each year, only a small number of them are recycled. Less than half of the bottles purchased in 2016 were then returned for recycling while only 7 percent of the collected bottles were reused to create new bottles. Where do these non-recycled bottles go? Most often, they are deposited in landfills or the ocean. Between 5 million and 13 million tons of plastic seeps into seawater, where it is then ingested by birds, fish and other aquatic wildlife. According to research by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, there will be more plastic, by weight, in the ocean than fish.

Although Coca-Cola’s plastic bottle production increase poses a problem for the planet’s health, the global beverage corporation is taking some steps to clean up its act. In July 2017, Coca-Cola European Partners announced its goal of increasing the amount of recycled plastic in each of its bottles to 50 percent by 2020. However, this goal is viewed by critics as insufficient, particularly considering that bottles could be made out of 100 percent plastic. “Coca-Cola talks the talk on sustainability but the astonishing rate at which it is pumping out single-use plastic bottles is still growing,” said Louise Edge, oceans campaigner for Greenpeace. “We have calculated it produced over 110bn throwaway plastic bottles every year – an astounding 3,400 a second – while refusing to take responsibility for its role in the plastic pollution crisis facing our oceans.”

Source: inhabitat.com

World’s First Solar Powered Indoor Vertical Farm Comes To Philadelphia

07.10.2017

It’s always sunny in Philadelphia, according to the title of a popular television show. If so, it’s the perfect place for the world’s first solar powered indoor vertical farm.

Metropolis Farms has constructed a 500 kilowatt solar array made up of 2003 solar panels on the roof of a building in The City of Brotherly Love. On the fourth floor, it is constructing a vertical farm that will be powered entirely by electricity coming from the roof. It plans to grow the equivalent of 660 outdoor acres worth of crops in less than 100,000 sq feet. “The panels are already installed and turned on, now we’re building out the farm. The first crops will be planted in November,” the company says.

Before Metropolis Farms took over the space, the only things growing on the fourth floor were pigeons. But soon, crops of fresh tomatoes, strawberries, lettuce, herbs, and broccoli will flourish there for the benefit of the citizens of Philadelphia and environs. “We feel this inherently demonstrates the wonder of this new industry we’re helping create, the industry of indoor farming.”

The company goes on to say,
“To this point, the city of Philadelphia has only ~8 acres of urban farming, mainly because there’s no available land for growing crops traditionally. By bringing the growing process indoors, in line with our mission of social responsibility, we are revitalizing abandoned spaces and are using them for local food production. We are empowering a new generation of farmers to grow food for cities, in cities.

“This technology democratizes the ability to grow local food in any community, regardless of location or climate. We’re doing this because local food is just better. Local food is more nutritious than food that’s packed in a truck and travels for weeks, it tastes better, and growing food in the communities where it’s eaten helps stimulate the local economy.”

Detractors of indoor farming point out the high cost of powering all the lights and circulation pumps needed, but Metropolis Farms thinks its rooftop solar array will answer the critics.

“The truth is, like any technology, indoor farming is constantly improving upon itself. We have gained efficiencies through innovative lighting (not LEDs), BTU management systems, and other means to dramatically reduce the amount of energy our farms are using.

“And we are on the cusp of a breakthrough in a technology that will reduce our energy usage even further. We hope to demonstrate this new technological advancement at this year’s Indoor Ag-Con, hosted for the first time in Philadelphia. We are pushing the envelope by attempting to build a zero-carbon farm. Through water recapture techniques, renewable energy production, advanced energy systems, and most importantly by farming locally, we are on the right track.”

Another benefit of vertical gardening is a dramatic decrease in the amount of pesticides needed to grow fresh food. Not only will the crops not be covered in chemicals, neither will the environment surrounding the vertical garden. That’s a huge benefit that should not be discounted. “We hope others will follow our lead and start building farms of the future, so communities everywhere can benefit from having a quality local food source that grows crops responsibly,” say the leaders of Metropolis Farms.

Source: cleantechnica.com

General Motors Announces Plans To Ramp Up Electric Car Production Over Next 5 Years

07.10.2017

First we had Ford announcing the formation of its new Team Edison unit to focus on electric cars. Now we have Mark Reuss, vice president of global product development for General Motors, announcing that his company will introduce two new EV models in the next 18 months, with a total of 20 planned by the end of 2023. “GM believes the future is all electric,” Reuss said.

