Renewables Global Status Report

Transformation Continues Despite Economic Slowdown

This fourth edition of REN21’s renewable energy report comes in the midst of an historic and global economic crisis,” says Mohamed El-Ashry, chairman of REN21. Although the future is unclear, he says, “there is much in the report for optimism.”

Global power capacity from new renewable energy sources (excluding large hydro) reached 280,000 megawatts (MW) in 2008 – a 16 percent rise from the 240,000 MW in 2007 and nearly three times the capacity of the United States nuclear sector.

Solar heating capacity increased by 15 percent to 145 gigawatts-thermal (GWth), while biodiesel and ethanol production both increased by 34 percent. More renewable energy than conventional power capacity was added in both the European Union and United States for the first time ever.

“The recent growth of the sector has surpassed all predictions, even those made by the industry itself,” says El-Ashry, adding that much of this growth was due to more favourable policies amidst increasing concerns about climate change and energy security.

Read more & Download the full report

Energy Efficiency Could Save India 183.5 Billion kWh

With an investment of US $10 billion dollars in energy efficiency improvements, India's economy would benefit from its potentially vast annual energy savings of 183.5 billion kilowatt hours, according to a new report from the World Resources Institute (WRI).

“India’s energy demand is expected to more than double by 2030. There is a dramatic need for domestic and international energy efficiency technology providers, service providers, and equipment manufacturers to develop innovative ways to conserve energy,” said Robin Murphy, WRI vice president of external relations.

A key element in realizing this potential is the energy service company (or ESCO) sub-sector. ESCOs operate on the basis of energy-performance contracts, wherein revenue is earned based on the amount of energy cost savings produced. In India, the ESCO industry had an annual growth rate of 96 percent from 2002 to 2007 and is estimated to have grown by an additional 62 percent in 2008, according to financial information provided by these companies to WRI.

WRI’s report, Powering Up: The Investment Potential of Energy Service Companies in India is being released as part of the New Ventures India Investor Meet, a gathering of leading investors and other stakeholders interested in the intersection of environment and enterprise.

Read more...

Solar Water Heating is Best Use of Solar Power, Indian Scientists Assert

A quick search on TreeHugger shows that 'solar power' most often occurs in connection with producing electricity and only secondarily in connection with solar water heaters. That's unfortunate, according to scientists at the Dr Panjabrao Deshmukh Agricultural University in India, because using the sun's power to heat water is a far more efficient process and offers a much quicker return on investment:

According to their analysis, published in the International Journal of Global Energy, as the payback time for a solar water heating system is about two years (with a lifespan of 20), this is a far more cost-effective use of solar energy in the developing world than using it to generate electricity. Compared to electrically heated water, solar water heating is 57% of the internal rate of return, the scientists found:

Solar energy is the only renewable energy source that has wide range of uses with commercial viability. The use of solar energy for thermal purposes is the most cost-effective way of utilizing the resource.

Will the Children of Today Be Living in a World Powered by Renewable Energy by 2050?

The world needs a one-off switch-over to renewable energy -- and this could be largely accomplished in just forty years time, slashing energy costs and greenhouse gases while allowing healthy economic growth, experts say.

The study estimates that 56% of primary energy demand will be covered by renewable energy sources by 2050 while energy efficiency potentials will have been largely exploited. As a result, primary energy demand will stabilize at 2060 levels.

By 2050, 80 percent of the world's electricity could be coming from renewable energy sources provided efforts are made, in parallel, to improve energy efficiency, according to a study by the German Aerospace Center (DLR). That means, the children of today might well grow up to experience a world where the energy they use comes almost entirely from the sun, wind, sea and biomass.

By 2090, the shift to renewable energy around the world could be almost 99 percent completed reducing pressure on the environment and laying the foundations for a new era of prosperity based on green energy.

The Energy [R]evolution Report commissioned by Greenpeace International and the European Renewable Energy Council (EREC) also outlines a scenario that would see a fairer redistribution of the burden of cutting greenhouses around the globe. Under the DLR plan, America and Western Europe would decrease their high per capita energy use by switching over to renewable energy and introducing energy saving measures as soon as possible while countries such as China and India would initially slow down their increase in energy demand before starting the switch-over to green energy.

