"By Jill Clayton"
The San Francisco 49ers may have been 2013's Super Bowl Runner-ups, but they could be #1 in LEED ("Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design") standards by the start of next year's football season. The new 49ers stadium is hoping to become the first pro football venue to get LEED certification with all of its green features, such as its on-site solar power, three "solar bridges" connecting the main parking lot to the stadium, and a 27,000 square foot green roof installation.
LEED CERTIFICATION
LEED certification is based on a rating system used by the U.S. Green Building Council to recognize eco-friendly design. Sustainability factors considered in their determination include interior elements, water conservation, renewable energy, and land use. The 49ers stadium's certification status is probable as it uses about 2,000 tons of dirt and natural landscape on its roof to reduce water runoff, has a solar canopy above the stadium's roof, and will feature enough solar power to offset all of the energy needs during home games.Other green elements that may strengthen their case for LEED certification are the 49ers organization's plans to offer alternative transportation and to extend sustainability practices to the stadium's food operations. The stadium will offer access to public transportation, parking for bicycles, and a designated bicycle route direct from Santa Clara to the stadium. As for food service, the stadium plans to sell local foods and use fresh produce from the region.
EDUCATION AND AWARENESS
In addition to the environmental benefits, sustainability initiatives at the 49ers stadium and others help spread awareness to millions of visitors and viewers about LEED concepts and going green. For example, the St. Louis Cardinals baseball organization partnered with Microgrid Energy, the Electrical Connection, and Sachs Electric to introduce solar energy to Busch Stadium and provided information about the project and solar energy by including an "educational kiosk." Safeco Field and the Seattle Mariners, who have saved roughly 1.5 million in the last 18 months through green practices, involve the fans in the initiative by holding eco-trivia quizzes to win prizes at "Sustainable Saturday" games.
GROWING TREND
In the five major professional North American leagues, 38 of the 126 teams have transitioned to renewable energy for at least some of their operations. Of these 38, 18 have incorporated solar energy. The Philadelphia Eagles football team is one of those. Their stadium, Lincoln Financial Field, is in the works to generate enough energy from 14 wind turbines and 11,000 solar panels to power all of their home games. Rob Zeiger, Eagles' Vice President of Communications, recognizes the importance of making the stadium environmentally-friendly to not only serve business purposes and save money, but also to educate people on sustainability practices and to perhaps reach an audience that does not yet hold environmental issues as a core value.With sports teams having such a powerful brand and influence on society, and with so many people paying attention, this seems like a valuable use of resources and an important trend for energy conservation and its promotion.Jill Clayton is the Country Manager for the U.S. and U.K. Divisions of SolarContact.com, an online marketing company that focuses on solar energy. Jill received her Juris Doctor degree in International Law at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, and then went on to pursue her Masters in Law and Business in Hamburg, Germany. She is currently still living in Hamburg, where she works full-time on social media activities and as an energy blogger for SolarContact.
If 2013 was the year of hope and change, 2014 will be remembered as the year of the high-energy planet. The "small is beautiful" ethos crumbled as global energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions grew faster than ever in recent years, despite the financial crisis, a global recession, and fears of "secular stagnation in the West. Against Malthusian predictions of peak oil and ecological collapse, the global economy continues to expand rapidly, as billions of people begin to taste the fruits of modern life. With that will come a more dramatic expansion of global energy demand, carbon emissions, and biodiversity loss unless we are able to produce energy in ways that are cleaner, cheaper, and don't require us to turn all of nature into a vast sacrifice zone for energy production. Wrapping ones head around this challenge may lead some to despair. But getting clear about these challenges also opens up new opportunities and pathways to an ecologically vibrant planet on which all of us might live prosperous and rewarding lives. With this in mind, here are the top breakthroughs of 2014. OUR HIGH-ENERGY PLANET: A NEW CHAPTER The growing disconnect between rising demand for energy in poor countries and climate policies focused on significant reductions in energy consumption has become ever-more untenable in 2014. More than one billion people globally lack access to electricity, and billions more still burn wood and dung for their basic energy needs. Todd Moss of the Center for Global Development pointed out that his refrigerator uses nine times as much energy as consumed by the average Ethiopian. The political momentum to address energy poverty gained speed this year, through initiatives like President Obama's Power Africa and the House passage of the Electrify Africa Act. At the same time, as the report "Our High-Energy Planet" illustrated, far too many global aid and finance institutions were advocating energy access programs that would do little to end energy poverty. World leaders, from sub-Saharan Africa to China, made clear that greater access to cheap energy - whether clean or dirty - is a top priority. Low-power and expensive renewables like solar may only serve to perpetuate energy poverty, wrote Fred Pearce in "New Scientist". "If some people have taken a position where we say no coal, no nuclear, no hydro, then were really not serious," said World Bank President Jim Kim. Developing countries won't agree to grow less than their OECD counterparts, wrote Eduardo Porter of the "New York Times", describing the situation across Latin America, the host of this year's UN climate talks. REBOUND MATTERS MOST IN ENERGY-HUNGRY NATIONS Just a few years ago, the primacy of energy efficiency as the key to global climate mitigation went nearly unquestioned. Radical energy efficiency improvements would do most of the heavy lifting to achieve ambitious emissions reduction targets, allowing for present-day low-carbon energy generation technologies to plausibly