Finally, 195 countries around the world came to an agreement on how to address climate change through such measures as curbing greenhouse gas emissions, and financial aid from rich to poor countries as they follow their individual paths to economic development.
Only time will tell whether the ambitious agreement will take hold once countries are able to begin signing, and then ratifying the measures from April 2016. Moreover, the agreement will only come into effect if 55 countries, representing 55 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions ratify the agreement by 2020. Even then, the text only contains "aims" and "promises" from countries rather than more specific targets attached to negative consequences for not adopting them within a set time range. (For the full text of the agreement, click on the hyperlink: 2015 Paris Agreement.)
Following suit, the first video below offers a brief summary of the agreement itself, while the second explains some common misconceptions about climate change.
What you need to know about the Paris climate agreement (video: USA Today, 12/12/2015)
What people get wrong about climate change (video: VOX, 12/12/2015)
This year's climate conference in Paris may be the most significant such meeting since 1998's conference in Kyoto. Despite the number of international signatories gathered in Japan, including US President Bill Clinton, the agreed greenhouse gas emission cuts failed to be adopted into law by many of the countries after that conference's close. The primary reason was that five of the worlds largest polluters, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (also known as the BRICS) were exempt from the emissions cuts to 1990 levels due to their "developing" economies that all other countries still had to adopt.
This year's Conference of Parties (or COP21) aims to expand the dialogue on climate change. Recent agreements between the world's two largest polluter's, China and the United States, may give the needed push to set the wheels of sustainable development, clean energy and environmental resilience in motion.
The video below summarizes COP21 as it takes place from Monday, yesterday through next Friday, December 11 in Paris. Compliments for the video would be in order to the production team at GreenTV.
Thanks for reading. See you with a summary report on the conference on December 15.
Fuel cells transform chemical energy from a fuel into electricity. The chemical reaction that happens inside the cell takes positively-charged hydrogen ions, and becomes electricity when combined with an oxidizing element like oxygen. (i.e. hydrogen + oxygen = H2O = Steam!)
These devices will be one of many energy storage options that will provide for the seamless flow of electricity from otherwise intermittent renewable sources like wind and solar.
The video below comes courtesy of the Environmental Defense Fund. It explains what a fuel cell is, how it works, and its practical application even in supplementing the electricity already on the grid. As you will see, Bloom Energy's fuel cells are unique for their size, resource-use efficiency, and lack of toxic byproducts such as acid.
To all of my American readers: I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving. To all of my readers around the world: Thank you for stopping by and see you on December 1!
Smart Grids are reclaiming the crumbling electric grid of the United States. The current grid is still basically the one that Thomas Edison designed long before his death in 1931. His design allowed heavy, coal fire plants to provide electricity for both residential and industrial needs. Updating, rather than re-doing the grid since that time has looked more like a patch work job, than that of a technologically modernizing country.
One element of new Smart Grids popping up is the Microgrid. Just as it sounds, the Microgrid distributes electricity on a micro scale together with or separate from the larger grid around it. Critical infrastructures from one building or as much as an entire town or city neighborhood can fall under the power protection of these isolated grids. They come in handy during times of man made or natural disaster. While diesel or natural gas back-up generators were the 'go-to' back up systems of the past, renewable resources like the solar and wind with utility size battery storage increasingly attract the attention of public and private investors worldwide.
Microgrids and How the Work
(Video courtesy of CockrellSchool)
The Hoboken, New Jersey Microgrid project is a perfect example of how locally resourced backups can protect electricity access even when the surrounding grid has gone into power outage. One characteristic of all Microgrids, as you will see in the video, becomes the close collaboration between communities, local, state and federal authorities, along with civil society groups and private sector companies.
How Microgrids Improve Resiliency in Power Outages | Clean Energy Supply
First off, I would like to apologize for the month-long hiatus, but now we're back in business with lots of grid to cover.
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In the past few years, local utilities, the mass media, and product commercials have been using the term "smart grid" with regard to electricity metering at your home, breakthrough technologies, electric cars, and even home appliances.
