AP / Eugene Hoshiko

Japan faces yet another long and hot summer as it shuts down its last nuclear power plant. The need for green energy revolution is crucial while traditional sources of electricity are facing tight squeezes.

The last of the nuclear power plant in Japan that supplied power to a third of the total electricity required by Japan has been shut down. Japanese civilians and companies will just have to make do with the available electrical supply at a time when temperatures can soar to 104 degrees.

Nuclear energy was till now a steady source of power for Japan until it was hit by a tsunami on March 11th 2011. It handicapped the nuclear reactor at Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant which resulted in an atomic disaster far damaging than the 1986 Chernobyl explosion. Regulation authorities since then have refrained restarting any nuclear plants, mostly for regular checks. Security standards have been tightened.

To meet the shortage of power supply utilities are using revamped oil and gas based production units of energy. Concerns for carbon footprint and threats of nuclear risks have forced companies to review their attitudes towards renewables and review it in a positive light.

Yoshihiko Noda, the Prime Minister of Japan has vowed to lower Japan’s dependency on nuclear energy over time. Japan is still undecided to set renewable energy targets between 25% to 35% by the year 2030. The inspiration for this is measure who raised its renewable energy proportion from 5% in 1990 to 20% in 2010.

The deputy director of the Environment Ministry’s Low Carbon Society Promotion Office expressed the sentiment that Japan can achieve this target if it was the will to do it. It has the technical know how that is required. If Germany can do it, Japan will certainly be able to achieve it.

However, any constructive change has been slow. Building solar and wind farms require time and money. Utilities that spend billions to start nuclear plants are against for going renewable as it harms their business prospects. While some concerned mavericks are calling out for heavy investments in renewable energy. The government is just plodding its way through these two opposing viewpoints and has yet to come to a firm decision.

Many believe that Japan has no choice but to restart nuclear plants even in the face of opposition. Predictions are that utilities would fall 16% short of western demands due to power cuts during the summer peak.

The government is eager to start some reactors by convincing wary local residents and leaders that it is safe. Without nuclear energy Japan will have a hard time meeting demands.

90% of Japan’s electricity is now through oil, coal & gas. Hydro power makes up of 8%. The remaining is met through renewables such as wind, solar and geothermal energy.

The IEA estimates that shutting all nuclear plants will increase oil demand to 4.5 million barrels a day which will  cost Japan $100 million daily.

Experts believe that there will be a major boom for renewable energy in Japan, in the upcoming three years. However, there are many hurdles to overcome, before this becomes a reality.

SpinRay Energy has come up with the perfect solution to solve this problem. They produce supplemental solar energy systems that can be mounted on your patio or balcony and can be directly plugged into a 120V electric outlet. These Deck Power systems are aptly called as supplemental solar energy saving appliances. Appliances because they do not require a major installation process, they can just be plugged in. Supplemental because unless you combine some together they are insufficient to replace grid energy. However, this system is an innovative change that can render solar power useful to renters.

The panels feature a pre-mounted micro-inverter on the back. These inverters require stable power from the grid for five minutes before they can start generating electricity. Similarly they shut down automatically when the grid power blacks out. This keeps it from sending electricity to the grid at a time when the utility workers may be operating on it and would not expect a live wire.

SpinRay states that these solar systems are modular and upto 5 of them can be bunched together to form a single electric receptacle to produce over 1000 watts of green energy.

As of now these systems are eligible for energy tax credits for IRS residents. This will lower the cost of the systems to around 30% and also bring closer the recovery time.

The two companies in a 50-50 partnership will develop the Navitus Bay Offshore Wind Project which is a part of the The Crown Estate Round 3 Offshore Wind Programme. Upon completion, the wind farm would be able to generate 900-1200 megawatts of capacity to supply electricity to 820,000 homes. The plant which will be built to the west of the UK’s Isle of Wight will also stop the production of approximately 1.2 million tonnes of CO2 each year.

Guy Madgwick, director of Eneco Wind UK said that investment in renewable energy projects is essential for UK for sustainable and affordable future energy supply.

After a programme of onshore and offshore consultation with the local community, the two companies will submit a Development Consent Order to the Infrastructure Planning Commission by the end of 2013.

