5 Things you should Know about Biomass

By Lanre Okanlawon

Biomass Fuel Cycle

One. Extracting energy from biomass is an ancient practice dating back to centuries ago where people first burnt wood to provide light and heat. Modern biomass is utilised to produce power for large scale facilities from solid biomass, biofuel or biogas.

Two. Biomass is all plant and animal matter on the surface of the earth. It is also anything that was alive a short time ago. All biomass get its energy from the sun. Plants store energy from the sun through a process called photosynthesis while animals eat plants and also store this natural energy.

Three. Biomass is a renewable source of energy. The use of biomass as an energy source means the carbon dioxide absorbed from the air while the plant was growing is released back into the atmosphere when the fuel is burned. Therefore this process is said to be carbon neutral. It is a sustainable and potentially environmentally-friendly energy source.

Four. Similar to petrochemical refining, plant biomass can be fractionated into several component parts which can be used to produce several varieties of fuels and chemical resources. Biomass currently supplies more than 14% of the world’s primary energy consumption.

Biomass Plant in Minnesota. Source: Raptor Tech

Five. Biomass can be applied for domestic, commercial and industrial purposes. All biomass power plants work proficiently. The efficiency rate is reported to about 70%; that’s higher than coal or gas fired stations. Like some other clean energy sources. There are presently various incentive schemes in different countries that give financial benefits for biomass energy production.

International Energy Agency

By Greenicles Admin

The development of affordable, inexhaustible and clean solar energy technologies will have huge longer-term benefits. It will increase countries’ energy security through reliance on an indigenous, inexhaustible and mostly import-independent resource, enhance sustainability, reduce pollution, lower the costs of mitigating climate change, and keep fossil fuel prices lower than otherwise. These advantages are global. Hence the additional costs of the incentives for early deployment should be considered learning investments; they must be wisely spent and need to be widely shared. - International Energy Agency

In Case you Missed Them- Some stories that made the news...

By Greenicles Admin

So, you want to know some of the week’s most fascinating stories in the green energy sphere, eh? Spot on! I have compiled some interesting ones in no particular order. Enjoy!

UK wants 2030 Renewable Energy Target Scrapped
This one made hit headlines on 6 major newspapers in London accusing the UK government of wanting downgrade its projected investments and targets in the renewable energy sector. By legislation, the UK is committed to generating 20% of its power from alternative energy resources by 2020. The Guardian implies that the David Cameron led government has, in a secret paper to the EU, advocated for diversification of energy sourcing, giving nuclear power and other low carbon sources equal considerations with renewable in the years to come. UK Energy secretary Ed Davey quickly responded categorically stating that the UK does not want to scrap its 2020 renewable energy target.

26MW Solar Project Launched in Arizona
First Solar, in collaboration with NRG, will commence the construction of a 26MW solar project to be completed before the end of 2012. The project will consist of thin film solar modules mounted on single axis tracker systems. The project is projected to create 200 jobs and will boost Arizona’s drive to meet its RE targets. The power will be sold to the Tucson Electric Power under a 20-year power purchase agreement.

Railways to run on Wind and Solar Energy
In a bid to becoming more environmentally friendly, the Indian Railways have initiated plans to generate power for its own use through wind and solar energy technologies. The plans include setting up 72MW wind power plants in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. 200 railway stations and 1000 manned, level-crossings will also be run on solar energy. These were confirmed in a budget speech made by India’s transport minister Dinesh Trivedi on Wednesday. According to India’s ministry of New and Renewable Energy, India is one of the world’s top 5 Green energy countries with a production capacity of 20,000MW and and additional 2,500MW added annually.

Obama Advocates for more Renewable Energy
On Thursday, President Obama compared his energy critics to people of yesteryears who insisted the earth was flat! Strongly defending his policies on low carbon green sources of energy, he made his viewpoint clear insisting that his government’s decisions on the subject is the right path to energy security and prosperity.

Nigerian Hospital to Benefit from Solar Energy
Members of the Minnesota Renewable Energy Society (MRES), a non-profit organization, have concluded plans to be in Nigeria next week for a solar energy project. One of its international goals is to provide on-the-ground support to green energy projects in developing countries. A government hospital in northern Nigeria will be its first beneficiary in Africa. The society will be donating solar equipment and providing technical support for the project.

"Greenest Ever" Olympics

By Ajeet Khurana

"Go green," the latest mantra for an eco friendly planet no longer remains the sole prerogative of environment activists and scientists alone with the 2012 Olympic Committee members putting on their thinking caps, all set to win the "green medal."