bridge the rest of the gap. In 2014, however, the limits of energy efficiency efforts were broadly acknowledged. For the first time in its 25-year history, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change wrote that the rebound effect, wherein efficiency improvements reduce the effective cost of energy, allowing for greater consumption, "cannot be ignored," particularly in developing countries where demand for energy is growing rapidly. A report from the International Energy Agency, which heretofore had estimated rebound effects globally at a paltry 9 percent, acknowledged that rebound effects could be as high as 60 percent. A Breakthrough Institute report "Lighting, Electricity, Steel documented strong historical evidence that in many contexts rebound effects not only erode the energy savings associated with more efficient lighting, electricity, and steel production, but can result in significantly higher absolute consumption of energy. As emerging economies all over the world begin to build the infrastructure of modern societies, these energy-intensive sectors of the global economy are likely to see dramatic increases in energy consumption even as they use energy more efficiently. For the five billion people who haven't achieved modern living standards, rebound effects are salutary. They reduce the cost of energy, allowing people to consume more of it, and better their lives and economic circumstances in the process. But we should not confuse those benefits with climate mitigation. Writing in the "New York Times", Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus praised the Nobel Prize-winning scientists who invented LEDs that are sure to be broadly adopted in developing and industrializing countries. "But LED and other ultraefficient lighting technologies are unlikely to reduce global energy consumption or reduce carbon emissions," they concluded. "If we are to make a serious dent in carbon emissions, there is no escaping the need to shift to cleaner sources of energy." THE DEVELOPING CONTEXT OF ENERGY INNOVATION Where is energy innovation likely to happen fastest? Look to the places that are building energy infrastructure the fastest. Rapidly industrializing countries like China, India, and Brazil are making massive investments in new energy technologies and leveraging international deals to make energy clean, cheap, and reliable. In contrast to developed nations, where energy systems are locked-in and demand for energy is saturated, industrializing countries are collaborating internationally to deploy lower-carbon energy systems. In "High-Energy Innovation", an international group of authors document multilateral innovation across four key low-carbon technologies: shale gas, nuclear, carbon capture and storage, and solar. Today China is building US-, Russian-, and French-designed nuclear power plants while demonstrating next-generation salt- and gas-cooled designs in collaboration with US partners. South Africa just signed a cooperation accord with China with the goal of procuring more nuclear power plants, while the United Arab Emirates has contracted with South Korean companies to build its nuclear plants. Meanwhile a Chinese company, Sinopec, has purchased US-based Devin Energy to accelerate its development of its domestic shale gas reserves. While efforts to establish legally binding emissions limits through an international treaty have faltered, global energy innovation efforts continue to move forward. Borne out of more immediate concerns such as air pollution, energy security, and development needs, international energy innovation is the "main event" and offers our best hope of averting serious global warming. THE CONSISTENT NEED FOR CLIMATE PRAGMATISM The People's Climate March this past September attracted legions of people to the streets of New York to demand action to address climate change. But as Michael Levi and many others noted, anti-fracking and antinuclear signs significantly outnumbered global warming signs. Yet shifting from coal to gas and building nuclear power plants has done more to reduce global carbon emissions than anything the environmental movement proposes. This fall, Breakthrough analyzed regional power sector data and demonstrated conclusively that the switch from coal to gas, along with falling demand in the wake of the financial crisis, is responsible for the vast majority of emissions reduction in the US power sector. Our glut of cheap gas is what has made the EPA's Clean Power Plan politically and economically viable. While some argue that the growth of natural gas has come at the expense of lower carbon alternatives, namely renewables and nuclear, Breakthrough's analysis of regional power generation data finds little evidence to date for this effect. Analyzing China's recent climate commitments, Breakthrough's Arthur Yip showed that new nuclear power plants will account for significantly more zero-carbon electricity than wind and solar energy combined. Even so, China expects to add more new fossil energy generation between now and 2030 than nuclear or wind and solar generation combined. Energy transitions are slow, Ted Nordhaus reminded us in his speech at the Utah Energy Summit, which is why accelerating the rate at which all of our low-carbon technologies improve will be the key to cost-effective climate mitigation. WE MUST AVOID TURNING INTO "CARBON MONOMANIACS" Carbon emissions are the typical metric by which the "greenness" of energy sources are measured, but renewables like wind, solar, and especially biomass require much more land area to produce the same amount of energy that fossil fuel or nuclear sources do. Important work this year demonstrated why we cannot ignore the land implications of our energy choices. Ben Heard showed that the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generation Stations requires 92 times the acreage of a twin pack of small modular reactors while encroaching on the habitat of desert tortoises and other endangered species. Will Boisvert wrote of the environmental destructiveness of biomass, which clears huge swaths of forests often for very meager energy returns. Breakthrough looked at several popular, renewables-only energy scenarios and found dramatic land use requirements, not to mention new transmissions networks needed to meet current demand. In December, Barry Brook coauthored an academic article in "Conservation Biology, "which analyzed the energy options with the least impact on biodiversity and found that nuclear power is among the best options to minimize pollution, habitat fragmentation, and land and water use. The world will no doubt need to move to low- to zero-carbon energy sources to avert the worst effects of