Reshaping Europe’s energy landscape

Pilita Clark, environment correspondent for the Financial Times, reports that a record 71% of all the new power generating capacity fitted in the Europe Union last year came from solar panels, wind turbines or other renewable energy sources.

Is the EU on course to meet its target of 20% of all energy needs from renewable sources by 2020?

A European Wind Energy Association report shows that the EU power sector is moving away from fuel oil, coal and nuclear while continuing to increase its total installed capacity with gas, wind and solar PV to meet increasing demand. It records that the amount of clean power installed in 2011 rose to 32 gigawatts*, compared with 23GW installed in 2010.

This was largely due to a surge in solar installations in Italy and Germany, whereas the number of wind power stations installed across Europe last year was similar to that in 2010. Solar photovoltaic systems made up 47% of all new installations, more than gas and wind power combined.

Italy became the world’s biggest solar PV market (9GW) for the first time in 2011, according to the European Photovoltaic Industry Association and Germany still leads the world in terms of the total amount of solar installations fitted.

Oil prices predicted to rise this year to a record high

As the chief executive of Vitol, the world’s largest independent oil trader, says today, oil prices could jump this year to a record high above $150 because of the Iranian sanctions. Will some of the electricity generated be used to power electric and hydrogen vehicles?

 

The New Automotive Innovation and Growth Team (NAIGT) issued a roadmap (above), which – rather cautiously? – forecasts that by 2020, hybrids, electric and hydrogen vehicles will be entering the market on a larger scale. 

If renewable power installations and oil prices continue to rise perhaps the market expansion will be brought forward. 

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* A gigawatt can supply 1 million U.S. households on average, according to Mark Pervan, head of commodity research at the Australia & New Zealand Banking Group.

Hydro-power in Wiltshire, Yorkshire, Somerset, Devon – and now Hall Green, Birmingham?

Until the 1950s many towns and villages generated electricity using water wheels. Most were disconnected with the post-war expansion of the national grid, but there are still 20,000 sites in the UK that could be used to harness river and stream power to help to meet Government renewable energy targets. 

When the writer visited Sarehole Mill, in Hall Green years ago, she  met the miller who was grinding flour.

She admired the setting and the building. The huge water-wheel, mill gears and grinding stones and bakehouse were an impressive sight. 

It was a great pleasure to read this month that – with a grant of  £50,000 from Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery Development Trust – work will be done on the mill’s waterwheel so that it can be connected to a motor and generate hydroelectric power for nearby houses. 

Other work is needed: three broken sluice gates must be replaced and the mill pond desilted, but other projects around the country show that with determination this one also could be successful. 

In 2010, the Government’s Feed In Tariff was extended to domestically generated hydro-electric power and there are loans from several organisations, such as the Energy Saving Trust, enabling householders to borrow money to install a turbine or water wheel. 

Some years ago the writer met Paul Lysley, a farmer who wanted to restore the old mill leat to produce electricity at Colham Mill in Wiltshire and also spoke to a member of the South Somerset Hydropower Group which is dedicated to bringing back mills into working condition. 

With help from the local district council and part-funded by the Energy Saving Trust, this group has been installing new turbines, restoring blocked water-courses and repairing sluice gates in order to generate electricity.

The first community-owned micro-hydropower project (2009) now provides half the electricity needed in Derbyshire Co-operative Group’s food store. store, using the River Goyt’s fast flow. Grants were made by the Co-operative Fund and the Co-operative Bank. The Co-op plans to extend this support to other micro-hydro schemes across the country. 

The Co-operative’s Yorkshire project at Bridge End Weir in Settle will use a modernised version of a 2,000-year-old Greek invention – the Archimedes screw, which easily pumps water to higher level – to generate electricity. 

Hydro-electric projects have advantages over wind power, generating electricity whatever the weather. In October 2010, Climate Change Minister Greg Barker explained: ‘Our ambition is to have local communities, families and households generating their own energy and one of the most overlooked sources is water.’ 

David Timms, Friends of the Earth, said the scheme ‘means we can use part of our industrial and pre-industrial heritage to create a low-carbon economy for the 21st century’.

The Electric Highway

Read about the Electric Highway in the Birmingham Press:

Electric car drivers can now travel from Birmingham to Liverpool and Manchester without fear of running out of power after Ecotricity opened two new charging points on the M6 at Keele services – as part of the world’s first national charging network . . .