After six long decades, once again London is the venue for 2012 Olympics and the stage is being set for the mega event. The best shot of the host so far has been regenerating the Lower Lea valley in East London in an effort to spread a very meaningful message across the globe and champion the "greenest ever" Olympic Games.

In order to maintain ecological balance, it is extremely important for any country to protect its rivers, creeks and banks. Lea in London was in grave danger with proliferating number of industrial sites along the banks spitting wastes and effluents all over indiscriminately.

ODA (Olympic Delivery Authority), however, partnered with a private agency and initiated a massive clean-up operation. Cleaning such mess is usually a humungous task which calls for robust planning, laborious execution and above all honest intent. The soil along the banks of river Lea was deeply contaminated with arsenic, cyanide and hydrocarbons. At first the litter was removed manually and then the soil was passed through huge soil washers. These giant machines purged two million tones of soil and the clean scum were utilized to build the site.

As far as the river is concerned, it’s sure to meander in full glory for quite some time now. Albeit this is one good example of recycling, instances of intelligent, environment friendly measures to spur the event are galore.

Instead of confining the natural flow of water by building steep concrete banks to prevent flood, engineers have adopted a brilliant new scheme. River Lea has been widened and given a new shape so that at times of flood the water gets distributed in a stretch. Copious planting has been done all around so that the flood water is naturally hemmed by robust trees.

Despite all these measures to orchestrate a completely pollution free oxygen rich Olympics, would it really be possible to dream green with thousands of participants, attendants, officials and airlines bee lining for the show from every corner of the world?

Only time could answer this riddle. Nevertheless whether or not Carbon dioxide level rises in the air, it could be vouched for sure without any second thought, that adrenaline is definitely going to be soaring sky high in the 2012 Olympics.

Nigeria, Energy Poverty and Renewable Energy

By `Lanre Okanlawon

Nigeria’s decision to attain 7% renewable energy use by 2025 has been tagged to be a very proactive commitment. An important fact to note is that more than 60% of the nation’s population is not connected to the national grid and the remaining population can only boast of epileptic power supply.

Apart from the ill state of the existing generation, distribution and supply network, decades of ineffective institutional framework and appropriate policies have been responsible for the increasing levels of energy poverty in Africa’s most populous country and second largest economy. So many questions remain unanswered as it becomes clearer day by day that Nigeria is under-performing in terms of the provision of power security to its 160 million people. To further unlock the nation’s economical and industrial potentials and attract more foreign investments, new scientific breakthroughs in efficiency and delivery of alternative energy technologies have to be taken advantage of.

The country’s present over-dependence on gas fired generation plants has resulted in supply disruptions in times of gas shortages which are very common occurrences. The need for alternative power generation options cannot be overstated considering the country’s current demand for power. In 2011, Nigeria emerged as the country with the largest gap between demand and supply of electricity in the world according to a progress report submitted by the country’s presidential task force committee on power reforms. This is definitely inadequate to stimulate economic growth.

Renewables Helped France Avoid Freezing in the Dark

By Paul Gipe

In a startling development widely reported across Europe in the English-, French-, and German-language press, France imported electricity to meet peak demand during a brutal cold snap February 7, 2012. And one of the countries France imported electricity from was Germany.

Post Fukushima, Germany closed two-fifths of its nuclear reactors and there were fears that Germany would not be able to meet its own demand let alone export electricity.

Nuclear reactors provided one-fourth of Germany's electricity before Fukushima.

Available French nuclear capacity was operating flat-out with three reactors off line. However, France's famed nuclear fleet delivered only 60 percent of the 100,000 MW of peak load experienced at 7:00 p.m. (19:00 hours) as millions of French homeowners switched on their electric heaters.

Solar Panel Price Crash Could Spark Solar Revolution

By Michael Marshall (NewScientist Magazine)

SOLAR power has always had a reputation for being expensive, but not for much longer. In India, electricity from solar is now cheaper than that from diesel generators. The news - which will boost India's "Solar Mission" to install 20,000 megawatts of solar power by 2022 - could have implications for other developing nations too.

Recent figures from market analysts Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF)show that the price of solar panels fell by almost 50 per cent in 2011. They are now just one-quarter of what they were in 2008. That makes them a cost-effective option for many people in developing countries.

A quarter of people in India do not have access to electricity, according to the International Energy Agency's 2011 World Energy Outlook report. Those who are connected to the national grid experience frequent blackouts. To cope, many homes and factories install diesel generators. But this comes at a cost. Not only does burning diesel produce carbon dioxide, contributing to climate change, the fumes produced have been linked to health problems from respiratory and heart disease to cancer.