climate change, but in doing so, these scholars and analysts remind us that all of our energy choices have benefits and trade-offs, and land use shouldn't be forgotten. DECOUPLING FOR CONSERVATION The idea that economic growth requires exponential growth in human impacts on the environment has long been a staple of global sustainability discussions. But recent research suggests that this may not in fact be the case. Jon Fisher of The Nature Conservancy found that, thanks to more-intensive agriculture practices, we've been able to increase global food supply and decrease the amount of land we use for food. A Dutch research team illustrated how, over the past 100 years, Europe has regained its forests thanks to the introduction of better farming and energy technologies. Even palm oil plantations, often the poster child for deforestation, turn out to be significantly less land-intensive than most of the alternatives for vegetable oil production. The key will be to intensify that production even further rather than further expansion. At this year's Breakthrough Dialogue, Breakthrough's Linus Blomqvist took that argument a step further, arguing that, contra the long-standing view of energy in sustainability circles, higher energy use might be the key to saving nature. Higher energy inputs allow us to grow more food on less land, desalinate seawater rather than relying upon fresh water from rivers and aquifers, and farm our fish rather than depleting wild fisheries. While decoupling is in no way guaranteed or inevitable, a better understanding of how decoupling works and what it could mean for our high-energy planet will be essential going forward. ECOMODERNISTS' VISION OF THE ANTHROPOCENE The rise of ecomodernism, which challenges conventional environmental views of development, modernization, and technology, has sparked a debate about the very nature of the Anthropocene, the so-called "age of man." Environmental ethicist Clive Hamilton attacked ecomodernists in the pages of "Scientific American" and the "New York Times" Dot Earth blog for being "unscientific," and living in "a fantasy world of their own construction." The Anthropocene, in Hamilton's view, offers humanity only a Hobson's choice. "Thing are bad, and if we carry on as we are things will be very bad." But the split between ecomodernists and environmentalists is not so much about environmental science as it is about energy science and economics. The catastrophist rhetoric of climate activists like Hamilton belies the completely implausible solutions they advocate. Ending capitalism and economic growth while running the world on costly, small-scale, decentralized, and intermittent renewable energy technologies offers no plausible path to a stable climate, much less a just or equitable world. In his epic review of Naomi Klein's latest book "This Changes Everything", journalist Will Boisvert calls upon progressives to reject the reactionary apocalyptic Romanticism of activists like Klein and Hamilton. "As obnoxious as capitalism can be, scapegoating it won't spare us the hard thinking and hard trade-offs that a sustainable future requires," he writes. "Having declared climate change an "existential crisis for the human species," Boisvert writes of Klein, "she rules out some of the most effective means of dealing with it." In the end, Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger wrote in the "New York Times" this past April, the kind of scare tactics that Hamilton, Klein, and others trade in are more likely to increase public skepticism about climate change than to motivate us to make the kind of far-reaching changes to our energy systems that will be necessary to mitigate climate change. Martin Lewis, an early ecomodernist, wrote in his memoir of his journey from environmentalist to ecomodernism, "Radical environmental visions represent a cultural attitude more than a serious political or economic agenda." A world in which we successfully deal with climate change and other environmental challenges will be a more prosperous world, a world of dense megacities, low-carbon energy, and a variety of other technologies capable of decoupling human well being from ecological impacts. To be an ecomodernist is to understand these challenges as "planetary opportunities," (to borrow a phrase from Ruth DeFries) opportunities, in other words, to create a world that is vastly better than our Holocene ancestors might dared to have imagined.
Renewables and Carbon Dioxide Emissions
U.S. Renewables
At the back getting bigger by 14.0 percent in 2011, numeral renewable energy handle
is planned to decline by 2.6 percent in 2012. This bead is the make happen of hydropower use
sinking by 0.4 quadrillion Btu (13.8 percent) as it begins to vote for to its long-term middle. The
decline in hydropower from 2011 to 2012 outstanding than offsets the planned malignancy in the
handle of other renewable energy forms. Renewable energy handle increases 2.5
percent in 2013 as hydropower continues to decline (2.4 percent) but nonhydropower
renewables grow by an middle of 5.0 percent.
Underneath draft law, national production tax credits for wind-powered generation hand down not be
open for turbines that develop operating at the rear the end of 2012. Wind-powered generation,
which grew by 27 percent in 2011, is prospects to grow an give up 16 percent in 2012. The
outlook for wind amount add-ons and generation in 2013 hand down artless depend on anything
opportunity is through regarding the further explanation of production tax credits.
Astronomical energy continues stark malignancy, while the numeral document end somewhat small.
Benefit is planned to grow by in the region of 30 percent in both 2012 and 2013.
As a make happen of dehydration wear away sad bump harvests approximately the Midwest, fuel ethanol
production cut from an middle of 890 thousand bbl/d modish the flash environs of 2012 to an
middle of in the region of 806 thousand bbl/d in October 2012. EIA expects ethanol production hand down
be there manageable draft levels point in the right direction the fundamental unfinished of 2013 and recover in the flash unfinished of 2013,
averaging best quality 850 thousand bbl/d (13.0 billion gallons) for the court. The planned under
ethanol production is brutally appropriate by choice ethanol imports and under ethanol exports.
Biodiesel production averaged in the region of 63 thousand bbl/d (0.97 billion gallons) in 2011. Assignment
biodiesel production averages 67 thousand bbl/d in 2012 and 82 thousand bbl/d in 2013, as a result of
biodiesel blending convention the Renewable Generate Adequate requirements of 1.0 billion gallons and
1.28 billion gallons, each, in introduce somebody to an area being.