All of these elements belong to the ongoing transformation of the United States electric grid from the one that inventor Thomas Edison designed over 100 years ago, entailing one-direction delivery from heavy, sooty coal-fire plants to end users, and into a flexible 21st-century grid that allows for two-way communication between utility, independent electricity producers, and individuals.
Renewable sources like solar and wind, small hydro, geothermal plus energy storage innovations currently and eventually will replace the country's reliance on old fossil-fuel technology as part of the Smart Grid.
The video below from the U.S. Department of Energy offers a basic explanation of what the Smart Grid does, and how it will evolve as the country moves forward.
The next post (Coming Sunday, November 1) will show an exciting, real-life application of the Smart Grid in New Jersey.
Pennsylvania has a power-house legacy from the first
commercial oil well at Titusville to its unrivaled coal reserves and now to the
natural gas locked in the Marcellus Shale formation. Though oil and coal
production have largely fallen by the wayside, Pennsylvania possesses so much
natural gas under its mountains that it has been named the Saudi Arabia of
natural gas.
Saudi Arabia holds by far the largest proven reserves and
speculated petroleum (oil) resources under its sandy landscapes. A member of
the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), it takes the leading
role in policy and production decisions within the group.
Meanwhile, the Keystone State of Pennsylvania has grappled
with its emergent role as global leader in proven natural gas reserves and
production potential. The debate within the state has centered on imposing
higher taxes on extracting companies, so that they may be more properly
regulated in their activities, and the free market approach which proponents
argue will attract more drillers to the state.
The controversy lays in the extraction method called “hydraulic
fracturing,” or more commonly referred to as “fracking.” The process involves
blasting water and a mixture of chemicals deep underground to fracture or frack the natural gas from the shale
rock formation. The current governor, Democrat Tom Wolf has been a strong
advocate for greater regulation and revenue for the state through taxing the
companies, while the Republican majority in both houses of Pennsylvania’s
legislature contend that such taxation would discourage the companies from
doing business in the state.
Below is a video on the fracking process. It is available on
YouTube, and it comes from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental
Protection.
As usual, thank you for reading. See you on the 15th!
Fossil fuels like coal, petroleum (oil), and natural gas are so abundant on our planet that despite their lower efficiency rates in generating electricity, they eclipsed the 100-percent efficient renewable resources of wind and hydro power. Efficiency here means the amount of electricity generated per unit of the resource.
The technology for harnessing the full power of the wind and water currents took a bit more time to develop, but now many areas of the United States and the European Union have these renewable energy plants, windfarms and small hydro installations that generate electricity 100 percent efficiently.
In going from source to electricity, coal, gas and diesel range from a mere 35 percent for coal to around 60 percent for the liquid fossil fuels. The excess burned fuels pollute the air and runoff into water streams as sludge. Without proper government regulation in place, dirty emissions from these resources would be even worse today than they already are.
Researchers have noted that the Levelized Cost of Electricity or LCOE for wind, in particular has become decidedly less than its polluting competitors - the fossil fuels. The chart below shows figures from Lazard research institute's LCOE analysis.
Wind as low as $37, Gas Combined Cycle at $61. (Lazard, LCOE, 2014)
Wind's efficiency has finally demonstrated that it can be cost effective, too. Remarkable advances in solar photo voltaic (PV) technology have even placed it in head-to-head price competition against its pollution-emitting competitors, especially coal. (I apologize for the smaller sice of the chart. Click here for full report.)
Some electricity service companies in the U.S. offer individuals the option for electricity, powered completely by renewable resources like wind (with a growing portion of solar and small hydro in the mix). These environment friendly resources have consistently beaten electricity prices in U.S. states for the past few years. So, citizens now have the option of helping the environment and saving on their electric bills, while maintaining their standard of living.
In sum, many of the benefits of the less efficient, yet abundant fossil fuel resources have become more costly in comparison to the rising benefits and falling costs of clean, efficient resources like wind, solar and small hydro. The video below shows the construction of a windfarm for your viewing pleasure.
How to Build a Windfarm. (Source: YouTube, Smithsonian Channel, 2014)
Thanks for reading. Next up, tales from the Saudi Arabia of Natural Gas, and it's not where you think. See you on September 1st!