Continue here: http://www.thebirminghampress.com/2011/12/19/the-electric-highway/

NOTE:

More on Ecotricity here: Solar progress – http://antidotecounteragent.wordpress.com/2011/06/20/solar-progress/

And on the Electric Highway here: http://antidotecounteragent.wordpress.com/2011/09/17/birmingham-is-plugged-into-the-electric-highway-%e2%80%93-no-more-%e2%80%98range-anxiety%e2%80%99/

 

MAC Goes Solar

Cheering news was posted last week on the website of Balsall Heath Is Our Planet – a community initiative that aims to cut the carbon emissions of Birmingham’s inner city neighbourhood:

The Midlands Arts Centre, photographer Michael Westley 

The Midlands Arts Centre in Cannon Hill Park has planning permission for a new array of solar panels to meet some of the centre’s electricity demand from the sun. Installation is due in December, hopefully before the Feed In Tariff payment rate takes a step down.

The solar roof array is up and running on St Mary’s parish church in the centre of Moseley. They say that 3,000 kilowatt hours have been generated this summer, after their long battle to get planning permission. This will offset some of their electric heating. More Details here. 

The Hamza mosque on Church Road also has a new solar roof, sending clean electricity to the area. 

These are the kind of schemes that surely deserve the special ‘community tariff’ which the government is talking about in its Review of the Feed In Tariff  – details here. 

And earlier this month, news that Balsall Heath Church Centre has been generating plenty of clean electricity on their roof from the sun and feeding much of it into the local grid for the neighbourhood to use. There is a great display, showing how much has been generated every month at this link. 

The writer – probably John Newson – ends: 

We all have to ‘get a move on’ in the progress towards clean energy, as the World Meteorological Organisation reports that burning of fossil fuels is causing the highest ever greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere.

The Diagonal Lock: moving towards a more productive, environmentally friendly canal system

On October 15^th the writer visited the ‘Diagonal Lock Roadshow’ in Knowle, meeting Terry Fogarty, a design engineer, company director and canal enthusiast. Mr Fogarty was presenting a model of his invention: a diagonal lock , which works on the principle of a sloping tube, cutting out time spent by canal users negotiating flights of locks. 

“This is a radical alternative that could help to alleviate transport problems on the motorways,” he said. “You could install freezers in a wide-beam boat so you could even transport food.”  

The Diagonal Lock is a new technology devised as an alternative to traditional canal locks, enabling boats to ascend/descend an incline whilst floating securely inside a watertight, concrete chamber.

It has many other advantages: 

1. The Diagonal Lock eliminates 100% of the pollution created by navigating traditional locks.
2. The Diagonal Lock is calculated to be at least ten times faster than any other lock design.
3. The Diagonal Lock can open up hitherto inaccessible areas
4. Building costs are slashed: building one Diagonal Lock costs one-third of the traditional lock
5. Safety is a fundamental part the design and safety precautions found in the Diagonal Lock are not found on any other waterway in the world.
6. The Diagonal Lock recycles all water used.
7. Much lower maintenance costs.
8. Has other applications, including cliff top marinas and reservoirs.
9. Increases the chances of freight returning to the canals reducing pressure on roads.

The Advisory Group 

Staunch support has been given by a number of people, in particular the advisory group: 

• Terry Fogarty, inventor of the Diagonal Lock.
• Phil Sharp of Battus Associates , a consulting engineering practice specialising in water and environmental Engineering. See their very interesting project list
• Caroline Spelman: Secretary of State for the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and MP for Meriden well-positioned to advise the Diagonal Lock team on how to advance the Diagonal Lock project within the political arena.
• Roger Herrington, Managing Director: Roger Herrington & Associates, an experienced management consultant with specialist knowledge in canal regeneration and development. and productive partnership with Roger Herrington & Associates.
• Roy Pulley, specialist product innovation advisor, Manufacturing Advisory Service (West Midlands), whose support and involvement of enabled Coventry University students to take up the concept as part of an engineering project, producing a 3d model and developing a feasibility study.
• Earle Wightman, Managing Director: Sherborne Wharf in central Birmingham, whose support illustrates the appeal of the Diagonal Lock technology to the waterways leisure industry.
• Mike Lewis, electronic engineer and senior lecturer at Coventry University, whose knowledge spans electronics, dynamics and statics, thermofluids and time reduction technologies. His initial involvement began as a project supervisor to a team of students studying the Diagonal Lock as part of their Masters degree.
• Graham Freeman, technical head of the British Boating Federation & managing director: Tayman Services [marine surveyor and safety secialist], who has helped to identify some potential locations for the first Diagonal Lock.
• Alasdair Crichton, web designer, has over 10 years experience in IT, developing software and websites across a range of industries. He has maintained and developed the website ensuring the Diagonal Lock technology is promoted to as wide an audience as possible. 