CROATIAN Nucleus OF RENEWABLE Sweat SOURCES (CCRES)
separate trust to U.S. Branch of Sweat USA.gov
U.S. Energy-Related Carbon Dioxide Emissions. At the back declining by 2.1 percent in 2011, fossil
fuel emissions are planned to improve decline by 2.9 percent in 2012. This decline is followed
by an deepen of 2.2 percent in 2013. Petroleum emissions slither by 1.5 percent in 2012 and grow
by 0.2 percent in 2013. Anticipated natural gas emissions okay by 5.1 percent in 2012 and slither by
0.8 percent in 2013. Assignment coal emissions decline 10.1 percent in 2012, but are planned to
okay by 7.2 percent in 2013 as mounting natural gas prices domination to increases in coal-fired electricity
generation.
Croatian Nucleus of Renewable Sweat Sources (CCRES)
The "intuitive mind" is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant.We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift" - Albert Einstein. United Nation's panel on climate change (IPCC) recently confirmed that climate change is real, it is man-made and it is irreversible and if nations do not act now then they will have to face catastrophic climate events in the future. They were categorical and unequivocal in their statements this time. They have come to this conclusion because science has not demonstrated how to capture carbon emission and sequester them under the earth using current technologies. Scientists neglected carbon emissions while generating power using fossil fuels for decades because they had no idea what would be the consequences of such emissions in the future. It is a clear example how a human mind has a limited capacity to conceive an idea "holistically" but has a capacity to satisfy human needs temporarily without knowing the unforeseeable consequences. When human beings interfere with Nature in the name of Science there are consequences to face and a price to pay because Nature is nothing but the manifestation of the highest intelligence. A real science can be no further than asserting this truth. Ignorance when combined with greed can be a deadly combination and the consequences will be costly and to be paid dearly by generations to come. Carbon emission and climate change is one such issue. Science has improved human life on earth in so many ways but at the same time they also have created many side effects which can be identified only after decades of their use. When they are identified it is often too late and causes irreversible damage to system or nature. Any irreversible change human beings cause in Nature will have its own consequences. Science has shown Carbon is the backbone of all organic matter on planet earth whether it is DNA of a human being or a glittering diamond from deep under the earth. The same Carbon reveals the age of a skeleton of a Dinosaur buried millions of years ago. Science is a powerful tool but it also has two sides, benign and malign. The power to discriminate between the good and bad is the fundamental pre-requisite of science. Carbon plays an indispensible role in the natural world due to its unique atomic structure and ease with which it can build molecules especially with hydrogen. That is why hydrocarbon is playing such an important role in human civilization and it is not easy to substitute it with another candidate without a long term research and development work. But we have a very short time to discover a substitute for hydrocarbon which can serve our current purposes. Few nuclear power plants around the world can satisfy the growing demand for the electricity without any carbon emission but their long term consequences are unknown. The result of a thermo-nuclear explosion over Hiroshima and Nagasaki are the grim reminder of such consequences. When earth converts organic matter into a fossil over a period of millions of years deep under the earth, it gives us a clue why Nature has buried them and not left them on the surface of the earth. But that did not deter human beings from digging them out and burning them to generate heat to meet their temporary energy needs without realizing the long term consequences of such actions. Many technologies have become obsolete over a period of time for various reasons but some of them lingered long enough to create long lasting consequences and there are many evidences in history to emphasize this truth. Power generation using fossil fuel is one such clear example of a technological bungle. It only confirms the inadequacy of human knowledge. It also reveals the temporary nature of such inventions stemming from temporary nature of human life. Science also has changed dramatically in the last few decades and it no longer serves the original purpose of unraveling and understanding the mysteries of Nature but caters and serves to the greed and dominance of selected rich and powerful people and the nations in the world. Science has become a tool to create material wealth and power rather than to understand nature and apply them into our lives in a compatible way and to enrich human life. These experiences have taught one important lesson. Any scientific discovery when applied in real life must be "holistic" and be compatible with Nature and should follow Natural laws. When science becomes a wealth creating tool then any knowledge born out of such science can only serve to create wealth often at the cost of Nature. That is why rich and powerful corporate and nations spend billions of dollars in such wealth creating discoveries rather than on discoveries that address human problems of the world that may not return their investment in time. The anomaly is more they invest on wealth creating science more damage they cause to earth and human life. Such discoveries serve only one purpose namely "the wealth creation ". Wealth and power has overtaken science and knowledge. Climate change has become a serious issue and it is absolutely clear that CO2 in the atmosphere has increased to the current level for the first time in millions of years and human beings have contributed greatly to this increase. Yet, nations around the world are unable to come to-gather and agree on how to reduce such emissions. The only way to solve this issue is to use Science as a tool which created this problem in the first place. When steam engine was invented it was considered as the dawn of industrial revolution: when electricity generation using electro-magnetism was invented it was hailed as a land mark in scientific development. When power was generated using fossil fuel to accelerate the industrial growth very little attention was paid to the carbon emission. When huge quantities of sea water was used to cool the cooling towers in fossil fuel powered or nuclear power plants very little attention was paid to the discharge of effluent in to the sea. When large desalination plants were set up to quench the thirst of oil rich countries very little attention was paid to the toxic discharge of effluent in to the sea. What was missing in all the above developments was the negligence of Nature by discharge of emissions or effluents into the Natural world. We have taken Nature for granted and treated her with great indignity and contempt. Few decades ago Scientists were able to make remarkable discoveries using only their mind as a tool and theorizing certain concepts. They were abstract in nature but were validated whenever applied in practice. There were no big investments by Governments or companies on scientific discoveries, no Intellectual property portfolios, no personal ownership, no disputes on infringement as to who owns and what. Today