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March 26, 2008
Energy Policy and the Next US President
I was asked recently about my thoughts on what the next US administration should be doing in terms of addressing climate change. What should the position be considering the recent history of US involvement (or lack of)? What should their negotiating strategy be?
I started thinking about the successor to Kyoto. The specific targets and how we could get there. But those were the stumbling blocks. How long will it take for the countries to agree to them? By the time an agreement is reached, it might be too late.
Undoubtedly, the US will have to take the leadership position, which has been lacking since they pulled out of the Kyoto process. As the world's economic, industrial, and technological leader, the US has a responsibility to engage in the process if the world is to take meaningful action on climate change.
In the past couple years, there has been a change in perception in the US. Most Americans now accept global warming as a serious problem and are asking themselves what they can do about it. Partly popularized by Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth, climate change is now taken more seriously. More importantly, regions that have traditionally not taken strong action (eg. Florida) are now quickly changing their minds as they see the impacts of global warming (rising sea level and coastal erosion).
Moreover, Americans are now asking politicians to support the development of alternative fuels and renewable energy as fossil fuels become much more expensive. Whether for environmental or economic reasons or both, Americans now see energy as a major issue.
All remaining candidates (now Obama, McCain, and Clinton) in the US presidential campaign have come out with positions on energy and environment. Regardless of who becomes president, the next administration will have to engage not only the domestic economy but also with the rest of the world.
In terms of policy, a tax or cap-and-trade system will be needed to assign a price to carbon emissions. All three candidates agree on some version of pricing the externalities associated with emissions and energy use.
At a townhall meeting, Professor Dan Kammen from the University of California at Berkeley said that the next president will need more than just a sound energy policy, he/she will need to be a true leader. This is one person who can inspire individuals and corporations to stay engaged as the price of carbon evolves.
As a supporter of Obama's campaign, Kammen says, "We are in a critical need for a president who can inspire."
Getting back to the original question of what the US strategy should be, I have come to believe that genuine leadership, more than time tables and targets, is what's needed to take the world onto a path of environmental and economic sustainability. Leadership is ultimately about creating more leaders.
投稿者 econetworks : 04:22 PM | コメント (0) | トラックバック
March 12, 2008
Sustainability Roundup: Sodium Battery and Whale Turbines
Sulfur Batteries
Energy storage will be a critical component of a low carbon energy economy. Storage devices will be needed at all scales: from laptop batteries to electric vehicles to electric utility systems.
Most consumers are aware of the batteries they need in electronics and computing hardware. We also know that future electric vehicles will require higher capacities at lower cost. Less known are the energy storage systems used by utilities...
These large scale devices are able to to discharge megawatts very quickly and help to reduce electricity costs significantly by storing energy when there is less demand and discharging when it is needed. This process enables the load of the grid to be more level, reducing the need for expensive generators that are used for short times.
Some of these large-scale storage systems were originally pioneered in Japan and are now gaining acceptance overseas. One of the these technologies is based on sodium sulfur technology, which was pioneered NGK Insulators. Today there are over 30 installations in Japan but gaining attention around the world.
For the first time, sodium sulfur batteries are being deployed in the US and they are being linked to wind generators.
Jim Fraser writes about this development in the Energy Blog:
"The 50-kilowatt battery modules, 20 in total, will be roughly the size of two semi trailers and weigh approximately 60 tons. They will be able to store about 6.5 megawatt-hours of electricity, with a charge/discharge capacity of one megawatt. When the wind blows, the batteries are charged. When the wind calms down, the batteries can be used to supply energy to the grid as needed."
Such systems will can power up to 500 homes for over six hours.
Whale Inspired Wind Turbines
The shape of sea creatures have inspired the design of ships. Now, they are also inspiring the design of blades used in wind turbines.
Like the wings of an airplane, the blades can also suffer from drag, reducing it's overall efficiency. Now, a company in Canada has developed a new design that greatly improves the efficiency.
Hank Green writes in EcoGeek:
Using these little "tubercles," a new firm in Toronto has created fan blades that have 32% less drag and are, overall, 20% more efficient at moving air. The new design could lead to similar gains in wind turbines, though the testing and certification process for turbine efficiency takes some time.
For an in-depth analysis of the science behind these modified blades, take a look at the paper recently published in Physical Review Letters.
投稿者 econetworks : 04:13 PM | コメント (0) | トラックバック
March 07, 2008
Reporting from Yokohama: CITYNET conference
As the nations of the world develop targets and timetables for lowering greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs), the hard part is yet to come: how do we get there? Breakthroughs in renewable energy and energy efficiency will no doubt play a very important role. Policies and market mechanisms will also be needed to drive low carbon practices. But at the practical level, how do we bring about changes that are responsive to the needs of the population and their access to resources?
These questions were discussions were recently discussed at the CITYNET symposium in Yokohama, Japan. In this conference, city leaders, UN affiliates, NGO's, and private industry, and academics came together to discuss their experiences in linking local practices to a global agenda.
The UN has recognized that the sharing of information at the local or urban level is essential for disseminating best practices. At the international level, policies are limited by diplomatic and bureaucratic hurdles. There could be overcome through city-to-city interactions that give urban leaders critical experience and technology in their development.
One of the themes at the conference was about fostering private-public collaborations and the role of NGO's and academia. Among the participants was Microsoft, which is trying to find a role for information technology in enabling the sharing of knowledge between leaders.
The role of community was also of concern. How do you engage the local population to become active participants? The participants tended to be on the older generation of leaders. The future of course belongs to the young and while they tend to be fairly well educated, it's not clear if they are concerned or curious about these developments.
There was also debate as to the values of the networks. The major concern was that they can be process oriented, redundant, and relies heavily on funding. Past experiences have shown how tenuous these initiatives can be when the money runs out. Can the costs of these networks be brought down through inexpensive software and hardware? Certainly, information technology has already made strides in social networks but can they be adopted for city-to-city interactions?
In the US, the campaigns for the election has shown the power and significance of Web 2.0. Leaders in both parties are levering the power networks such at Facebook and Myspace and Youtube has greatly reduced the barriers to disseminating news and recent information. Perhaps with the right software and support, cities and their leaders can share their experiences more easily and even foster a global community across many stakeholders.
投稿者 econetworks : 05:22 PM | コメント (0) | トラックバック
March 02, 2008
Matthew Feller Interview: LuSyl Carbon Capture
While renewable energy will avoid CO2 emissions, there is still a strong interest to develop carbon sequestration for coal-fired plants in the US. To date, I don't know of a successful utility scale implementation of carbon capture, but there have been interesting developments recently in this field.
In late 2007, Skyonic's introduced a method to convert CO2 into solid baking soda or NaHCO3. Using sodium hydroxide or NaOH, CO2 coming out of a plant is converted into soda, which can be stored indefinitely.
Besides NaOH, other compounds are being explored. Dr. Matthew Feller explains how his company is pursuing carbon capture using an Aluminum derivative.