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Mr Fogarty wrote to the compilers of the Big City Plan blueprint for Birmingham outlining his proposals for the ’diagonal lock’ scheme, which he said would wipe out long delays at flights of locks:

 

 One of the Camp Hill locks from a website with many other excellent canal pictures 

“At the moment you can only get narrowboats along it. There has been years of neglect and the network cries out for improvement. Nowhere is this more apparent than at Camp Hill locks, where the 300-year-old narrow lock flight meets the Grand Union Canal. This offers the potential for wide beam boats to move down to London. The shame of it is that at present a wide-beam boat coming from London is prevented from entering the canals of Birmingham, which is a tragedy. The diagonal lock would create worldwide interest as it would be the first new canal lock of its kind anywhere in the world. I believe a new lock system for Camp Hill would cost £6-7m - a fraction of the cost of the £18bn high speed rail link.”  

In July the Birmingham Mail reported a vote of confidence from British Waterways Head of Engineering George Ballinger, after meeting Mr Fogarty. Although British Waterways is currently unable to contribute to any funding package, it is fully supportive of the initiative and will assist in any other way to further the creation of ’such an iconic structure’ on the waterway network. Mr Ballinger expressed the need for the council to play a major part in taking things forward by looking at the overall development plan for the area. 

Mr Fogarty said: “It’s great news that British Waterways are backing the scheme. I believe a new lock system for Camp Hill would cost between £6 million and £7 million, a fraction of the cost of high-speed rail.” 

Reassurance for the non-technical reader 

At the exhibition the writer had the advantage of independent input from a visiting engineer.  He assured me that it would certainly work and recommended the animations on the website which explain all in five clear steps. 

Environmental advantages 

During a follow-up email exchange about upward journeys which are powered by pumping water into the tube once the bottom gate is closed, he added: 

“They could use side ponds to conserve water and then very little power is needed to pump it up, but it would be very slow. I think the simpler option – to let all the water out and pump it back – is better as they can generate electricity from it on the way down and use it on the way up. Essentially as the water runs out they pump it up to the top from where it came.The national grid uses pumped storage to smooth out the peaks and troughs of demand, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinorwig_Power_Station. 

“Apart from inefficiencies it will not use water or energy, and the inefficiencies and technology are well understood.” 

It would be cheering to see the work of Terry Fogarty and his colleagues come to fruition – perhaps substantially funded by the Brummie Bonds advocated by Councillor Clancy.

TRANSFORMING VENEZUELAN AGRICULTURE – the ultimate goal is food sovereignty

In January 2011, President Hugo Chavez launched Mission Agro Venezuela to manage the transition from a profit driven, exploitative food production system to one based on solidarity among producers, sustainable cultivation of a variety of regional crops and participatory decision-making. 

According to Jose Guerrero, regional coordinator for Mission Agro Venezuela, the mission’s strategy is to purchase idle lands from large estate owners and transfer these lands to collectively organized farmers. 

Then it coordinates training and low-interest financing for networks of farmers – not individuals – and provides these groups with low-cost fertilizers, irrigation materials, and other supplies through Agropatria, the state’s agricultural supplies organisation, which will assist in  developing distribution networks with the aim of creating “Venezuela’s own model of production”

“We are in the tropics. We have to move away from the Anglo-Saxon food system that was established in South America, a model based on four seasons that do not occur here. That model is totally contrary to our own. We also need to substitute agro-toxins for sustainable agricultural inputs, Guerrero told Correo del Orinoco International. 

The ultimate goal is food sovereignty 

The ultimate goal, Guerrero said, is food sovereignty – the country’s ability to autonomously satisfy 100% of its food needs. One of the main challenges to achieving this goal is the arduous process of “constructing new social relations of production . . .What will be the relationship between those who produce and those who consume? What will be the relationship between the industry and the producers, and in whose hands will the means of production lie – in a few hands or in the collective, with all the people?” 