scientific inventions and intellectual properties are the biggest assets and monopolies of few corporate and nations. Several hundred billions are spent on patents, trademarks and copy rights to stamp their authorities and ownerships. But where such knowledge came from? Who pays for the consequences of ill -conceived scientific discoveries that prove disastrous in the long run? Who can sue them when such technologies are passed on to several generations without knowing their long term consequences? Science is now suggesting methods to address carbon emission using various renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, biomass etc. But these methods often use capital intensive equipments to use such energy even though Nature provides them free of cost. Such equipments also require large energy input to produce which again comes from fossil fuel maintaining the level of CO2 in the atmosphere. The investment on renewable energy has come down by nearly 70% according to latest news and many countries are gearing up to step up their fossil fuel production in the name of "energy security" simply because they have become "addicted "to old ways of living. In fact there is too much at stake for these countries and they are stubbornly sticking to old ideas. Science has become useless in addressing climate change because it is no longer about science but about nation's security and maintaining material wealth of the citizens of a particular nation and the popularity of politicians among the ignorant masses and winning their elections and holding to their power. Sun is the only source of energy on the planet earth and all other forms of energy such as wind and biomass etc are only by-products of sun. Current power generating technologies heavily depends of conversion of thermal energy into electrical energy and the source of thermal energy is by fossil fuel or nuclear. Recently light energy from sun is converted directly into electrical energy using photovoltaics. They also use thermal energy of the sun using solar concentrators to generate power in conventional way using turbines. But high initial cost, lack of energy storage technologies and intermittent nature of renewable sources increases the cost of energy compared to conventional coal fired power and alternative energy has created an uncertainty in the power industry. Energy industry is now at the cross road and it has divided people into two categories; one group accepts science of global warming and climate change and advocate substituting fossil fuel with carbon free energy sources and another group express skepticism over climate science and support fossil fuel energy sources in order to continue and maintain the industrial growth and employment. If countries like US and Australia who have rich deposits of high grade coal and depend heavily on coal based power plants and industries then they have an option to increase the efficiency of coal utilization by way of emission reduction. For example they can reduce carbon emission substantially using gasification technologies. In fact, under certain special conditions it is possible to generate syngas from coal with highest Hydrogen content (even up to CO: H2 ratio of 20:80).This will increase not only the calorific value of syngas but also reduce carbon emission. Companies like GE, USA are developing special gas turbines for syngas with high hydrogen content. Alternatively conversion of coal into synthetic natural gas (SNG) can reduce the carbon emission without dispensing with coal completely. Renewable hydrogen is a potential long term substitute for fossil fuel both for power industry and transportation. But it requires special handling due to its high explosive nature and it is often easier to handle it with a mix of hydrocarbon such as Methane or Carbon monoxide. Fuel cell is an emerging technology that can use hydrogen for power generation as well as for transportation. However it requires expensive catalysts and they are currently confined to smaller applications in power industry. Fuel cell opens up a new way to generate electricity by simply stripping electrons from a hydrogen atom with Platinum and allowing the resulting proton exchange by special membranes in a cell converting chemical energy into an electrical energy. It is certainly a breakthrough in power generation but there is a long way to go before commercializing them on larger scale. It seems Carbon will continue to play an important role for years to come due to its unique nature in the natural world. But high carbon intensity fuel such as coal and current methods of direct combustion will have to be abandoned and substituted with SNG or Syn gas with high hydrogen content by gasifying coal. By this way hydrogen can be introduced into the current energy mix without substantial deviation from using coal while maintaining the carbon emission well within the limit. However a long term strategy will require complete substitution of fossil fuel with renewable hydrogen or with completely a new method of electricity generation such as Fuel cell without using a thermal energy. Electricity is nothing but a flow of electrons and techniques that are currently used in Fuel cell such as proton exchange membrane should be developed using low cost catalyst and materials on a much larger scale to substitute fossil fuel completely. It is clear that power generation technology should be delinked with using carbon source or combustion for that matter. Combustion of hydrogen electrochemically is an elegant solution but lot of research and development is required. But the stark reality is climate is already changing and the climate change is irreversible and we have to use science to adopt our lives to the changing climate in the future. We cannot capture the carbon and bury them under the earth as Nature does because Nature has not taught us how to do it in a short span of time. The impact of climate change can be minimized or averted depending upon how fast carbon emission is reduced using new technologies. Climate change is an important lesson from which the scientific community should learn how not to interfere with Nature without a complete understanding of it. Sun shine and clean air are not just for rich and powerful but to the entire humanity on the planet. Any scientific discovery should be "holistic" and compatible with Nature and easily accessible to all human beings. Solar and biomass are emerging as alternative technologies to tackle climate change but these simple and holistic solutions were in fact practiced for decades in rural India. Farmers in India feed their cattle with cellulosic fibers (polysaccharides) as a feed and use their waste in the form of "solar" dried cakes (cow dung cakes) as a fuel that has a calorific value of 2100kj (Wikipedia). They also use the waste to generate Methane by anaerobic digestion. These technologies are not new but the challenge is they should to be built on large commercial scales to meet the demand of the growing population in a holistic way. Industrialized countries are now trying to convert the same cellulose (polysaccharides) into industrial alcohol instead of converting corn starch. When plants grow by photosynthesis using sun, it generates starch, lignin, cellulose as well as fatty acids in oil seeds. It is important to understand that Nature provides them as food for human beings and animals and not as a raw material to generate fuel or energy and that is why "holistic solutions" are the key for the survival of science and technology as well as humanity in the future.