He admits the process is complex, saying there won’t be “one year where we flip a switch and it’s all electric.” Feedback from customers will be important in deciding which products to build. “An electric solution cannot be one size fits all. We believe you need both battery electric and fuel cell electric. How we apply each of these technologies will depend on what we hear from customers about their needs.”

That fuel cell reference pertains to GM’s new Silent Utility Rover Universal Superstructure (SURUS) platform — a fuel cell electric heavy duty truck with four wheel steering. It will have two electric motors and a flexible design that can be configured for use in delivery vans, truck, or ambulances.

GM boss Mary Barra has said recently that her company’s focus is on “zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion.” Its partnership with Lyft and Cruise Automation will take care of the first and the last of those objectives. Electric and fuel cell vehicles will take care of the zero emissions part.

GM, like all automakers, is anxious to cash in on the red hot SUV/crossover segment of the market. It showed off its very cool FNX-R at the Shanghai auto show earlier this year, a plug-in hybrid vehicle that should have customers drooling while they reach for their wallets. The company says it has developed new battery pack architecture that has two different heights for different vehicle sizes. Perhaps one of those configurations would slide under the floor of the FNR-X to make a compelling all electric SUV?

Refueling infrastructure for hydrogen-powered cars is nonexistent outside of California, and it’s rare even there. GM seems to believe that its fuel cell vehicles would be targeted first at military, commercial, and utility vehicle applications for customers who would install refueling rigs at their base locations. Infrastructure for private car owners would follow along afterwards.

It was only 5 years ago when electric cars were thought of as mere curiosities that would take decades to go mainstream. Suddenly, every manufacturer the world over is rushing to get electric cars to market. It only takes a few countries like France, England, India, and China talking about possible bans on cars with internal combustion engines to wake up the suits in corporate boardrooms around the world.

The EV revolution has begun and those who don’t answer the call may soon find themselves out of business, no matter how far back they can trace their corporate lineage.

Source: cleantechnica.com

Lush Brews Up Recycled Coffee Cup Packaging Breakthrough

06.10.2017

The UK’s High Street coffee chains may be under fire over the billions of single use coffee cups they produce each year, the vast majority of which are not recycled. But they could be about to get a helping hand from one of their neighbours.

Cosmetics retail chain Lush announced this week that it is to introduce new in-store packaging made from 100 per cent recycled coffee cup fibre.

The company, which has long prided itself on its green credentials and use of natural materials, said it had teamed up James Cropper 3D Products to create a bespoke piece of packaging for its solid bath oils.

The product will be made using COLOURFORM, which is described as “a sustainable alternative to plastic and other packaging materials”.

The product is fully recyclable with household paper and is also naturally biodegradable, leaving no trace even if it does end up in landfill, the company said.

Lush’s Kirstie Maclean said the new packaging had been developed in response to “sincere considerations around waste, single use materials and functional design”.

She added that the company had worked closely with James Cropper to deliver a “slick, sustainable, lightweight and transportable box” that met aesthetic requirements while overcoming potential technical challenges, such as the material’s ability to withstand the moisture of products.

The packaging is now set to be introduced in UK stores before being rolled out to Lush’s international outlets.

Matthew Miller, business director at James Cropper 3D Products, said the new COLOURFORM material could “revolutionise the packaging industry”.

“As more brands like Lush come on board and ditch plastic where possible, we can really amplify our protest against waste and collectively move towards a more sustainable future,” he said.

The product is the latest in a series of initiatives to identify potential end uses for coffee cups, which have been the source of high profile complaints over their low recycling rates.

Disposable coffee cups can be recycled, but there is limited capacity in the UK and collection facilities – a scenario that has led to a series of public campaigns calling on coffee companies to provide more recycling services.

Source: businessgreen.com

BNP Paribas Launches €100m Green Bond, as Sector Confirms Record 2017 Performance

06.10.2017

Energija vetra, trubina, vetro, vetar — Photo: Pixabay

BNP Paribas Asset Management has this week launched a new €100m green bond focused on mitigating or addressing climate-related issues.

The news came just days after the Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI) confirmed that the record 2016 green bonds total of $81.6bn has already been surpassed with $83bn in green bonds having closed as of late last month.

BNP Paribas said its new Parvest Green Bond would use a proprietary integrated engagement approach to identify investments that are expected to have the “most positive environmental impact”.

