Research explores future energy security of China

 

July 30, 2015 China needs to reduce its dependence on coal and improve the range of fuels it uses if it is to have long term energy security, according to new research from the University of East Anglia (UEA). The study, published in the journal Technological Forecasting and Social Change, looks at the future of electricity supply in China and the issues it faces in reducing its carbon emissions -- nationally China's electricity sector accounts for more than half its total greenhouse gas emissions. The country's electricity sector is the largest in the world and energy security concerns mean that China meets its electricity needs with domestic resources, resulting in a system heavily reliant on coal. However, increasing demand for electricity and direct coal consumption, and gradual depletion of its own supply, have led to it becoming the world's largest coal importer. Lead researcher Dr Konstantinos Chalvatzis, of UEA's Norwich Business School and the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, said: "China's energy sector is under pressure to achieve a secure and affordable supply while at the same time reducing its carbon emissions. There has been this long argument about whether China can give up coal because that would harm their supply security. "We recommend that the Chinese Government continues to work towards two main objectives. First, increase the share of renewable energy sources, such as wind and hydro-power, in the fuel mix and as a result maintain high energy independence. Secondly, improve diversity in the fuel mix. If imports are necessary, prioritise non-coal fuels, such as nuclear fuels and natural gas. These two objectives will improve electricity supply security while allowing China to decarbonise its economy." While acknowledging that China appears to be leading its electricity sector away from the dominance of coal, the researchers say that at this stage this is only a gradual, incremental change that will not deliver a radically different fuel mix in less than a decade. "We argue that long-term aggressive deployment of renewable energy will unblock China's coal-biased technological dependence and increase supply security in all fronts," said Dr Chalvatzis, a Senior Lecturer in Business and Climate Change. "However, reduced supply diversity in China during the 1990s will not recover until after 2020s due to the long-term coal lock-in that can threaten to hold China's back from realising its full potential. "China's rapid growth rate presents a challenge as well as an opportunity for the country's energy future. The challenge is to secure increasing energy supplies while maintaining a decarbonisation path. In contrast, the opportunity lies in transforming the historical coal lock-in into a diversified and secure energy supply system that will fuel the Chinese economy for the years to come." China is the world's largest consumer of coal and its electricity sector is the largest single source of coal demand, consuming approximately half of the country's coal. Electricity consumption continues to grow rapidly, reaching a growth rate of 7.2% in the first three quarters of 2013, while electricity production for the same period grew at 6.8%. Dr Chalvatzis said: "Policy makers must design a path that will be influenced by the international energy prices and the role of technological 'dumping' caused by China or other countries. In this process climate policy, its effect on energy prices and their subsequent consequences for the well-being of the global economy will also need to be considered. "The success of China's decarbonisation path is keenly observed by the international community. The capacity of the Chinese Government to commit to international emission targets is linked to its capacity to achieve these targets without compromising its energy supply security and development prospects." Source:  University of East Anglia

Dutch Scientists Are Harnessing Electricity From Living Plants To Power Cell Phones And WiFi

 

June 22, 2015 It seems like there are near endless ways to produce power these days, even simply pulling it from the air around you. Now, Plant-e, a Dutch company, has found a way to harness the power of plants. They believe that plants can power cell phones, street lights, and can even act as Wi-Fi hotspots. Their flagship project called Starry Sky was launched last November near Amsterdam. The project powered more than 300 LED streetlights. How does it work? Plant-e explains on their website: “Via photosynthesis a plant produces organic matter. Part of this organic matter is used for plant-growth, but a large part can’t be used by the plant and is excreted into the soil via the roots. Around the roots naturally occurring micro-organisms break down the organic compounds to gain energy from. In this process, electrons are released as a waste product. By providing an electrode for the micro-organisms to donate their electrons to, the electrons can be harvested as electricity. Research has shown that plant-growth isn’t compromised by harvesting electricity, so plants keep on growing while electricity is concurrently produced.” Imagine for a moment that you have a house with a tree growing right through the center of it. Pretty neat, right? Now imagine that same house also being powered by that tree. Could you imagine? No more nasty coal plants, no more environment-destroying hydroelectric dams, just plant power. This technology has a long way to go. LED lights are easy to power because they’re so energy efficient, often using 90% less electricity than their incandescent counterparts. But Plant-e hopes to scale up its technology. Want to learn more? Check out www.plantpower.eu.

New heat-recovery system makes Stanford one of world’s most energy-efficient uni's

 