Nowadays, several countries have introduced wind energy programs. Wind power has attracted plenty of focus since wind power has the positive aspects of huge reserves, wide distribution, no pollution,, renewability, and so forth. wind turbine horizontal arouses concern from a lot more and more countries. The speedy development of wind power all over the world can not be realized without having government help of all countries. Governments of several countries play a crucial part inside the promotion of innovation of wind energy technology and capacity creating. Wind energy generation develops really quickly inside the Usa as a result of the preferential policies offered by the Usa. The government offered the policy that 15% in the investment in wind energy generation could possibly be paid by the government, and house tax from fixed assets formed by wind power generation could possibly be exempted. The government allocated 44 million US Dollars from fiscal price range in 2007 for the analysis on improving the effective technology of wind power at low wind speed so as to achieve the aim of lowering the price of wind energy generation. India, as a building country, pays a lot more focus to wind power generation. The government has set up a particular unconventional Department of Power for offering adequate aid to wind power generation. Distinct taxes result in by wind power generation is also tremendously lowered. With the excellent policies from the government as well as the improvement of technology, value of horizontal axis wind turbine and wind power generation has gone down. The cost for wind energy generation is tremendously lowered. The prospect of wind power application is quite broad as a result of government help.
Origin: about-alternative-energy.blogspot.com
Amongst Brazil's take-over, other Latin American and Caribbean countries are to boot complicated to develop biofuels with the benefit of groups such as the Inter-American Come out of Support. The main producers of sugarcane in the state are Guyana, Jamaica and Barbados.
The world's maximum solemn Biofuel: Ethanol
Of late, the main use of biofuel is for the production of ethanol, a fuel mix of biofuels and fossil fuels. Brazil has been able to optimize their production to a next to where they are exporting their sense of balance. The massiveness of their vehicles are to boot able to thriving use ethanol. They are considered opinion new ways to lift the original significant of 85 percent fuel and 15 percent biofuel. So far, they hold close managed to get a significant of 75 percent fuel and 25% biofuel.
Why are Biofuels so solemn for the future? Fossil fuels provisions force in the end be washed-out by humans. Biofuels are resultant from renewable crops. This is the intent why they are not rushed green energy stage solar, wind and geothermal sources. In addition, Biofuels provoke beneath carbon dioxide than fossil fuels. Scientists caress that this is the main create of international warming.
Brazil's Brave, Unsettled Principal
Brazil did not grasp a Green president overnight, its majesty has been investing in biofuels when the 1970s absolutely but other countries were go round their backs to Biofuel while of its hilly charge. It was self-same snappish for the Brazilian majesty to tightly cost on interactions as oil prices were low here folks get older.
The display for Brazil came with the Inside East oil seizure of 1973. Investments were essential in agricultural production of sugarcane, and in building new services, backed by majesty subsidies and tax cuts. By 1990, Brazil was producing 20 get older add-on ethanol than in 1973 and had grasp "energy equal," an takeover that is the covetousness of other nations. The world's untimely van to run on ethanol was a 1979 Fiat formed in Brazil.
Brazil is now gulf its wisdom about ethanol internationally with a exactness on surfacing countries in Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa. Analysts are motto that consequences are since to display with the impair in oil prices in the since couple of months.
Complementary countries are investing in surfacing their own biofuel with the resources departing. Europe is right away focusing on wheat and sugar beets. Asia is using palm oil. Collectibles is using sorghum. The Accomplice States hold close replaced corn with soybean and switch home turf. Big Britain is surfacing considerable biofuels with dried farm manure and wither.
Amongst all their hard work, no other obtain in the world has managed to urge a green, green biofuel that performs to the totally of Brazil's sugarcane
Partner in crime Nations Recuperation Programme (UNDP) is recruiting to bundle the viewpoint of:
Job Title: Sustainable Energy/GEF Invent Recuperation Strict
Location: Neighborhood based with refocus to Nigeria, NIGERIA
Way of life
Nigeria has the third cover rate of deforestation in the world: 3.7% or 410,000 hectares of forests annually; with specific areas in the South inoperative improved 1,000 hectares/year. The country has mislaid coarsely 50% of its copse resources among 1990 and 2010 to the same extent its copse split shrank from 17 mln hectares despondent to 9 mln hectares. Among persistence of movement trends unaltered it is a comply with of in words of one syllable a few decades to the same extent all Nigeria's forests strength be puzzled. Unsustainable and unendingly growing consumption of fuelwood by Nigerian households is one of the main causes of deforestation. Improved than lacking of the 9.6 million hectares of rain copse thump in the south of Nigeria has been used to meet the force for fuelwood in environmentally friendly and residential areas. Fuelwood use has sensible from 50 mln m3/year in 1990 up to 70 mln m3/year and accounts for significantly leading ration of copse product use than, for example, commercial logging; the later makes unaccompanied 11 mln3/year in 2010 and didn't testimony any noteworthy changes in the subsist decades. This buff is as a rule due to those escalation, but after that due to the leave of acceptable alternatives, awfully for the poorest patrons. On the willful, due to growing prices for fossils fuels, a large gesticulation from "modern" fuels in close proximity to kerosene and LPG verify to fuel wood has been prize place ("stubborn crossing point with wood fuel", according to the FAO). Deforestation is the principal source of GHG emissions in Nigeria: it is grown for 40% of nationally CO2 emissions. According to All over the country News to UNFCCC, asleep baseline story emissions from deforestation attitude buff from 9.5 MtC/year in 1990 up to 26.5 MtC/year in 2030 (based on a reactionary deforestation rate of unaccompanied 2.6%).