Image Credit: Creative Commons / Charles Cook

Creative Commons/Rgaenzle

America is still primarily dependent on fossil fuels to satisfy its energy needs. It leads the way in regard, along with China and Russia. Statistics state that America depends on fossil fuels in greater than on any other fuel.

Petroleum makes up for 37%, natural gas 25% and coal about 21% to complete the energy needs of America. Energy derived from nuclear is only 9% but endangers all species on earth. Among these statistics, power derived from renewable energy is only 8%. This figure is however changing gradually.

19 million barrels of oil are used in America per day. More than 70% of this is used for transportation. On average, people in US spend less than 30 minutes commuting between jobs.

Electric vehicles are capable of running for hours before needing a recharge. Even when you need to recharge a battery it is a more economical and cleaner solution than filling up on gasoline that leaves a heavy carbon footprint on our atmosphere. The commuting hours for Americans is very short and is not enough to exhaust a full battery. Even for longer commutes recharge stations for electric vehicles are available. EV’s can easily satisfy the daily commute needs of the people while also reducing the dependency and need for oil.

Businesses and homes also require a certain amount of energy. This is mainly satisfied through coal, oil or nuclear sources. Opting for solar and wind energy in such cases wherever applicable will reduce the dependency on fossil fuels which in turn will lead to a cleaner and healthier environment.

Aaron Bonanno of the US has thought of the impossible – powering a futuristic moon colony with solar energy. Aaron has designed a renewable energy system that could be used to power a probable colony on moon. The American Society for Civil Engineers has invited the fourth year University student to present his research before a podium of respectable space engineers at the Earth and Space 2012 Conference in California this weekend.

Aaron used basalt from a quarry to imitate moon’s dust and build solar thermal energy blocks that weigh less and are easy to transport. His research takes into consideration the fact that the lunar environment is a complicated place to stay where temperatures range between 123°C during the day, climbing up to 233°C at night. Moreover, lack of water, meteorites and and lots of radiation make things more complex.

Since there is availability of solar power during the day and no during nighttime, the best possible tactic is store heat. Present technology proposes the use of liquid salts or high-temperature concrete to generate electricity or heat.

However, Aaron’s research involves the use of lunar soil that suits the home environment and is more economically viable. The technology bakes soil to 1000°C to produce bricks, that are then used to collect the heat from the sun. They will used as building materials for a moon base which he says will be strong enough to withstand a meteorite strike.

As Aaron says, “My idea is instead of having to transport everything to moon, you transport a small amount of equipments. It reduces the load, reduces the costs and makes the colony on [the] moon more sustainable because you don’t have to look to Earth for resupply.”

Although, to find lunar soil was not possible for Aaron, powder of crushed basaltic rocks is the closest match present on Earth.

Image Credit: NASA

The original 150 turbines project has gone through double screenings by Scottish ministers and planners. The novel 103 turbines plan has been permitted by them disagreeing 127 turbines proposal. After removing 27 turbines in the Delting Section, the overall size of the wind farm reduced to a remarkable extend while broadening the length of roads.

As a result of the Scottish government approval, the Viking energy partnership and a group of the Shetland Charitable Trust, Scottish and South Energy (SSE) as well as the owners of the five turbines Burradale wind farm in Shetland welcomed the project.

Bill Manson, chairman of the Viking Energy Partnership said: “An enormous amount of effort and extensive consultation resulted in us creating a project, which is comprehensive, thorough and designed with Shetland’s unique environment in mind.” Also, he pointed out: “This is good news for Shetland, good news for Scotland and good news for the fight against climate change.”

Manson said that after getting the government approval, there are many things left to be accomplished soon. To establish the project in the realisation, the company is planning to prepare reports for its shareholders so that the project can get sufficient funding. The company will pass a programme of activity outlining key stages in the process on financing, procurement and construction.

For the first time an inter-connector between Shetland and the mainland has been introduced to connect Shetland to the National Grid. Hence, this is all set to pave a new way for growing renewable energy projects. Unlocking Scotland’s marine power potential, especially related to wave and tidal renewables, the company is looking for a wide prospective.