Stanford's heat-recovery system, or SESI, will cut greenhouse gas emissions by 68 percent and fossil fuel use cut by 65 percent Image Gallery (7 images) At Stanford University in California, it’s normally the Nobel-winning researchers who make the news. But with the commissioning of a novel renewable energy system, the campus’s humble heating and cooling system has grabbed some headlines. Using a first-of-its-kind heat recovery system, and drawing a substantial percentage of its electricity from solar, the university is greening up its operations in a move that will see greenhouse gas emissions cut by 68 percent and fossil fuel use cut by 65 percent. For a campus that’s more akin to a small city, comprising of 8,000 acres and over 1,000 buildings totaling more than 15 million square feet (1.39 million sq m), CO2 emissions can add up to a sizeable environmental impact of about 150,000 tons annually. The new system replaces what was once a state-of-the-art natural gas-powered cogeneration plant when it was commissioned in 1987, which heated buildings through a network of underground steam pipes, while cooling buildings with chilled water pipes. Buildings often require both heat and cooling simultaneously depending on the room temp needs (computer rooms and labs versus offices and classrooms). “Basically if you think of air conditioning or cooling not as the delivery of cold, but rather as the collection of heat, things become more clear,” said Joe Stagner, executive director at Stanford’s Sustainability and Energy Management office. After completing its route, the steam was then returned to the plant in the form of very hot water, known as condensate, along with chilled water which collected waste heat from the buildings. Once back at the plant, that excess heat was simply vented out into the atmosphere via evaporative cooling towers. But campus growth had pushed the old system to its limits, and intermittent failures forced the university to buy relatively expensive energy from the grid. At the same time, plant engineers noticed that heat being collected from the campus by the chilled water loop overlapped with heat being delivered to the campus by the steam loop, which occurred about 75 percent of the time. With that, the idea for the heat recovery system was born. As part of the new system, known as SESI (Stanford Energy Systems Innovations), heat that was previously discharged is now collected from the chilled water loop by a new heat recovery chiller that then moves it to a new hot water loop. The university replaced its steam pipes with 22 miles of hot water pipes, while retrofitting 155 buildings’ steam connections to hot water. "What SESI does is use electrically powered heat pumps to take that waste heat from the cooling system to make hot water for campus heating instead of wasting it, thereby greatly increasing efficiency," says Stagner. "And by using electricity to power this system instead of natural gas, we can use renewable power and not burn gas and create air pollution." Operated by patented software specifically designed for the system, SESI is claimed to be 70 percent more efficient than the previous cogeneration plant, while reducing heat loss that was an issue in the previous distribution system. It was also built with an additional 25 percent capacity, to cover the inevitable campus growth through 2050. And because steam will no longer be thrown away, the new system will save about 70 percent of the water used at the central plant, which translates into a 15-18 percent saving in the total amount of water used on campus. Another major green aspect of SESI is a 68-megawatt peak solar farm being built on 300 acres (121 hectares) in California, along with 5 megawatts of rooftop solar panels to be installed on campus, all of which will provide about 53 percent of Stanford’s electricity. The rest will be bought from California’s energy grid, of which about 25 percent is from renewable sources (and growing), meaning at least 65 percent of the university’s power will be green. "We know of no other system like this in the world, especially at this scale, with both hot and cold thermal energy storage, powered by clean electricity and run by newly invented 'model predictive control' software that continuously directs efficient system operations," says Stagner.   Source: Stanford University

Tips To Boost Energy And Stop Feeling Tired

 

Every day millions of people complain about being tired, and it is really no wonder, what with the amount of things that we all need to get done in a day. There are so many things to do and so little time to get it done in, and we all wish that there were 25 hours in a day. Most people want to find a way to get more energy and not feel so tired, but are not sure of what they can do about it.

There are actually many simple things that you can do which will help boost your energy and stamina and not only get you going more in the morning but make you feel more energized throughout the day as well.

 

Change Your Diet

One of the first and most important things that you can do if you want to increase your energy is by changing your diet a little bit. You may think that you are eating healthily but when you take a step back and understand more about nutrition you may be pretty surprised at what you find out. White bread for instance, is bad for you and will leave you feeling bloated and sluggish. You should go for the wholemeal version as they are full of fibers. You also want to avoid fatty and sugary foods, especially since they will give you a sugar rush and make you feel more enthused to begin with but then your energy level will drop dramatically.

Perhaps more important than anything is that you make time to have breakfast every morning, as the saying that breakfast is the most important meal of the day is definitely true. By eating breakfast you will basically be giving your body a jumpstart and helping it to feel energized throughout the day. Even if you do not feel hungry you want to eat something for breakfast, even if that just means an egg or a piece of fruit.

 

Eat More Often

Rather than stuffing three large meals down every day, you should try to eat smaller meals but more frequently. You should be snacking healthily throughout each day, so that you keep your metabolism up as fast as possible and keep your body full of sustenance. Eating every two to three hours is the best idea, and this will keep your blood sugar and energy levels stable all day long. Supersized meals demand more energy to digest and in turn this may leave you feeling lethargic.

 

Fill Up On Fiber

Few people get as much fiber in their diet as they should, and fiber is actually one of the most important things to include in any diet. Fiber helps in many ways, namely by flushing toxins and wastes out of your body. These toxins and wastes, if left in your body, would cause you to feel incredibly sluggish and even possibly cause health problems and conditions to develop, such as colon cancer.

 

Use Caffeine to Your Advantage

Although too much caffeine can definitely be unhealthy, if you drink caffeinated beverages in moderation then you can really benefit from it. A cup of coffee in the morning can help make you feel more energized and is always delicious with a good hearty breakfast. Just make sure that you watch your caffeine intake during the later part of the day and into the night, because this can actually result in making you feel more tired. Especially if you are up drinking coffee most of the night you will most likely not be able to sleep and in turn will feel incredibly tired the next day.

 

Don’t Stress Out

Of course these days it seems as though there are a million things to worry about, especially if you have children, but it is important that you do not get stressed out and worry too much. Stressing out causes your brain to overload and as a result you will end up feeling tired and exhausted. Not only can stress make you tired but it can compromise your health and relationships, and so you should definitely try to stay as calm and positive as possible, even during the tougher times.

There are a few things that you can do on the day to day to keep yourself from getting overly stressed and worked up, including learning how to stop talking yourself into being upset and depressed, and how to enjoy the small things in life more. You should also learn how to stop expecting your partner to make you happy and start taking responsibility for your own happiness, as this is one of the biggest downfalls in relationships. Even chores around the house can be turned into something fun rather than something to dread, so just keep your mood light and your spirits up.

Feeling tired is never good especially if you have serious fatigue throughout the day and it is having a negative effect on your life. Just remember that there are many things you can do to get yourself feeling more energized, namely maintaining a proper and healthy diet and exercise regime.