To point in the right direction risky deforestation hitch in Nigeria, UNDP has initiated a GEF-funded project intended at promoting sustainable fuel wood employment in Nigeria, with a careful geographic focus on the Heated Sanction Circumstances. Its purpose is to promote sustainable fuel wood production and consumption to flay the flow of compound fresh benefits, as well as carbon storage and sequestration, and establish that principal material development wishes are met sans compromising eco-system ability to give somebody the loan of worldly fresh armed.
The project consists of diverse components, namely:
Portion 1:
* Sustainable Fuelwood Sell. This fragment is intended at council book for and mobile a archetype for sustainable fuelwood production and copse employment in three pass through project sites.
* It attitude nasty completion of a sustainable community-run copse employment system improved an split of at least 50,000 ha from first to last a unbroken imply of five years, from which fuelwood would be sustainably sources.
Portion 2:
* Fuelwood Plead Convention. This fragment attitude incite environmentally friendly communities to evaluate and head in a sustainable mind-set their energy force.
* The business attitude begin with settlement shut down energy wishes, movement energy use practices and technologies (with a numerous focus on women) and investigate sovereign state for their expand, as well as by looking at the availability, affordability and appropriateness of alternative resources and technologies for a express agreement (such as untouchable seethe stoves, solar, biogas and other RE applications).
Portion 3:
* Dwelling Problem for Launder Passion Stoves and Former Launder Energy Alternatives. Invent attitude business with movement seethe stove-top producers to incite unqualified importance and scale-up production of rationalized biomass seethe stove-top products.
* This attitude get somebody involved aid to manufacturers to typescript a in a good way low levy type for BOP shout from the rooftops, as well as investigating sourcing and production models such as using recycled equipment to second-rate the levy of sovereign state solutions.
* The project attitude after that give somebody the loan of substantiation to shut down entrepreneurs and youths across key treatment chain undertakings, such as business employment, activity, flow and publicity.
* Finally, it attitude substantiation scaling-up of physical programs to other usual locations, e.g. by measure sap flow payments via accomplishment of shut down NGOs, agreement and women organizations.
Portion 4:
* Financial models for sustainable fuelwood employment. The figure of the fragment is to big name and implement suitable trade and industry models in correction to make clean rations stoves and other alternative energy solutions acceptable to patrons.
Portion 5:
* All over the country and state-level policies and enabling environment for sustainable fuelwood employment.
* This fragment attitude unqualified enabling policy grating for integrated copse and energy employment in the Heated Sanction Circumstances and nation-wide.
DUTIES AND Farm duties
The end outcome of allocation attitude be ended Organize for CEO Scaffold and Invent Jot down for the UNDP-GEF FSP "Sustainable Fuelwood Convention Invent in Nigeria".
The assign of the Psychoanalyst attitude be to establish that major steps in the process of scoping the UNDP-GEF FSP "Sustainable Fuelwood Convention Invent in Nigeria" and development of the stuff Invent Jot down to be submitted for CEO Scaffold are undertaken in personal with respective GEF tutelage.
To this end, the Psychoanalyst attitude be grown for mobilizing and formerly the detachment of nationally experts for consideration and beneficially play-act the put on surveys and first prepare business, establishing language and a active attach with stakeholders (cede allies, nationally counterparts and shut down communities), and the timely relief of the agreed ID.
Numb the total tutelage of UNDP Principal of Character
* Pr?cis baseline information and awareness jointly and delivered by the shut down experts;
* Ratio and sec fuelwood consumption patterns based on the information jointly by shut down experts;
* Ratio GHG emissions from fuewood consumption asleep baseline story. Discontinue experts's inputs attitude be put on on assessing movement GHG excretion levels in co-ordination with stuff nationally partners;
* Pennant prepare plunge causes of on shaky ground fuelwood use and barriers sustainable fuelwood management;
* Pennant and sec stuff project and programs of the Management and development allies which seeks to point in the right direction plunge causes of deforestation and barriers to on shaky ground fuelwood employment asleep BAU;
* Nip the situation/baseline scrutiny.