Image Credit: Creative Commons/Mariusz Paździora

The Hexi Corridor in Gansu province will be converted into the said demonstration zone. The unique and superior geographical, climate, and transportation conditions of Gansu will be ideal for this conversion. Moreover, an equally important reason is that Gansu is rich in renewable energy resources including wind when compared with the other provinces or cities in China.

Gansu Electric Power Design Institute of the China Energy Engineering Group will be managing the project while Gansu Electric Power Corporation of State Grid has done the design and planning review. Development of the first 3 GW of wind farms is scheduled to start in the first half of the year and be completed and fully functional by year-end. The province has also planned a number of supporting facilities such as pumped storage power stations and peaking power plants which will eventually support the energy conversion at wind farms.

China is striving to develop wind farms as well as this demonstration zone for renewable energy in a bid to provide itself with dependable energy sources and at the same time, minimize its  dependency on foreign oil and gas.

Many countries are making efforts to cut down on fossil fuels and turn towards renewable sources. However, there are still many regions in the world where people are starved for any sort of electricity. Around 1.4 billion people do not have access to energy. Rather than travel the path of fossil fuel energy, it is hoped that they skip this step in their journey and hop ahead to renewable energy.

However, this is not easy. Installing wind and solar farms throughout Asia and Africa is not the solution. Most of the people who require electricity live in rural areas and do not have the infrastructure to connect to a power grid or the money to install solar panels.

With this thought in mind, a UK company has designed an innovative and affordable way called ‘Eight19′ to provide electricity to those 1.4 billion people. ‘Eight19′ is named after the eight minutes and nineteen seconds that light takes to reach the earth from the sun. ‘Eight19′ uses an organic solar cell to harness solar power. The organic cell is printed on a  flexible, plastic sheet that generates power for the pay-as-you-go solar power system, IndiGo.

The entry level IndiGo has a battery, two LED lamps, 3-watt solar panel, phone charging unit and module. This makes it possible to buy electricity by their mobile phones and is available for $10.

Through its solar and wind projects, Germany is all set to replace 17 nuclear reactors that fulfil fifth of its electricity needs. Stephan Reimelt, chief executive officer of General Electric Co. (GE)’s energy unit in Germany said that Merkel is prepared to experiment with untested systems and policies as well organised to break all technical hurdles intimidating the project.

In a discussion Reimelt said that “Germany is like a big energy laboratory, which has a political and societal consensus to drop nuclear power, but lacks a clear technological solution.”

Such a type of project is green signal for Suntech Power Holdings Co. (STP), the world’s biggest solar panel maker as well as Vestas Wind Systems, the largest maker of wind turbines. However, it is pinching utilities from RWE AG (RWE) to EON AG (EOAN), which have to face cost cutting to curb losses from closing nuclear stations.

WN Photo

The UK government wants nuclear energy to be given the same distinction as renewable energy in Britain. This move by the government would act as a stimulant to atomic energy in Britain. However, it would considerably lower the investments in the renewable energy sector.

The main advantage that the renewable sector has is the stipulation that a sizable amount of energy has to come from renewables. The move by the government would remove this advantage of the renewable energy sector.

The Renewable energy target for 2030 will be dissolved after the member states can generate 20% of its electricity from renewable sources. UK now plans for multiple low carbon technologies, such as renewables, nuclear and carbon capture and storage, competing against each other. For this reason UK no longer wants to uphold its 2030 renewable energy target. However, it still needs a target of some kind for the year 2030 in relation to the energy sector. The new target would feature nuclear energy along with nuclear sources to complete its aims.

This energy outlook is bound to cause a lot of controversy, especially among the green groups and environmentalists. Analysts state that renewables and nuclear competing against each other is not a level playing field. The nuclear sector has gained advantage from public subsidies for over six decades. On the contrary renewable does not enjoy much backing and support.

The renewable energy sector is already facing threats from anti-renewable lobbyists that demand cut backs on subsidies for wind farms and solar projects. Analysts have warned that the current stand by the government would threaten companies who have made investments in renewable sectors in the country. The more to provide a stimulant to the nuclear sector could actually backfire and may provide a boost to the gas industry instead.

Critique’s state that the stance by the UK government to enhance on the nuclear sector seems a waste when in turn it could focus on renewables and create thousands of jobs in  UK.