Technologies like dye-sensitive solar cells and thin-film photovoltaics are being developed rapidly and present a huge potential for cost reduction. Also, major innovations in geothermal and ocean wave technology can be expected as research in these areas increases in the future.

"Smart power" will improve the efficiency of buildings and transport, and the DLR predicts that the city centers of the future, for example, could be producing power and heat as well as consuming it. The buildings will have photovoltaic facades not only for energy production but also as an element of architectural design. Solar thermal collectors are set to produce hot water in the networked cities of tomorrow where energy comes from a variety of sources, large and small in scale.

In addition, the DLR predicts that the energy supply system of the future will move from the large and centralized one of today's world towards a much more decentralized one, based on a wide mix of energy sources. These will be tailored to the geography of a particular region to optimize its specific and unique potential.

According to the DLR, solar photovoltaics, followed by wind power, concentrated solar power and geothermal, have the highest potential for development from technologies currently available.

To study notes huge amounts of energy currently wasted from cooling towers could be harnessed for co-generation.

A further piece in the puzzle to create a world powered by renewable energy is to make the transport sector more efficient by switching over to electric vehicles powered by renewable energy sources and also by building up public transport system.

Read the whole article

Freeplay Energy

Freeplay Energy has been developing some great consumer products over the years, such as the Lifeline Radio, Jonta “human-powered” Flashlight, and the Indigo LED Lantern. But there is an offshoot of Freeplay we have yet to discuss, which is the non-profit Freeplay Foundation. With the help of the Lemelson Foundation, and green celebrity, Tom Hanks, Freeplay has been working to bring clean and renewable energy lanterns to Rwanda.

The Lifelights will replace the old, polluting, and dangerous kerosene lights currently being used in Rwanda. Compared to the consumer version of the Indigo Lantern, the ones that will be sent to Rwanda this February of 2009 are far more durable (able to withstand extreme weather and environmental conditions) and can be used to light up a larger area for longer periods of time.

The technology behind the Lifelight is primarily LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes), which provide an amazing amount of light for their size, efficiency rating, and non-toxic nature. Like Freeplays consumer brand of products, this lantern can be powered/charged by either sunlight or their own patented “wind-up” technology, which is thankfully far beyond most other “shake” flashlights on the market today.

The Lifelights are designed to be almost indestructible and to last for years with minimal maintenance and cost to the owner.

Konarka with 1 GW thin-film manufacturing facility

Konarka Technologies Inc. has opened what it claims to be the largest roll-to-roll flexible thin film solar manufacturing facility in the world, in New Bedford, Massachusetts, USA.

The rationale is to prepare for the commercialisation and mass production of Konarka’s Power Plastic, a thin, lightweight, and “very flexible” polymer-based organic photovoltaic (OPV) thin film solar material. The 250,000 ft² building was previously the location for Polariod Corporation’s advanced printing technologies.

“This facility has state-of-the-art printing capabilities that are ready for full operation, with the future potential to produce over a gigawatt of flexible plastic solar modules per year,” says Howard Berke, Executive Chairman and Co-Founder of Konarka.

“Our technical leadership and innovation in flexible thin film solar, along with this facility’s capabilities of producing in excess of 10 million square meters of material per year, will allow us to produce Power Plastic for indoor, portable, outdoor and building integrated applications.”

Explosive Growth Reshuffles Top 10 Solar Ranking

The explosion of photovoltaics production across the globe completely reshuffled the top companies in Nomura Securities' annual ranking of the leading companies, knocking long established Japanese players out of the top spots and putting four Asian suppliers in the Top 10. Japan's leading solar companies outline their strategies for this changing market in this report from SST partner Nikkei Microdevices.

Fast growing Q-Cells AG became the world's largest solar cell maker in 2007, producing nearly 400 megawatts (MW) worth of product. Longtime solar industry leader Sharp found itself in second place as production slipped to roughly 370 MW, which the company blamed on a constrained supply of silicon. China's Suntech was close behind the leaders with more than 300 MW output, pushing Kyocera and its 200 MW to a distant third.

Read the full article...