The company said the new bond would build on its strong track record in the sustainable investment market with nearly €30bn in SRI strategies, including more than €500m.

It also argued the new bond would form part of a fast-growing market, noting that the emergence of sovereign green bonds such as the French government’s recent €8.6bn issue had added “greater liquidity and depth to the market”.

Felipe Gordillo, senior ESG analyst, and Arnaud-Guilhem Lamy, manager of Parvest Green Bond, issued a statement arguing that green bonds remain one of the most effective mechanisms for tackling climate change.

“Climate change is one of the greatest challenges of our time and green bonds are one of the best ways to finance activities with low greenhouse gas emissions and to support low-carbon and climate-resilient development,” they said. “Meanwhile the rapid expansion of the green bond market means that it is now diversified enough to offer a genuine investment solution.”

The launch came as the CBI confirmed the sector had already set a new record for 2017 and was on track to meet its $130bn forecast for this year.

Source: businessgreen.com

US Renewables Grew 10% In 1st Half Of 2017

06.10.2017

Obnovljivi izvori — Foto-ilustracija: Pixabay

Renewable energy sources in the United States grew by another 10% in the first half of 2017, according to new figures published by the country’s Energy Information Administration and highlighted by Ken Bossong’s Sun Day Campaign.

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) recently published its Monthly Energy Review, with data through to the end of the first half of 2017 revealing that the country’s strong production and integration of renewable energy capacity has continued through the first half of the year at the same time that demand for nuclear power and fossil fuels declined.

Specifically, renewable energy sources provided for 13.5% of domestic energy production during the first half of 2017 compared to 12.6% in the same period a year earlier. Energy produced was 10.3% higher than a year ago and 21.3% higher than two years ago, while consumption similarly grew, increasing from 9.6% in 2015 and 10.8% in 2016 up to 11.9% in the first half of 2017.

Conversely, energy output from nuclear and coal power has dropped significantly. Nuclear power plants contributed 3.3% less energy in the first half of 2017 than a year ago, and now accounts for only 9.4% of the country’s energy production and only 8.4% of energy consumption.

Despite the fact that the United States managed to increase coal production by 16.1% during the first half of the year, the country’s overall consumption of fossil fuel energy sources continued to decline, slipping from 81.7% of total energy use in the first half of 2015 to 80.3% in the first half of 2016, and to 79.5% in 2017.

“Notwithstanding desperate efforts by the Trump Administration to prop up nuclear power and fossil fuels, they continue to lose ground to the mix of renewable energy sources,” explained Ken Bossong, Executive Director of the SUN DAY Campaign, who each month is responsible for putting EIA’s data-intensive figures into context. “Time to wake up and smell the coffee, Mr. President!”

Source: cleantechnica.com

Procter & Gamble Plans to Help Wash Away Plastic Pollution with New Fairy Liquid Bottle

06.10.2017

fairyoceanplastic-580x358 — Foto: Procter & Gamble

Washing up liquid brand Fairy Liquid is hoping to clean up the world’s oceans with the unveiling today of its new recycled plastic bottle, made with 10 per cent ocean plastic.

The Fairy Oceans Plastic Bottles, developed in partnership with TerraCycle, are made from 100 per cent recycled plastic, including 10 per cent ocean plastic, in a move brand owner Procter & Gamble hopes will raise awareness of ocean plastic pollution.

Greenpeace estimates around 12.7 million tonnes of plastic end up in our oceans every year, and experts fear that if pollution continues at its current rate there will be more plastic than fish in the world’s oceans by 2050.

“As the world’s no. 1 dishwashing liquid globally and a much-loved brand in the UK, we want to use Fairy to raise awareness about the plight of our ocean and raise awareness about the importance of recycling,” Procter & Gamble’s vice president of global sustainability Virginie Helias said. “Our consumers care deeply about this issue and by using ocean plastic we hope to show that the opportunities are endless when we rethink our approach to waste.”

The bottles will be available to buy from 2018, and initially P&G plans to produce 320,000 bottles in what it claims will be the biggest production run of its kind in the world.

The consumer goods giant – which also owns brands such as Dawn, Dreft, and Joy – already carries an average of 40 per cent post-consumer recycled plastic in its bottles, diverting around 8,000 tonnes of plastic from landfill every year.

Earlier this year it launched plans for the world’s first recyclable shampoo bottle made with beach plastic, for its Head and Shoulders brand.

Source: businessgreen.com

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