To spur this process of transformation, the government has designated particular areas where the farmers are especially well-organized to be “motor districts”, providing an example and helping to promote the new model of production in other parts of the country. 

Mission Agro Venezuela released a public record of its achievements since its inception eight months ago 

Finance plans include 105,000 credits granted by the Agricultural Development Fund  FONDAS and the state-owned Agrarian Bank of Venezuela; 14,000 credits for machinery, tractors, and other harvesting tools; and the free provision of services such as immunizations for cattle, irrigation systems, and assistance in pest control. 

Approximately 775,000 hectares (1.9 million acres) of land have been put into cultivation of corn, rice, soy, sunflower, green leafy vegetables, sugar cane, coffee, cacao, chicken, eggs, pork, milk, lamb, beef, fish, tuna, and shrimp, Sanchez said. Juan Carlos Jimenez, president of the state-run Venezuelan Food Corporation (CVAL), reported that the government has purchased one million tons of food from small and medium sized farms in the states of Lara, Zulia, Tachira, and Trujillo, helping to spur local production.

Small-scale, low-tech farming shown in a picture taken from a widely read and comprehensive article by Australian Alan Broughton following a visit to Venezuela.  

Venezuela has signed 55 international cooperation agreements that include the transfer of technological expertise, intellectual property, and machinery in order to empower Venezuelan producers and reduce dependency. 

A new campaign to promote urban agriculture 

Meanwhile, another government institution called the Foundation for Training and Innovation to Support the Agrarian Revolution (CIARA), announced it would launch a new campaign to promote urban agriculture. Below: growing food by the Caracas Hilton.

 

“Urban agriculture is an alternative in the cities, to take advantage of those under-utilized spaces in order to produce foods that are free of agrotoxins”, said CIARA President Martha Bolivar. “Let’s plant seeds in our own spaces, produce our own foods, get information in the Agriculture and Land Ministry… and make the urban agriculture explosion”. Bolivar said food produced in urban areas could be consumed by its producers or commercialized in urban communities in Venezuela’s largest cities, including Caracas, Maracay, Valencia, Maracaibo, San Cristobal, Puerto la Cruz, La Guaira, and Barcelona. 

Read more:

http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/6578 

http://www.cityfarmer.info/2008/01/23/caracas-venezuela-embraces-city-gardening-for-improved-nutrition-jobs/#more-89 

http://foodfreedom.wordpress.com/tag/venezuela-land-redistribution/

Hydrogen: A link with Birmingham’s past and a hope for its future.

 

On a day when it was reported that eleven year old Sophia Deans’ design for a hydrogen car has won an award, we add news of the Birmingham’s Lunar Society annual Boulton-Watt lecture: Hydrogen, Magnets, Sustainability and the Birmingham Connection, to be given by Professor Rex Harris, leader of the Ross Barlow project – the year’s top post on the Antidote website

 

Venue: Birmingham Metropolitan College -  Matthew Boulton Campus

5th October 2011, 6pm for 6.30

All are welcome, but non-members will have to register with the Lunar Society.

 Hydrogen:  A link with the past, a hope for the future.

Another planned development described by Professor Harris is a Hydrogen Heritage  Trail, addressing the twin threats of climate change and resource depletion.     

Hydrogen will be employed as a link to the Midlands’ engineering and scientific past whilst informing the public about its potential as a means of storing electricity and as a future zero-carbon fuel for transportation.

One link to the past is the canal and the hydrogen fuel cell boat, the Ross Barlow, provides a pointer to the future.

Birmingham is plugged into the Electric Highway – no more ‘range anxiety’

Ecotricity and the Birmingham Mail report that electric car owners will now be able to drive from Brum to London by plugging in for 20 minutes using ‘rapid recharge’ at the new charging point at Hopwood Park Services.

The cars will be powered by 100% green energy made at Ecotricity’s wind and solar parks across the UK. 

Reducing carbon emissions, costs and oil consumption 

Dale Vince, founder of Ecotricity, which now has over 50,000 customers, said: “Until now, charging posts have all been in city centres like London, but this is where you need them the least. Statistics show that it’s not in towns and cities where electric cars need to recharge, but on longer journeys between cities – and that means motorways.  

 

“We’re creating the infrastructure to get Britain’s electric car revolution moving. This marks the beginning of the end for the old combustion engine. With world oil prices going through the roof, you’ll now be able to get around Britain using only the power of the wind It costs just over 1p a mile in an electric vehicle, compared to 15.4p in a petrol car (at today’s oil prices). 