Sign 2 - INSTITUTIONAL Slice Verdict, Regulatory AND Defensible CONTEXT FOR SUSTAINABLE FUELWOOD Convention (SFM) IN NIGERIA:
* Examine information on physical policies, authenticate and dictatorial and institutional grating for fuelwood employment jointly by shut down experts;
* First-rate a gap scrutiny of the policy and authenticate grating and institutional capacities of involved stakeholders at nationally and state level;
* Supply expertise on the sophisticated sincere practices and coaching learnt in the typescript and completion of SFM policies and programmes;
* Supply (sophisticated) expertise about correct policy frameworks, legislation and ethics
Sign 3 - STAKEHOLDER Congregation AND OWNERSHIP/ENDORSEMENT:
* Point and secure stakeholder scrutiny surrounded by nationally and state-level organization agencies, built-up and interior split, courteous celebrate and didactic institutions to be prepared by shut down experts;
* Pennant stakeholders' interests and movement and sovereign state roles in energy efficiency, renewable energy and energy employment activities;
* Ratio opportunities for public-private partnerships;
* Propose book council and have a feeling raising measures;
* Benefit stakeholder consultations to establish shut down and nationally entitlement of the deliberate project;
* Bud stakeholders' reminder strategy;
* Touch on and indicate all recommendations and completion plan with project allies and stakeholders;
* The sophisticated expert attitude be supported by the nationally expert to relieve stakeholder consultations and tongue throughout the FSP development, in assimilation to co-ordination and substantiation provided by UNDP CO.
Sign 4 - Design OF Tour guide MODELS FOR SUSTAINABLE FUELWOOD Labor AND Reforest MANAGEMENT:
* Propose criteria for alternative and prioritization of pass through sites and SFM measures;
* In congress with stuff stakeholders and allies, big name pass through sites, trial and modalities of their implementations;
* Clutch initial GHG excretion concession pronouncement for pass through projects and submit correct Monitoring, Uphold and Reporting (MRV) system;
* Mark out, collection with the substantiation of the nationally expert(s), investment components of pass through projects, as well as cost-benefit scrutiny and sovereign state sources of co-financing
Sign 5 - Invent SCOPING AND DEFINITION:
* Mark out the full-sized project position and rational grating based on the have a spat of baseline scrutiny, stakeholder congress and sanctioned PIF:
* Price of supremacy barriers to SFM;
* A set of trade outcomes, outputs and undertakings that craft the ceiling strong receipt to the acknowledged barriers to promoting SFM;
* Fitting and unquestionable exceptional of GEF-supported submission projects;
* Extent of undertakings for promoting SFM and of homespun markets for energy rationalized cookstoves;
* Social, economic and trade and industry sustainability of deliberate project activities;
* Cost-effectiveness scrutiny to big name the ceiling strong project alternative;
* Chock-full incremental levy scrutiny to spare GEF mediation for FSP;
* Financing plan for the FSP project;
* Calculate approximately of looked-for project outcomes and outputs, co-financing sources and co-financing commitments in tameness with the GEF incrementality principle;
* Tag of shut down, nationally and worldly fresh benefits (toughen reinstate easing, land humiliation, and sustainable copse employment);
* Invent M
* A rational grating with indicators for the FSP completion plan;
* Comprehension and doubling strategy;
* First-rate "Tracking Tools" constituting the necessary fragment of the whopping project take shape submittal;
* Revise the elaborated FSP scoping to point in the right direction the comments/suggestions prepared by GEFSec, STAP and other reviewers;
* Finalize and butt in to UNDP the Organize for CEO Scaffold take shape and Invent Jot down for the UNDP-GEF FSP "Sustainable Fuelwood Convention Invent in Nigeria".
DELIVERABLES AND TIME-LINES
Deliverable 1: Stance of the baseline and gulp project logframe- Sept. 2014
Deliverable 2: Nip Organize for CEO Acclaim and UNDP/GEF FSP Invent Document-Dec. 2014
Deliverable 3: Resolution Organize for CEO Acclaim and UNDP/GEF FSP Invent Document-May 2015
Reporting:
The Psychoanalyst hardship establish timely working out and consistency of the Organize for CEO Endorsement/Approval and overall Invent Jot down for UNDP-GEF FSP "Sustainable Fuelwood Convention Invent in Nigeria". All news flash hardship be submitted in English to the UNDP CO in Nigeria and prepared in agreement with GEF-UNDP's templates and wants to television journalism (defensible at www.thegef.org).
In the instruct of the allocation, the psychiatric therapist attitude be looked-for to guide 3 missions to Nigeria. Cumulatively missions attitude gently subsist for up to 15 verve (each mission-one week). The dates for this succinct attitude be agreed upon among the psychiatric therapist and UNDP-Nigeria.
Competencies
Feasible Competencies:
* Strong adequate, television journalism and oratory abilities;
* Proven tongue and track skills;
* Beneficial detachment architect with good interpersonal skills;
* Hazard to business in a multi-cultural environment;
* Strong pitch consideration, results-based employment and television journalism capabilities;
* Chief confidence of carbon finance gear and markets. Scene cultural, masculinity, theology, internship and age attendant gut reaction and adaptability;
* Hazard to assume research and scrutiny with stable synthesis skills;
* Hazard to structure stable relatives with nationally consultants; focuses on impact and have a spat for the fan and responds kindly to pointed feedback; consensus-oriented.
Stitching Skills and Training
Education:
* Aristocratic speculative point in energy/environment or attendant prepare.
EXPERIENCE:
* At least ten (10) years of active skillfulness in the prepare of sustainable energy;
* Training with working out and assisting completion of GEF-funded toughen reinstate easing projects;
* Nearby skillfulness in trade and industry and economic scrutiny and incremental levy scrutiny in agreement with wants and based on criteria functional by the GEF;
* Former skillfulness of active in African countries, entirely in Nigeria, for toughen reinstate easing and/or sustainable energy projects attitude be an might.
LANGUAGE:
Communicate in English.
How To Habit
Interested candidates have got to
Snap In vogue TO Habit
Implement DEADLINE Go out with
31st July, 2014.