“We consume 23 million tonnes of oil every year in the UK to do the 250 billion miles we drive every year. But we could power all that with 12,000 of today’s windmills, or just 6,000 of tomorrow’s.” 

Transport Direct points out that a driver doing a year’s typical 8,500 miles of motoring could save almost £1,200 in petrol costs at today’s prices, and save around 2,000kg in CO2 emissions. 

Though sales of electric cars have been slow to date, 2011 has seen a vote of confidence from major manufacturers, leading some to call it the ‘The Year of the Electric Car’; several all-electric mass-market models have been launched, including the Nissan Leaf, Mitsubishi MIEV and Peugeot iOn. Ford will also have an all-electric version of its Ford Focus for sale in 2013. 

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A move in the right direction? 

A carbon neutral farm in Wales

In April BBC News reported that family-run Blaencamel Farm at Aberaeron in Ceredigion has become one of Wales’ first carbon neutral farms, generating its own electricity from solar power. 

It is now able to produce enough power to run the farmhouse, shop and farm and actually generates 80% more electricity than it needs, selling the surplus electricity back into the National Grid under a feed-in tariff scheme. 

Solar irrigation is to be introduced and the farmer, Peter Segger, is now building an electric tractor, which will be powered by renewable energy. 

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This week the Farmers Guardian also featured the ‘pioneering organic vegetable’ Blaencamel Farm, linking it to the ever-rising price of diesel, petrol, gas and electricity which will make  potential energy cost saving avenues, key technical topics at the forthcoming Royal Welsh Show.

It noted that on-farm systems – harnessing the power of the wind, water, sun or anaerobic digestion – are being installed in increasing numbers.

More detail was given:

“So far the panels have enabled the farm to modify its solar irrigation system using renewable energy to pump water around its 20 hectares (50 acres) of crops and an acre of greenhouses. 

“Electricity generated by the panels is also being used to help develop a new range of food products, including an award-winning relish and preserve. 

“It is also hoped to have the farm’s current diesel tractor converted – making Blaencamel the first farm in Wales to have an electric tractor run from solar electricity.”

Advice was given by Machynlleth-based Dulas, one of the UK’s oldest renewable energy providers, who later installed the panels.

Solar progress

A cheering report from Ecotricity

EcoBonds, issued by the green electricity company, Ecotricity, were launched in October 2010 to  to help advance the rate at which it can build its new Green Energy projects, principally wind and sun farms.

Post credit crunch, Ecotricity felt that savers weren’t getting a fair deal from the big banks who are paying minimal interest rates whilst charging businesses much more.

By the deadline of the 10th of December, more than 1,800 people had applied for almost £15million worth of four year EcoBonds, with a 75% interest rate, making it oversubscribed by nearly 50% and the most successful private bond ever issued in the UK. The previous largest was £3.6m, issued by Hotel Chocolat earlier this year. 

Solar array – Fen Farm

Ecotricity have twenty smaller windmills in the Lincolnshire Fens – producing enough green electricity each year to power about 12,000 local homes – part funded by ecobonds. Next door a large-scale solar array power plant is to be constructed, providing electricity for 280 average homes for the next 25 years. The solar panels will be fitted in 59 rows over the 4.7 acre site, strategically placed in a south-facing position in order to capture the maximum amount of sunlight.

UK’s first Green Gas

British homeowners can now cook and heat with gas made from eco-friendly ‘composted’ organic waste. Ecotricity was the first energy company in the UK to include supplies of green gas, made using a composting-like process known as anaerobic digestion, in its gas tariff. The green gas is put into the grid, where it mixes with the ordinary ‘brown’ gas. The initial supply was made from sugar beets as a natural by-product of the sugar-making process.  

Nine modern windmills in Leicestershire

Ecotricity has been granted planning consent to build nine modern windmills next to the A46 near Dalby in Leicestershire. They will produce enough green electricity each year to power more than 5,000 typical homes and save 7,000 tonnes of CO2 (carbon dioxide) going into the atmosphere every year. 

Lodge Farm solar park, Somerset

The second 5MW solar scheme will make enough green electricity to power 1,200 homes for the next 25 years. It is expected to start generating late in 2011. 

See their well-designed new premises in Stroud – the photograph does not do them justice.